This is for those who are planning to go to Japan. Just came back from Japan recently, cant wait to get back there again. I had a weekend off so I visited Tateyama, Takayama and Shirakawa-go. Haven't met a lot of pple who have been there(even my Japanese colleagues havent been to Shirakawa-Go) so here is an intro to the place.
Tateyama is a mountain in Toyama. It's famous for the Alpine Route and it's 20m high snow wall. To get there, take the Shinkansen to Nagoya, switch to a limited express train to either Toyama or Matsumoto. This part of the trip is covered by the JR pass. From Matsumoto, take a train to Shinano-Omachi. Take a bus from the train station(bus stop is right in front of the station) to Ogizawa. That's the starting point of the trip where you can purchase all the tickets for the entire mountain crossing till Toyama station. If going from Toyama, take the train to Tateyama station. Your journey will start here and most likely end in Matsumoto. Total cost is around 11K yen(about $160 not including the JR Pass of coz). Entire journey will take about 6 hours with about 20min stop between each station
The trip will take you to the Kurobe Dam
And the famous Yuki no Otani(open only in April - May)
I left Matsumoto at around 5am in the morning and by the time I reach Toyama, it was close to 2pm. I then went down to Takayama. A relatively famous tourist area. You can find a lot of hot spring hotels and Ryokans here. The famous streets Sanmachi is about 5min walk from the train station
The 2nd day I went down to Shirakawa-Go. The only way to get there is by bus. Bus station is right next to the Takayama train station. U can see why this is a famous tourist area
The whole itinerary can be done in 2 days, a bit of a rush though. I recommend spending at least 3 to 4 days at those locations and also visit Kanazawa. The bus from Takayama goes to Shirakawa-go then Kanazawa and from there, take a train to Toyama and the Alpine route.
If you have any recommendations for places to visit in Japan, please post here. I can use that for my next trip
Tateyama is a mountain in Toyama. It's famous for the Alpine Route and it's 20m high snow wall. To get there, take the Shinkansen to Nagoya, switch to a limited express train to either Toyama or Matsumoto. This part of the trip is covered by the JR pass. From Matsumoto, take a train to Shinano-Omachi. Take a bus from the train station(bus stop is right in front of the station) to Ogizawa. That's the starting point of the trip where you can purchase all the tickets for the entire mountain crossing till Toyama station. If going from Toyama, take the train to Tateyama station. Your journey will start here and most likely end in Matsumoto. Total cost is around 11K yen(about $160 not including the JR Pass of coz). Entire journey will take about 6 hours with about 20min stop between each station
The trip will take you to the Kurobe Dam
And the famous Yuki no Otani(open only in April - May)
I left Matsumoto at around 5am in the morning and by the time I reach Toyama, it was close to 2pm. I then went down to Takayama. A relatively famous tourist area. You can find a lot of hot spring hotels and Ryokans here. The famous streets Sanmachi is about 5min walk from the train station
The 2nd day I went down to Shirakawa-Go. The only way to get there is by bus. Bus station is right next to the Takayama train station. U can see why this is a famous tourist area
The whole itinerary can be done in 2 days, a bit of a rush though. I recommend spending at least 3 to 4 days at those locations and also visit Kanazawa. The bus from Takayama goes to Shirakawa-go then Kanazawa and from there, take a train to Toyama and the Alpine route.
If you have any recommendations for places to visit in Japan, please post here. I can use that for my next trip
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