Japanese Alps

Central Honshu's 3,000 m ranges: Kamikochi, Tateyama Kurobe, Hakuba and Hida-Takayama, for summer hiking and winter skiing.

The Japanese Alps is the collective name for the Hida Mountains (Northern Alps), Kiso Mountains (Central Alps) and Akaishi Mountains (Southern Alps) in central Honshu. They span Nagano, Toyama, Gifu and other prefectures and form Japan's most spectacular alpine region. For travelers the core is along the Northern Alps: on the Nagano side are Matsumoto Castle and Kamikochi's Kappa Bridge, with hikes to Myojin Pond and Karasawa; the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route between Toyama and Nagano is known for its snow walls, Kurobe Dam and the Murodo plateau; Hakuba village has the Happo Pond hike in summer and is one of Japan's top powder ski resorts in winter; on the Gifu side are the old town of Hida-Takayama, the Shinhotaka Ropeway and the gassho-zukuri village of Shirakawa-go; and Tsumago and Magome in the Kiso Valley preserve the look of Nakasendo post towns. The classic plan is a 5–7 day Matsumoto–Kamikochi–Takayama–Shirakawa-go–Kanazawa route, or the Toyama–Nagano route across the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route. Transport relies on JR and buses; private cars are banned from Kamikochi, so you must transfer to a bus at Sawando or Hirayu. Weather around Takayama changes quickly, so bring warm and rain gear for hikes, and book mountain huts in the high season.

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