Tokyo or Osaka to alpine route

May I know which City should i fly in to get to alpine route? Is Tokyo or Osaka nearer?
Will the ice wall corridor open in mid April?
Is it easy to book a 3D/2N land tour to visit the alpine route area?

If you start at 8:00

Narita to Nagano 160 min

https://goo.gl/m21qqs

Haneda to Nagano 134 min

https://goo.gl/MfZZRr

Kansai Airport (KIX) to Toyama 245 min

https://goo.gl/J8X7sM


Nagano to Murodo (center of the Alpine route where the snow corridor is)

About 150 min

https://www.alpen-route.com/en/timetable/timetable_nagano.html?date=04...
Toyama to Murodo

About 150 min

https://www.alpen-route.com/en/timetable/timetable.html

Therefore Tokyo will take less time. But which airport is better depends on the overall itinerary.

Note that you may need to wait for the bus/cable car/ropeway in the very crowded season.

There should be package tours including the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine route but I think they are not announced yet because it is too early.

I guess that the opening day would be 2019-04-14, Sunday.
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=2019&country=26

The followings are this year's schedule.
2018-04-15 Sun 9:15- "Yuki no Otani Walk" Opening ceremony
2018-04-15 Sun - 2018-04-27 Fri: Giant Kamakura (Snow Cave)
2018-04-15 Sun - 2018-05-06 Sun: Panorama Road (a promenade on snow between Panorama Plaza and Alps Plaza)
2018-04-15 Sun - 2018-06-22 Fri: Walking Zone (along with snow walls on the bus route and Alps Plaza)
...until late June: Snow Corridor (a shorter pedestrian-only road with snow walls)
2018-05-09 Wed - 2018-05-15 Tue: Giant Snow Maze (at Alps Plaza)
2018-05-18 Fri - 2018-05-29 Tue: Snow slopes #1 (for shredding)
2018-06-01 Fri - 2018-06-22 Fri: Snow slopes #2 (for shredding)
2018-06-01 - 2018-11-10: Gulbe (Lake Kurobe pleasure boat, all the others are at Murodo)

You could get to Alpine Route earlier from Tokyo with Hokuriku Shinkansen. You may consider the directions of mountain slopes. It would be better to climb from the Nagano side in the morning to see the slopes facing the sun. Or, climb from the Toyama side in the afternoon. The choice depends on your hotel locations and your route and pace over the Alpine Route.

Based on tour itineraries by View Travel Service of JR East, I think of these:

2N3D: A later start to view the Toyama slopes facing the sun on D1 and an earlier start to view the Nagano slopes on D3. Full-day activities on D2.
D1: Tokyo to Tateyama via Toyama with Hokuriku Shinkansen, night at Murodo
D2: Activities there, night at Murodo
D3: Murodo to Ogisawa, back to Tokyo via Nagano with Hokuriku Shinkansen

1N2D: An earlier start to view the Nagano slopes facing the sun on D1 and a later start to view Toyama slopes on D2. Half-day activities both on D1 and D2.
D1: Tokyo to Ogisawa via Nagano with Hokuriku Shinkansen, activities and night at Murodo
D2: Activities there, Murodo to Tateyama, back to Tokyo via Toyama with Hokuriku Shinkansen

If you choose an open-jaw flight, the 2N3D works fine with Osaka in and Tokyo out. D1 to be Osaka to Tateyama. The 1N2D with Tokyo in Osaka out. Tateyama to Osaka on D2. The choice should depend on the flight schedule.

Thanks for your advice.
We are likely to fly in and out via Osaka as we find Tokyo too crowded (no offence).
Is it better to fly in and out via Nagoya ? Is Nagoya a better place to start our journey to Alpine route? We intend to spend a few days exploring the Alpine route including Tateyama and Takayama before going to Osaka for shopping, all in about 8 days, would it be sufficient?

If you are flying in and out of Osaka. Then the original question is moot.

Nagoya isnt any better. As it has similar, if not worse travel times.

I politely disagree, it's possible Nagoya would be better, it would depend on flight arrival times. One idea is you could do:

Day 1 arrive in NGO and travel to Murodo (night Murodo)
Day 2 Murodo to Toyama then take bus to Takayama (night there)
Day 3 go to Takayama (night there)
Day 4 go to Osaka (night there)
Day 5 Osaka
Day 6 Osaka
Day 7 Osaka
Day 8 Osaka (fly home)

I mean you could add more days to your alpine adventures (say an overnight in Matsumoto or Nagano before you start the route, add another night in Takayama so it looks more like:

Day arrive (Matsumoto or Nagano)
Day 2 Alpine route Murodo
Day 3 Alpine route (night in Takayama, the last bus from Toyama is 18:55 and arrives in Takayama at 21:05)
Day 4 Shirakawa Go
Day 5 Takayama (night Takayama)
Day 6 go to Osaka (night Osaka)
Day 7 shop (night Osaka)
Day 8 fly home from KIX

To be honest, depending on what in particular you are shopping for, you can probably find it in Nagoya and don't even need to go to Osaka unless it is Osaka specific items. Nagoya and Kanazawa (which if you're not trying to go to Osaka you would have time for) have lots of shopping depending on what you are after, you can find it there.

I hope this helps!

Wow, thanks rkold, you have saved me much headache on the planning!
So i can buy the 5 days Alpen-Takayama-Matsumoto visit pass to move around? Do i need to join a local land tour or is it easy to get around free n easy on our own ?

Hi!

I'm really sorry I've never actually done the Alpine route myself. I'll be honest, while we don't get enough snow where I live for snow walls, we get more than enough snow that when it all melts I am glad to see it gone. My daughter lost 8 school days to snow 2017-2018. So seeing snow is not something I can truly appreciate.

I would think if you feel comfortable in Japan you could get around on your own. Takayama had a LOT more English when I was there in 2017. There was even a foreigner working at the JR seat reservation counter. I haven't used NGO recently, but when I used it in 2009, it was really nice.

I am glad I could help give you some ideas.

You may choose Toyama or Komatsu/Kanazawa airport. There are some international flights there.
https://www.alpen-route.com/en/courses/course01.html
https://www.alpen-route.com/en/courses/course06.html

However, I compare Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya in the below.

4:18 3:25 Tokyo 1:40 Nagano 1:45 Ogizawa
4:33 3:40 Nagoya 3:00 Shinano-Omachi 0:40 Ogizawa
5:03 4:10 Shinjuku 3:30 Shinano-Omachi 0:40 Ogizawa
5:33 4:40 Osaka 4:00 Shinano-Omachi 0:40 Ogizawa

4:10 3:13 Tokyo 2:08 Toyama 1:05 Tateyama
5:07 4:10 Osaka 3:05 Toyama 1:05 Tateyama
5:32 4:35 Nagoya (via Kanazawa) 3:30 Toyama 1:05 Tateyama
5:42 4:45 Nagoya (via Takayama) 3:40 Toyama 1:05 Tateyama

Both for Ogizawa and Tateyama, the route from Tokyo is the fastest. If you avoid Tokyo, Nagoya-(Shinano-Omachi)-Ogizawa-Tateyama-(Toyama)-Osaka is the fastest set of connections. But you nominate Takayama. So, Nagoya-(Shinano-Omachi)-Ogizawa-Tateyama-Toyama-Takayama-Nagoya becomes a solution. Yes, this matches the routes of Alpine-Takayama-Matsumoto Area Tourist Pass.
http://touristpass.jp/en/alpine/

The pass is for 5 days. If you want to go around more slowly, you need to separate the sections. This brochure could be a good reference for bus routes.
http://www.meitetsu.co.jp/eng/ticket-info/digitalbook/timetable/index_...

As you are interested in Takayama, NouhiBus site could be useful. There is a direct bus between Takayama and Ogizawa.
https://www.nouhibus.co.jp/english/highwaybus/
https://www.nouhibus.co.jp/highwaybus/ogizawa_en/

You may attend Spring Takayama Festival before Alpine Route. If the timing was good enough, you could see the peak of cherry blossoms there.
http://www.hida.jp/english/festivalsandevents/4000208.html

Thank you rkold and luisjp for the very detailed and informative advice. I look forward to an exciting journey next April 😀