Sharing my 7.5 days trip using 5-day Alpine-Takayama-Matsumoto Area Tourist Pass with remaining 2.5 days stay in Tokyo. This tourist pass makes it convenient as I travel with my mom and there's not need to purchase tickets separately for Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route part. This pass also granted 2 way travel along the Alpine Route which is essential for my trip because of 1 night stay at Midagahara.
Transportation
Day 1: Meitetsu μSKY Limited Express from Chubu Centrair International Airport to Nagoya Station; Ticket can be purchased from the ticket machine minutes before departure.
Hida Express from Nagoya to Takayama; seat reservation can be done through tourist pass site before arriving at Japan. I select the cars with luggage space. Washrooms are available at certain cars.
Day 2: Nohi bus from Takayama to Shirakawago; Bus ticket can only booked one way so have to purchase separately to and from tickets. Seats are assigned randomly but if booked together (buy 2 tickets) will be assigned to sit next to each other. No washroom on the bus.
Hida Express from Takayama to Gero; seat reservation done using ticket machine at Takayama Station. Tourist pass allow up to 4 times seat reservation so I used up 2 times here. Washrooms are available at certain cars.
Day 3: Nohi bus from Takayama to Toyama; Originally plan to use Hida Express but due to service suspension so purchased bus ticket instead.
Day 4: All the Alpine Route transports from Dentetsu-Toyama Station until Murodo, then taking bus back to Midagahara (stopover bus).
Day 5: All the Alpine Route transports until Shinano Omachi Station; JR Oito Line from Shinano Omachi to Matsumoto; end of tourist pass usage.
Day 6: Limited Express Azusa from Matsumoto to Shinjuku; I purchased ticketless promo ticket from ekinet japan site, need to retrieve physical ticket for the seat reserve part at Matsumoto Station ticket machine. I chose the car number with luggage area for convenience.
Saikyo Line from Shinjuku to Ikebukuro; at first I was worried because I can ride JR trains to Ikebukuro without coming out from station, then on thorough check on my Azusa ticket I realized it states Matsumoto-Tokyo region so can totally exit without the need to purchase extra ticket from Shinjuku to Ikebukuro part.
Day 7: Seibu Ikebukuro Line from Ikebukuro to Toshimaen Station
Day 8: Willer Express Bus from Ikebukuro to Narita Airport; Earlier reservation (at least 24 hours before) has discounted price.
Accommodation
Night 1-2: Hotel Kuretakeso Takayama Ekimae
Thought-> Very good accommodation in terms of location, amenities and services. It's really close to the West Exit elevator of Takayama Station. The amenities provided surprised me, they have a full set of skin care products and free bath salt! Besides the free coffee machine (not 24 hours), they even have free to take instant coffee sticks and tea bag! There are some mangas (in Japanese) and free massage chairs available too! Honestly I'm really surprised at how much amenities for guests! The Happy Hour is also good if you can drink alcohol or enjoy soft drinks. I didn't expect this much from a 2-star hotel so I'm really happy with my choice this time!
Night 3: Hotel JAL City Toyama
A night stopover before Alpine Route. A very luxury looking room with a separate bathroom with huge bathtub and shower heads. Bed size also very big and comfortable. The skincare amenities have to be taken from the check-in counter with the staffs staring lol while other amenities are on a small table outside elevator. There is a nepresso coffee machine inside the room too. Location wise is quite convenient to reach Toyama Station as the road is all connected to the station after crossing to the opposite side of the hotel. There is even a sofa inside the room so really feel very comfortable. There was the travel adapter thing that can help to charge type C devices available in the room too.
Night 4: Midagahara Hotel
Very special experience to stay on mountain for me! Really amazing to have snow view just outside the window! I booked room with 2 beds but was assigned to room with 3 beds instead. The room is very spacious even with 3 single beds. Luckily I booked the room with individual bathroom as I learnt that hot spring water is too hot for me! Even though I travelled to Japan few times by my own but this is my first time trying out onsen, still a good experience as there was nobody else around. The view from the room window is really amazing! There is no air conditioner inside room and there's instruction to open up the window if feeling hot or stuffy inside room to let the cool air in. Dinner and breakfast are included in room booking (I booked through the hotel website). Dinner was nice but I do wish for more beefs because it's super delicious! Breakfast is in buffet style with quite a variety of foods.
During check-in will be asked the bus timing for departure from hotel so there will be available seats in bus either towards Murodo or towards Bijoidara. There are drink machine on lobby so can have hot beverages while enjoying beautiful view from the big windows. There is also one souvenir shop besides entrance that's opened early in morning.
Night 5: Hotel Iidaya
Probably my worst accommodation experience in Japan so far. I think it's mostly likely due to the room assigned that's really not suitable to be made into a guest room. The room is even tinier than some of the past accommodations I ever been in Tokyo! I guess putting twin bed in a corner room with diagonal layout is really too tough, me & my mother had to crab walk while clinging to the wall when moving around in the room.
The tiny room is located directly opposite to washroom next to the restaurant and the area is accessible by anyone because both the elevator and staircase were open access and not restricted for hotel guest only. The toilet door inside our room was broken and cannot close tight. The sockets available in the room was little as one being occupied by the table lamp that was not very practical because the room already had a very bright ceiling light. Luckily we only stayed one night because this hotel was only good for the extremely close location to the Matsumoto Station.
Night 6-7: Dai-ichi Inn Ikebukuro Hotel
Had some issues where my booking of Twin Room on Agoda was being taken as Double Bed when checking in at hotel. I was made to pay extra to "upgrade" to Twin Room and Agoda still have not get back to me on this issue.
Hotel is located quite close to the station, and thankfully also quite close to the bus stop of direct bus to Narita Airport. I saw lots of comments on the escalator being in one direction only, there is the elevator located at the back of escalator going in from right side of entrance.
Hotel room is quite spacious as compared to previous one. The amenities are as usual but not sure why shower cap is not provided in this hotel when asked at counter. There was the travel adapter thing that can help to charge type C devices available inside the drawer.
Daily Activities (Finally my favorite part!
Day 1: Not much itinerary for today except to exchange for the physical tourist pass and to find hotel. Had a nice afternoon stroll around Takayama Old Town area and tried out the delicious pudding in Takayama Pudding Tei. Also got to visit Bagpipe Café for a bit of Hyouka pilgrimage before the closing time.
Day 2: Visited Shirakawa-go during daytime and went to Gero during evening. Luckily the weather was good the whole day. Shirakawa-go was full of visitors even not in winter season. A lot of shops were opened quite early selling different types of foods. There were few washrooms around so not need to worry for super long queue. As for Gero, we enjoyed the foot spa at the outdoor public foot bath spot next to the river. We brought along the bath towel/sponge thing from hotel amenities corner and it's quite helpful to dry our legs after the spa. Most places had closed so we just went back Takayama afterwards.
Day 3: Visited Miyagawa Morning Market but not many stalls opened as it was raining quite heavily. Found the Satoh Supermarket and had a nice brunch while waiting out the rain. Took bus to Toyama and did some shopping at Toyama Station.
Day 4: Learnt that actually can reserve for cable car at Toyama Station instead of Tateyama Station. I found it out too late so the earliest cable car was reserved after 11am. The luggage forwarding service was quite straightforward because I did write in to check and they were okay to hold the luggage for next day collection too. Took the train to Tateyama and waited for cable car. The schedule was for reference as I believe they increased the transport frequency along the route. Murodo snow wall this year was shorter at 12m, but still impressive for me! Outdoor was very cold when the winds blew so better to wear face mask in addition to winter gear. The snow wall was walking on cleaned road while the roof terrace area of Murodo Station (have to climb staircase up) was walking on snow so it could be quite slippery. Took stopover bus to Midagahara then checked in to the hotel.
Day 5: Enjoying coffee after breakfast buffet at lobby while waiting for the bus time. Then continued the rest of the Alpine Route after Murodo. Walking from Kurobe Lake to Kurobe Dam was not that bad as the road was both wide and easier to walk on. Everything was smooth and the weather became warmer as we reached Ogizawa. The only thing to note of was there was no elevator & escalator at Shinano Omachi Station and the train towards Matsumoto was on opposite platform, thankfully I asked the train staff and slowly dragged our luggage through the staircase to opposite platform before train arrived.
Day 6: Checked out from hotel and departed to Tokyo. Stayed in Ikebukuro this time for easier access to both anime/game related merch stores and to Harry Potter Studio. Visited the reserved café at Otomate Garden for dinner. Bought anime and game merch from various stores around Ikebukuro (Stella Worth for otome merch, Book-off and Surugaya for other merch). Most stores closed around 8pm or 9pm.
Day 7: Visited a 24-hour Matsumoto Kiyoshi store in morning to stock up on some care products back home. After putting back the items back to hotel wer visited another reserved collaboration cafe located very close to hotel.
Afterwards we departed to Harry Potter Studio from Ikebukuro Station and basically spent the rest of the day there. The studio allowed entry one hour before tour time. There was the simple bag check and apparently umbrellas cannot be kept at cloakroom area and had to be brought along the whole tour.
I booked the afternoon tea set ticket so we got to enjoy the themed afternoon tea set anytime during the tour latest at the last 3 hours before studio closing time. The afternoon tea set was quite nice and at least it meant not need to queue in the Backlot Café.
The overall tour experience was superb with lots of movie props on display with description in English available. The Diagon Alley and Ministry of Magic office looked so fantastic! Also had some interactive activities using VR. I enjoyed the many videos shared on the movie making and some details that could be overlooked. The merch store was super huge and the staffs were nice to ask around to make sure people not missing out their tour as it was getting late.
Day 8: Last day of the trip with simple breakfast at Ootoya nearby. Apparently Ootoya only had breakfast set during early morning but still the foods were nice. Bought my favourite apple pies from RINGO store in front of Ikebukuro Station. As I still had time before my noon bus I decided to visit Animate for a quick perfume purchase after making sure the paying queue was not too bad. I never visited Animate so early so it was so surprise to see the large crowd waiting at the door before opening. And for some reasons escalator was not opened so I had to climb the staircase up and down because there was super long queue for elevator. There was a monitor clearly showing the number of cashier which was available so it's really fast to reach me despite me queueing at the end of aisle.
As the bus stop was right next to Global Ring Theatre, it was nice to listen to some nice song performance while waiting for the bus, I even heard people performing "Yume no Naka e" song which is the ending song for anime Kare Kano! The Willer Bus to Narita Airport was very comfortable and every seat came with USB charging port. The timing was very accurate and the rest was just checked in luggage and did some snack shopping before flight.
Thoughts
This is quite a special trip for me as I have been wanting to visit the Great Snow Wall and tried out the Alpine Route that's been said is friendly for people who are not very athletic or with lots of stamina. Glad to be able to include my anime shopping in the trip too.
This is not my first time to Japan but previously I only solo-ed for anime related exhibitions in Tokyo areas so very interesting experience for me to explore Chubu region. Cash is certainly important for this trip because most places (Shirakawa-go & most food stores) do not accept credit card, I also prepared just nice amount of cash for luggage forwarding thinking there will be a long queue. Speaking of luggage forwarding the receipt stated the collection time began at 3pm but the staff been waiting at doorside when we arrived at Shinano-Omachi station around 2pm something, so I guess they adjusted the timing based on the bus timing.
Something I learn is I should just ask if not clear. I could have gotten into earlier cable car if I checked with the Toyama Station staff if can make reservation there. Though we did not miss out a lot since we are not planning to cross the entire route within the day but some times were wasted in waiting. The staffs along the whole route were very friendly and most of them able to speak simple English to assist when approached.
I bought a Japanese plug adapter (Type A to Type C) from some anime collab many years ago and it's still the VIP of my trip to Japan everytime because most places have the sockets available. It's of small size so easy to carry around. Really helps to did some charging while on the train or eating inside the premises.
I like the automatic paying machine as I can clear my coins! Also get to clear most coins with Famima Print and Lawson Print using the copier machine inside the convenience store. I always make sure nobody queueing before using because the copier machine can only take in 1 coin at a time.
I hope it's the norm for all hotels but so far all the hotels I've been will always lend umbrellas when asked. A few allowed me to borrow even after I checked out. I find this very helpful! Of course with how the weather change can be quite sudden it's always best to carry either a foldable umbrella or raincoat just in case.
I did not write much on dinner because I like bento and my mom likes to eat the cup noodles. So we don't really eat out a lot. It's also more relax to slowly eat at room with nice cakes afterwards.
by Syncrietta