Full-day tour from Nagano: Tateyama Kurobe Snow Walls
Last updated: September 13, 2026
Walk between snow walls up to 20 meters high on the Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route — the "Roof of Japan" — on a full-day tour from Nagano. A coach collects you at Hotel Kokusai 21 and Nagano Station and runs to Ogizawa, where the route begins in earnest: an electric bus through the mountain to Kurobe Dam, Japan's highest, then cable car, ropeway and trolley bus stepping ever upward to Murodo at 2,450 meters above sea level. In spring the plateau's famous snow corridor opens between sheer white cliffs of snowpack that dwarf everyone walking beneath them; the coach loops back to Nagano by evening.
Itinerary
Departure
- Start point: Hotel Kokusai 21
- Stop at: Ogizawa Station
- Stop at: Murodo Station
- End point: Hotel Kokusai 21
Frequently Asked Questions
The snow corridor at Murodo opens with the Alpine Route in mid-April, when the walls stand at their tallest — up to 20 meters — and it lasts until late June as the snowpack slowly melts. Outside those months the route itself still runs, trading the white canyon for alpine meadows and autumn colour.
From Ogizawa the route stacks one mountain conveyance on the next: an electric bus tunnels straight through the mountain to Kurobe Dam — Japan's highest, built between 1956 and 1963 — then a cable car climbs from the reservoir, a panoramic ropeway rises to Daikanbo, and a trolley bus makes the final run to Murodo at 2,450 meters.
The coach calls at Hotel Kokusai 21 and then Nagano Station in the morning, and returns you to the same stops in the evening — both sit in central Nagano, minutes from Zenko-ji Temple and the city's hotels.
Murodo stays winter-cold well into early summer, so bring warm layers, gloves and waterproof, non-slip shoes for the snowfields — and sunglasses, since the glare off the snow at altitude is fierce even on overcast days.