Oct–NovWhat the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route costs, how the WEB ticket and timed boarding work, when seats sell out and what to do with your luggage. Fares are 2026; the 2027 fares are not out.
The operator has not announced the 2027 season, fares or WEB ticket sale dates. Its site still shows the 2026 season, 15 April – 30 November, and the fare table dated 27 February 2026 (effective 15 April 2026), so every price on this page is a 2026 price. The route opened on 15 April in 2025 and 2026. For 2026 the advance WEB ticket was announced on 18 February and sold from 2 March, and standard tickets for April and May from 13 March; I expect a similar window for 2027, but it is not confirmed.
The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route sells fares per section, not a day pass. Tateyama to Ōgizawa is ¥10,940 one way (¥19,680 return) and Tateyama to Murodō, the snow-wall stop, is ¥4,090 one way (¥7,380 return), at 2026 fares. Only two rides need a booked time, the Tateyama Cable Car and the Kanden Tunnel Electric Bus, and the WEB ticket books fare and time together. Buy ahead for weekday mornings from opening to early May, mid-August and mid-September to mid-October. Tickets are valid for 5 days from your boarding date.
The Alpine Route is run by several companies, but one ticket sells any stretch of it from Tateyama on the Toyama side or Ōgizawa on the Nagano side. You buy the sections you will ride, one way or return. It is not an unlimited pass: each section is ridden once, in order, within the five days. That is what lets you sleep at Murodō or Midagahara and carry on the next morning.
Everything except two rides runs first come, first served from the queue. The Tateyama Cable Car out of Tateyama and the Kanden Tunnel Electric Bus out of Ōgizawa take a booked departure time, chosen when you buy. That one time decides how your day goes. The main Alpine Route guide covers what to see; this page is the money and the booking. For the snow walls themselves see the snow-wall guide.
Adult fares in yen, one way, on the 2026 table (as of 27 February 2026, effective 15 April 2026). Children aged 6–11 pay about half; under 6 travel free. 2027 fares are not published.
| Stage | Vehicle | Time | Adult, one way |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dentetsu-Toyama → Tateyama | Toyama Chiho Railway | 65 min | ¥1,420 (IC ¥1,280) |
| Tateyama → Bijodaira | Tateyama Cable Car (booked time) | 7 min | ¥1,090 |
| Bijodaira → Murodō | Tateyama Highland Bus | 50 min | ¥3,000 |
| Murodō → Daikanbo | Tateyama Tunnel Electric Bus | 10 min | ¥2,200 |
| Daikanbo → Kurobedaira | Tateyama Ropeway | 7 min | ¥1,700 |
| Kurobedaira → Kurobeko | Kurobe Cable Car | 5 min | ¥1,150 |
| Kurobeko → Kurobe Dam | On foot | 15 min | Free |
| Kurobe Dam → Ōgizawa | Kanden Tunnel Electric Bus (booked time from Ōgizawa) | 16 min | ¥1,800 |
| Ōgizawa → Shinano-Ōmachi | Alpico local bus | 40 min | ¥2,000 |
The stage fares add up to the operator's through fares below (Tateyama to Kurobeko ¥9,140, Tateyama to Ōgizawa ¥10,940). The Ōgizawa to Shinano-Ōmachi bus fare was revised to ¥2,000 from April 2026. The Super Tateyama limited express adds ¥1,000 between Dentetsu-Toyama and Tateyama.
| Trip | One way | Return | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tateyama → Murodō | ¥4,090 | ¥7,380 | Snow walls, Murodō, Mikurigaike |
| Ōgizawa → Murodō | ¥6,850 | ¥12,300 | Same, from the Nagano side. Child ¥3,430 / ¥6,150 |
| Tateyama → Kurobeko (Kurobe Dam) | ¥9,140 | ¥16,480 | Child ¥4,580 / ¥8,240 |
| Tateyama → Ōgizawa (the full crossing) | ¥10,940 | ¥19,680 | Child ¥5,480 / ¥9,840 |
| Dentetsu-Toyama → Murodō | ¥5,510 | ¥10,220 | Adds the Chiho Railway at ¥1,420 each way |
| Dentetsu-Toyama → Shinano-Ōmachi | ¥14,360 | n/a | Adds the Chiho Railway and the Ōgizawa bus |
A return fare is about 10% below two singles (¥7,380 against 2 × ¥4,090). Dentetsu-Toyama rows are sums of the rail fare and the Alpine fares, not a quoted through ticket. The six stages add up to ¥10,940 for Tateyama to Ōgizawa, the operator's through fare, which is what this site uses.
The first booked ride. Choose the time when you buy the WEB ticket, or take what is left at the counter. It lifts you 502 m in seven minutes and runs about every 20 minutes. Allow time for the transfer at Tateyama: the operator warns not to cut connections close.
Past the first ride, boarding is by queue. When queues build the ropeway has handed out numbered boarding tickets, as in the photo, so the order you arrive in sets the order you ride. This is why a tight connection on a peak day can cost an hour.
The booked ride on the Nagano side: choose your Ōgizawa time when you buy. Going the other way, from Kurobe Dam, you queue. The bus crosses the prefecture border under the mountain. Ōgizawa to Shinano-Ōmachi is a separate local bus, ¥2,000.
The one free section: a 15-minute walk across the dam wall between the Kurobe Cable Car and the Kanden bus. Allow an hour if you stop for the view and the water discharge, which runs from late June to mid-October.
The long ride, and the one that drives between the snow walls in spring. No booked time, but boarding again after a stop at Midagahara or Tengudaira needs a reservation at that station. Coming down it is busiest 13:00–16:00.
The operator publishes a congestion forecast by time of day and names three periods when same-day sales to day-trippers can be capped.
| Period | 2026 marker | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Opening to early May (Golden Week) | 15 Apr–15 May were peak days in the 2026 timetable | Same-day tickets for day-trippers can be capped. Snow-wall weeks. |
| Mid-August (Obon) | 11–15 Aug were peak days | Same-day tickets for day-trippers can be capped. Obon holidays. |
| Mid-September to mid-October | 19–22 Sep and 10–11 Oct were peak days | 8–13 Oct 2026: same-day round trips at Dentetsu-Toyama and Tateyama "extremely limited"; sales could stop early in the morning |
Example from the operator's notice of 13 October 2026: same-day round-trip tickets at Tateyama for 14–19 October were limited to about 110 for departures up to 7:00, 250–400 from 8:00 to noon and 240–350 in the afternoon each day, with a warning that they could sell out soon. Guests who sleep on the route are not subject to the cap and can buy same-day tickets in the afternoon.
| Where | Busiest | Lighter |
|---|---|---|
| Tateyama cable car, Ōgizawa tunnel bus (going up) | First departure to 8:00, then 8:00–10:00 | 10:00–13:00 is lighter except on holidays; after 13:00 is quiet |
| Highland Bus down to Bijodaira | 13:00–16:00, then 12:00–13:00 | 8:00–11:00 is quiet; 11:00–12:00 and after 16:00 are lighter except on holidays |
| Tunnel bus, Murodō toward Daikanbo | 11:00–14:00, then 10:00–11:00 and 14:00–15:00 | 8:00–10:00 and after 16:00 are quiet |
Conditions vary with the weather. The busiest hour at Tateyama is the first departure, not the afternoon; the afternoon crush is the Highland Bus coming down.
| Item | Time | Note |
|---|---|---|
| First Chiho Railway train | 5:10 limited express from Dentetsu-Toyama, Tateyama 6:00 | Train times on the 2026 timetable (as of 26 Jun 2026) |
| First cable car | 7:00, then every 20 minutes; 6:40 on peak days | Peak days in 2026: 15 Apr–15 May, 18–19 Jul, 11–15 Aug, 19–22 Sep, 10–11 Oct |
| Earliest at Murodō from Tateyama | 8:30 on ordinary days; 7:50 on peak days | Cable car, then the Highland Bus (50 min) |
| Earliest at Murodō from Ōgizawa | 8:55 on the 7:30 departure | Kanden bus, Kurobe Dam walk, cable car, ropeway, tunnel bus |
| Last connection up to Murodō | 15:40 cable car, Highland Bus 16:00, Murodō 16:50 | Check the day's timetable on peak days |
| Last connection through to Ōgizawa | 15:00 cable car, Ōgizawa 17:51 | Last local bus to Shinano-Ōmachi 17:55; the last Nagano express left Ōgizawa at 17:00 |
| Last bus down from Murodō | 16:20 (17:00 on peak days) | Tateyama 17:27; check the day's timetable |
As of 26 June 2026. 4–30 November runs a separate winter timetable with earlier last departures. The 2027 timetable is not published.
The official forwarding service runs 15 April – 8 November 2026. Cash only, no reservation, ¥4,000 per item between Dentetsu-Toyama (or Tateyama hotels) and Shinano-Ōmachi (or Ōmachi Onsen hotels).
| Where | Drop off | Pick up |
|---|---|---|
| Dentetsu-Toyama Station | 5:00–10:00 (15 Apr–31 May: 5:00–9:00 at Area B, 9:00–10:00 at Area A) | 15:30–18:00 |
| Shinano-Ōmachi Station | 7:40–10:30 | 15:00–17:45 |
| Hotels near Tateyama Station (guests only): Senjuso, Green View Tateyama, Hotel Morinokaze Tateyama | Until 8:30 | After 16:30 |
| Ōmachi Onsen and Shinano-Ōmachi hotels (guests only, about 18 listed) | Until 8:30 | After 16:30 |
Dentetsu-Toyama to Tateyama hotels and Shinano-Ōmachi to Ōmachi Onsen are ¥2,000 each. No cash, valuables or fragile items; oversize or overweight bags may be refused, and no size limit is published. Do not leave a bag at the Yamato counter in Toyamarche expecting it to cross the mountain: the operator says that counter does not handle this service.
Lockers are at six stations: Tateyama, Bijodaira, Midagahara, Murodō, Kurobe Dam and Ōgizawa. If you want to send a bag after 8 November or between other points, Yamato counters at Tateyama and Ōgizawa stations are reported to charge ¥2,000–¥2,500 a bag with next-day delivery between hotels; I could not confirm that on the operator's pages, so ask at the counter. Sleeping at one of the Tateyama hotels in the table above puts your bag one step closer to the service.
Neither the JR Pass nor the Hokuriku Arch Pass covers the Alpine Route or the Toyama Chiho Railway; both stop at Toyama. These do, or skip the planning.
Dentetsu-Toyama to Shinano-Ōmachi plus JR lines to Nagoya, for foreign visitors; no Shinkansen. It is not a boarding ticket: swap it for a time at Tateyama or Ōgizawa before the first cable car. Pass guide.
See on Klook ↗A bus from Takayama to Ōgizawa, then the vehicles of the route to Tateyama Station. For trips that start in Takayama or Nagoya and end in Toyama.
See on Klook ↗A guided day on the route with transport and timed slots handled: snow walls in spring, Murodō and Kurobe Dam.
See on Klook ↗The Yuki-no-Ōtani snow corridor with a stop at Takaoka's National Treasure temple. Spring only.
See on Klook ↗The operator's guide site: walks and hikes from Murodō with local guides, several in English. Route fares are extra. Not an affiliate link.
See tours on TATECO ↗Six things that save a missed connection or a sold-out day.
Toyama for the 5:10 train, Tateyama for the first cable car (or the falls bus first), the mountain itself for a quiet morning, Ōmachi for a Nagano-side start. Hotel Tateyama at Murodō ended its accommodation business on 31 August 2026 (its restaurant and shop stay open), so the high-altitude beds are now the lodges. See the Murodō lodges.
1 min across the road from the south exit and two from Dentetsu-Toyama, where the Chiho Railway to Tateyama starts. The pick for the 5:10 first train.
One of the hotels near Tateyama Station on the operator's luggage-forwarding list (guests only): leave the case at the hotel by 8:30 and it is waiting at Shinano-Ōmachi after 15:00. Sleeping here puts you at the cable car for the first departure.
A hotel on the Midagahara plateau, about 2 min on foot from the Midagahara bus stop, reachable only by Alpine Route vehicles (check-in 15:00, check-out 10:00). Your ticket stays valid for 5 days, so you ride on the next morning before the day groups.
The lodge beside Japan's oldest mountain hut, a short walk across the plateau from the terminal. Sleeping here puts you at the snow walls and the pond before the day groups arrive. Private and shared tatami rooms; open mid-April to late November.
A large hotel in the Ōmachi Onsenkyō hot-spring village above Shinano-Ōmachi, on the operator's luggage-forwarding list. Stone and cypress baths with open-air tubs. The base for an early start from Ōgizawa.
An IHG resort in the same hot-spring village and on the same luggage-forwarding list. Another base for a Nagano-side start: the local bus to Ōgizawa serves Ōmachi Onsen.
The operator also lists Mikurigaike Onsen and Tengudaira Sansō as lodging on the route. More choice in the Toyama hotels guide.
Not always, but it is safer. Only two rides need a booked departure time: the Tateyama Cable Car from Tateyama and the Kanden Tunnel Electric Bus from Ōgizawa. The WEB ticket books fare and time together. Same-day tickets are the fallback, and from opening to early May, mid-August and mid-September to mid-October the operator can limit them for day-trippers. On 8–13 October 2026 same-day round trips from Tateyama were described as extremely limited.
Not announced as of 14 October 2026. In 2026 the advance ticket (Dentetsu-Toyama to Ōgizawa, one way, limited numbers) was announced on 18 February and sold from 2 March at 10:00, and standard tickets for April and May went on sale on 13 March at 15:00. The 2025 advance sale began on 28 February. Expect late February to mid-March for 2027, then a rolling sale about four to five weeks ahead of each ten-day block.
From Tateyama Station, ¥4,090 one way or ¥7,380 return (2026 fares). Add the Toyama Chiho Railway from Dentetsu-Toyama, ¥1,420 each way (¥1,280 by IC card), and a return from Toyama adds up to about ¥10,220. The optional Super Tateyama limited express adds ¥1,000. Children aged 6–11 pay about half.
Yes, at Dentetsu-Toyama (the window usually opens at 7:30 and can open as early as 5:00), at Tateyama (20 minutes before the first departure) and at Ōgizawa (40 minutes before). You are given a time that has seats, which may not be the one you wanted. On peak days sales to day-trippers can be capped or stop early in the morning; guests staying on the route can still buy same-day tickets in the afternoon.
Yes, with limits. Standard tickets could be bought or changed until 15:00 the day before; for the November 2026 tickets a cancellation after that cost ¥500. Advance and early-bird tickets were free to cancel until 23:59 ten days before (five days for the November snow-trip ticket) and ¥1,000 after. If a section is suspended, a WEB ticket is refunded without a fee, automatically from the next day. Missed connections are not refunded.
No. Both get you to Toyama by Shinkansen and stop there; neither covers the Toyama Chiho Railway or the Alpine Route vehicles. The one pass that does is the Alpine-Takayama-Matsumoto Area Tourist Pass, ¥24,500 for 5 days, for foreign visitors. Exchange it for a boarding pass at Tateyama or Ōgizawa before the first cable car.
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