Kanazawa to Kiso - less mountainous route

Kanazawa to Kiso - less mountainous route via car early December

I would appreciate any help. I will have a car and wish to reach Narai Juku and Kiso from Kanazawa but wish to avoid the very mountainous areas since no one would like winter surprises and travelling through mpuntains (first time driver in Japan).

There are a couple of routes when I am looking online but they appear to be through mountainous areas and have no understanding how difficult drining may be through these. They are between 3-4 hours and they are the shortest direct route. So I am looking for more of a level drive through valleys route if there is one.

ChatGPT mentioned a Chuo expressway but I cannot really find it anywhere. Maybe wrong suggestion.

Any suggestions for me to research would be most appreciated.

I think the fewest passes would be to follow the Hokuriku Shinkansen route from Kanazawa to Toyama, and then turn south at Itoigawa for Matsumoto, Shiogiri, and Kiso. If you're doing it in winter, you can still get snowed in following thesevalleys. Once in January, the Shinkansen I was riding had to stop somewhere after Itoigawa to wait for the snow to get cleared, and then had to just creep along. The roads around Shirakawa and Takayama often get closed during a snowstorm.

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Are there not any "highways" in this route that I could take? One would think that a highway is less likely to close and better maintained compared to random small roads.

What a head scratcher this turned out to be !!!

You are saying that you�fll go in early December. It�fs quite unlikely that there will be snow/ice on the roads at that time.

I am wondering though if car is the best mode of transportation for you. Japan is a very mountainous country. Do you want to visit anything between Kanazawa and Kiso valley? Or anywhere small after that that warrants a car all the way?
I am not opposed to the strategic use of rental cars in Japan but driving is slow even on highways. And much slower still on normal roads. Even national roads because of the mountains. It can be a lot of fun, but I think only if you explore places that otherwise would be hard/impossible to reach.

It will be a much longer route, can consider from Kanazawa towards Gifu, via Nakatsugawa to Narai-juku

Are there not any "highways" in this route that I could take?

Yes there are.

https://x.gd/IrQfm

263 km, 3 hours 50 min.

Time-wise, this is the shortest route.

You might like to check a map. Kiso is in the mountains and the Japanese Alps do run through the centre of the country so you are not going to avoid mountains.

I am sorry that the link I posted did not work well.

I was intended to show the route:

Kanazawa to Shirakawago to Gujo hachiman to Mino-Seki Junction (Via E41, Tokai-Hokuriku highway) and then Tokai Circle highway (E19) to Toki JCT and then to Chuo Expressway to Nakatsugawa. In this route, most of the sections are highways.

Hello,

I would like to provide feedback for future travellers.

I used the (Google maps) route provided by the earlier user. Thank you !

I did the route in the 2nd week of December. Kanazawa to Narai Juku and then Kiso Fuji.

The first 3/5 of this route (westwards) are on the expressway and your drive through long tunnels for the most part. There was no problem amnd I suspect it would be the same even if it snowed heavily. It then turns to the north leaving the expressway. This is when the road turns windy and you go up and down mountains. This was quite well maintained with snow cleared in the curbs. The last part where I was already in the Kiso valley was slightly snowed (<1 cm) but without any serious problems. However, this part was not travelled often. I drove for 20 minutes without seeing a single car ! I suspect this part is/will not be well maintained in case of heavy snow fall.

All in all, it was an enjoyable experience. This area had snow whilst the rest of Japan did not so please be careful to check the local weather in the Nagano prefecture and do not be fooled by higer temperatures elsewhere.

Thanks for the detailed road trip report!