fall in the northern japanese alps | nagano prefecture

Chūbu-Sangaku National Park

Hakuba, Kamikochi, Nagano, Matsumoto, Karuizawa, Tsumago

So there’s the European Alps (the original) and the American Alps (North Cascades), but have you heard of the Japanese Alps? They’re the major peaks in central Japan, close to Tokyo. They’re a couple hours by train and quite accessible overall by public transit so you don’t need to obtain an international driver’s license. If you’re looking to see fall colors, heading up to the mountains is a safe bet early in the fall season of Japan. Autumn is primarily November through December in Japan, which may feel late for a lot of the US states because its latitude is approximately that of California. So after you’ve enjoyed your American fall, head over to Japan for an extended fall!

This is your guide to the Nagano Prefecture and the North Alps (excluding Fuji, which is located in the Southern Japanese Alps).

Getting There

Most likely you’ll be flying into Tokyo for the cheapest. Tokyo also offers plenty of train options and is the closest major city to the Northern Alps. You could consider flying into Nagoya, which is slightly further to Nagano, but possibly better if you’re traveling from another East Asian country. The itinerary listed here does a little counter clockwise loop within the Nagano Prefecture (region).

Types of Public Transportation

Shinkansen

You might have heard of the mag-lev train before, but shinkansen is just a bullet train, meaning it goes fast. There’s actually only one magnetic levitation train in Japan. The shinkansen trains are fast enough though, traveling at top speeds of 160-200mph. They cost more than a normal train, but saves so much time if you’re traveling long distances like from Tokyo to Nagano. For example, if you drove from Tokyo to Nagano, it would take 3.5 hours. But if you took the fast train, it would only be 1.5 hours! Shinkansen trains actually run on different train tracks, allowing them to travel at their high speeds, so they’ll bypass many intermediate train stations.

Express Trains

These are your second best trains. Express trains don’t travel as fast as shinkansen but because they only stop at a few stations, they are still very speedy. There’s a couple different versions of them. A limited express train (faster) and a normal express train.

Local Trains

There are also several versions of local trains. Some service every single station and others are rapid, which stop at select stations. Google maps in transit mode will be your best friend!

How to Ride

Often, there’s multiple ways to get to a location, but pick the one with fewest transfers so you’re not worried about what tickets to get or missing a transfer. Shinkansens run infrequently, so if you miss one, your travel time will increase significantly! Fares can be confusing but at least all trains run on the Japan Rail (JR) system! Depending on your travel, getting a pass may be cost effective, especially if you’re traveling large distances frequently. So if you’re staying put in one general location, buy a ticket each time. You can get them online or at most the train stations which are cash only. Sometimes you can also buy a ticket form a train conductor if there is no ticket machine or attendant at your station.

Generally every train requires a basic fare ticket. Then depending on the train you take, you’ll need an additional ticket. Local and rapid trains are basic fare only. Limited express has an additional fee, which you can buy on the same machine. Shinkansen tickets are sold on separate machines, you’ll see it labeled separately. Make sure you know what train you’re taking! If at any point you realize you didn’t buy the right ticket, like forgetting a limited express ticket or hopping off at a further stop, you can amend your ticket at a fare change machine before you exit the station. However, if you’re transferring from a local to an express, you cannot add a ticket from within the station. So you’ll have to exit the station and add the express ticket or talk to a JR employee.

Busses

Once you’re in your town, you’ll probably ride the busses more often than the metro. Everything is still cash based. Some busses might have a ticket you’ll need to grab as you enter that shows what stop you got on so the bus driver knows how much you are charged. On these busses, there’ll be a display at the front that says what your current fee is based on which zone you got on. Don’t worry about exact change because there is a change machine when you pay your fare upon exiting.

Now let’s get to a few highlights of the Nagano region!

Karuizawa

If you’re headed to the city of Nagano, Karuizawa is worth a stop! There’s the Karuizawa Wild Bird Sanctuary that’s a fun local nature park. It has larches if you’re looking! Take a bus from the Karuizawa Station or the Naka-Karuizawa Station. And if birding around the park isn’t your thing, perhaps you can check out the Tonbo-no-yu Spa. There’s a bunch of shops and little restaurants to check out near the spa and a neat nature walk along the Yu River. I particularly enjoyed Kagimotoya for fresh soba at lunchtime! There’s limited seating and waiting is outside. You can watch them make the soba while you’re waiting for your food.

If you want to take the shinkansen to Nagano, you’ll have to return to the main Karuizawa Station. Otherwise, the local train operates from any station in the town.

Nagano

I spent a rather short time here, but it’s worth a longer stay especially in summer to check out some of the nearby mountains that are less accessible in fall/winter. We stayed at Chuoukan Shimizuya Ryokan. Ryokans are traditional Japanese inns where you sleep on mattresses on top of tatami mats that line the floor. When you’re booking you might see 8-10 mats as a size. It’s just size of room, not how many mattresses there are! This inn was particularly unique because it retains the old traditional structures.

If you’re looking to visit a temple, the Zenkōji Temple is a great one to check out. The Zenkōji Nakamise Street has a bunch of little shops. Parts of it are modern and other parts are more traditional-styled buildings, but still relatively on the touristy side. The Patio Daimon Kuraniwa adjacent to the ryokan has a bunch of great restaurants.

If you have extra time, take an Alpico bus up to the Kagami Ike Pond near Mt Togakushi. Along the same bus path, you can even stop by the Togakushi Soba Museum, which has a ¥200 entrance fee, which is just over $1.

Hakuba

To get from Nagano to Hakuba, it’s just an easy bus ride away. We stayed at Happo Furuya due to its proximity to the Happo-One Snow Resort and its price. Honestly this was a highlight! The couple who hosted were so kind to us despite our language barrier.

The goal of going to Hakuba was to experience the mountains — it’s known to be a great ski area but we were just there for the fall. There’s not a lot of short hikes in the alpine area, but the best thing is to visit Happo Pond where you can take a gondola and 2 lifts to ease the hiking. It’s honestly quite touristy but it’s worth it! If you’re looking for an extended hike, just keep hiking beyond the pond to one of the nearby peaks. They’re well marked.

There’s not too much to do in the town of Hakuba, but you can definitely just walk around the area. One other park you might visit is the Oide Park, better during cherry blossom season when the trees bloom next to the Himekawa River. The town center by the train station has a couple souvenir shops but otherwise town feels pretty local.

While you can eat at some of the hotels/ryokans, there’s quite a few amazing restaurants here! My favorite was the local unagi restaurant that was the best we ate on our trip. Koiya has probably been around for many years and it seems to be run by an old couple. You have the option of a tatami table or western style. Everything is made fresh so you have to allot 20 minutes for them to prepare the eel. It tastes so fresh and moist, seriously incredible.

We also stumbled upon Yakiniku Miyama, the only grill/bbq restaurant we ate at the entire trip. We got to try wagyu beef here and other cuts that were a fraction of the cost if you ate it in the US. I thought that this restaurant was delicious and I’m sure there’s plenty other out there that are great too but for the price, this was perfect for us.

Lastly, there’s a cafe that is definitely worth your visit in Hakuba. Senjeu is a sourdough bakery that offers uniquely made coffee and teas (or unique to me at least) with light meals and pastries. They have counter seating or typical cafe seating. I was blown away by their bread and azuki red bean jam. Soooo delicious! Can’t say enough about this place and you’re likely gonna find the baker in the back preparing more breads to be baked. It really exemplifies how local everything is in Hakuba, honestly my favorite town of the whole trip.

 

Matsumoto – Kamikōchi

Our next stop was Matsumoto simply because it was a large city with plenty of options to stay and eat. It’s a quick train ride from Hakuba in the same valley. I didn’t end up doing much here but you can come here to see the Matsumoto Castle. They have some old shopping streets but they felt a bit gimmicky. I was honestly astounded by how many horse meat restaurants there were and it really rubbed me the wrong way. Just a heads up if that’s not what you’re into, it’s kind of everywhere especially in the busier areas.

Matsumoto is a great place to stay if you want a day trip to Kamikōchi. My goal to visit this area was to see the Japanese larches! They’re a very different variety than what you’d find in Washington. These grow much taller! The area is one of the easiest to get to with a train-bus system that runs regularly taking many visitors to the park in a day. When you get off the train, there’s a connecting bus to take you to the mountains, but don’t worry there’s enough space for everyone. I think 3 busses fit everyone on the train. Kamikōchi is part of the Chubu-Sangaku National Park. There’s plenty of short trails or if you want to hike uphill, peaks like Mount Hotaka and huts you can get to for a lunch break. If you can make it to the Karasawa Cirque, that would definitely be highlight! We got off at one of the first stops which was actually a great idea because then you can walk the trails to the last bus stop and do whatever else you want and then figure out how to book a ride back later at the visitor center. If you’re looking for a thru-travel, there’s bus tickets that allow you to go straight to Takayama instead of back to Matsumoto.

The one restaurant I’d recommend is Katsu Gen Honten. It’s super filling and everything is freshly made to order. It’s got a great local vibe inside and we were surprised to see quite a few tourists actually, but after making small talk with a shared table customer, they rather liked this place too. Free refills on rice and salad (pretty common across Japan).

Nagiso

The last area I want to share about in the Nagano Prefecture is the Nagiso area. It’s a great ride through the mountains, a little more obscure way to get to Nagoya than through the valley of Iida or Achi. If it wasn’t raining so hard, I would have done a few more things such as hiking up the Atera Valley or Kakizore River for the gorgeous blue ravines and waterfalls. If it is rainy, consider visiting the towns. I had to take a small bus from the main Nagiso station to Tsumago-juku. They don’t run frequently so make sure you get in and out at the right time to avoid missing a train! This town is one of the few preserved from the Edo era. It used to be a post town as one of the main towns traveling between Kyoto and current Tokyo. A lot of it seems preserved for just tourist and visitors but still well worth to learn about the history and culture. Check out the local museum! We ate plenty of local food from steamed buns to dango (like mochi balls) and gohei mochi (a grilled sticky rice on a stick and coated with a sweet sticky sauce). This last one is particularly local to Nagano.

From Nagiso you can easily reach Nagoya by an express train and be on your way to your next destination! More blogs coming soon of different regions!

Photos taken on Canon 5D Mark IV and iPhone 13 mini