Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route tickets

I'm planning to visit the Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route next week, preferably on the 17th, otherwise on the 18th. I'll start at the Toyama side, and plan to go just to Murodo and back.

Since I can't order advance tickets anymore, I need to buy the tickets at the ticket office. What I was wondering however, since those will be very busy days: is the number of daily tickets limited? Is there a possibility that I can't get a same day ticket, even when I'm early in the morning? Or is it just a matter of buying a ticket and get in (the probably pretty long) line for the cable car?

This is also important for my choice of hotel. Right now I have two overlapping reservations, the first one for 2 nights in Toyama, and a second one for the first night near Tateyama, after wich I'll move on to Toyama for the second night. However, staying in Tateyama more or less means I'll have to do the Alpine Route on the 17th, otherwise I'll just be stuck in a rather fancy and expensive hotel for a day...

Hope this is not too late for you, but I am right there right now on Toyama. Here is a few things:

1) People are still going up at 2PM, and today is Sunday and the first official day the snow corridor is opened (was supposed to be yesterday but was cancelled due to poor weather). So I assume same day tickets didn't sell out.

2) Morning wait can be long, and expect to wait even more: it took me 30-40 min to buy ticket and that was 630AM! And the earliest ticket I can get is for 8AM. Perhaps this is less bad for weekday.

3) It is windy and reasonably cold (~0degC) up there. There was one really crazy person going TShirt up there with all the snow and wind. It made me feel cold.

4) Expect a lot of foreign and local tourist groups. Those groups kind of making queuing a bit crazy and choatic.

Technically you're reply was in time, I only happen to read it today :-)

The good thing is: I already went to the Alpine Route yesterday (monday), and everything turned out fine. I did change my hotel to Toyama City, so after arriving by overnight bus an dropping off my luggage (minus some much needed warmer clothes...) at the hotel I went straight for the railway station. I bought a ticket at around 7.30 (no line at the ticket office) and got a reservation for the cablecar at 10.20, so about an hour wait at Tateyama. Just enough for a quick visit to the Caldera Museum and a shiroebi korokke. At Bijodaira the transfer to the bus was pretty quick, though I didn't bother to have a look around.

At Murodo however at became pretty obvious how rediculously busy it was, mostly (Chinese) tour groups indeed. But I guess most of them don't go beyond the highest point of the snow corridor, and only very few walk the Panorama Route. Lunch at Tateyama Hotel wasn't really a problem either, I just had to share a table with some Taiwanese travellers which was good fun.

So far the weather had been pretty decent, sunny, 2 degrees centigrade, and just little wind. So after lunch I went for the Mikurigaike Onsen, where I had the bath all for myself. Too bad while I was soaking in the onsen the weather turned for the worse, with some icy snow and very strong winds. That not only meant a rather exhausting walk back to Murodo Station, but also that all activities including the snow corridor were shut down. Nevertheless the way back to Toyama went quite smooth, with waiting times for both bus and cablecar no more than half an hour each, and a very crowded train back tot Toyama.

So all in all no real trouble, and a very memorable experience. I am glad however that I had decided to do just a roundtrip to Murodo from Toyama insted of travelling al the way from Nagano to Toyama. I did also meet several people who wanted to go on sunday, but could only get tickets (cablecar reservation) for monday. So especially during those first few days, it seems to be a good idea to have at least a little flexibility in your itinerary.

Do not listen to the advice above by The WizardOfOs - doing the section only from Toyama to Murodo would be a mistake - the following section (the long Gondola from Daikanbo to Kurobe Dam) is the best part. And furthermore, by completing the entire Alpine Route, instead of having to return to Toyama (which you would realize already if you are there is pretty uninteresting) you would instead end up in the Eastern terminus of The Alpine Route - Omachi Town, showcased here; https://vimeo.com/album/3871748

Don't get me wrong: I would have loved to do that part too, and I would love to come back another time of year and travel the whole route on a less busy day. But I heared from people last monday having to stand in line for the gondola for almost 2 hours, plus of course other long waits along the route. That would mean you're all day busy standing in line and travelling, with hardly any time lift to actually see things.

My experience (I wouldn't call it an advice) is purely based from a practical perspective on one of the peak days.

The wait for me was not too bad. 2 hours, when you think about it, is not that long to take the trip to here.

Unless you really insist to have to return to somewhere far for the night (back in Tokyo etc), the wait is not long enough to cut the trip short. More important, there is no reason to stay the night in somewhere far, there are lodging facility in both Nagano and Toyama entrances, and there are a lot of hotels in Matsumoto/Kanazawa/Toyama; the former two are really worth visiting by their own right. Kanazawa and its surroundings area (Ishikawa and northern Gifu) is a multi-day stay destination (including Kanazawa itself, Noto, Shirakawago). You can throw Kurobe Gorge or Kamikochi (depending itinerary, season, and time available) as well.

As correctly state by another poster, either complete the whole trip across or do the Toyama side up to Murodo. It is not worth the time nor money to do a half trip or super rush trip of this. I stayed two nights on Toyama side of the entrance after 3 nights in Ishikawa prefecture! There is a Chinese saying "enjoying flowers on a running horse", you really do not want to do that in vacation.