The Japanese Alps in summer: Takayama, Kamikochi and the Kiso post towns

The trip, leg by leg

1. 1 · 2 nightsWanosato

   Hida farmhouses moved to the woods by the Miya river, 2 hours 20 minutes from Nagoya by the Hida limited express, for Takayama's old merchant streets and morning markets; the inn's car to Takayama, the Nohi bus to Hirayu Onsen and the shuttle on into the valley take about an hour and a half.

2. 2 · 2 nightsImperial Hotel, Kamikochi

   The valley's hotel, open from late April to early November, for walks up the Azusa river to Myojin pond and Tokusawa in the early morning; the bus to Shin-Shimashima and the Kamikochi line reach Matsumoto in about 1 hour 45 minutes, leaving time for Narai, the nearest of the post towns, on the Chuo line south of the city. Asama Onsen is about 20 minutes by taxi from Matsumoto station.

3. 3 · 2 nightsMatsumoto Jujo

   Two hotels made from an inn recorded from 1686 in the hot-spring town of Asama Onsen, on the edge of Matsumoto, with dinner from a wood-fired grill; the middle day goes down the Kiso valley, by the Shinano to Nakatsugawa (75 minutes) and the bus to Magome, to walk the old road over the pass to Tsumago, about 8 km in two to three hours. The Shinano reaches Nagano in about 50 minutes, and the Nagano Electric Railway's limited express Yudanaka in about 45 more.

4. 4 · 2 nightsShoraiso

   A five-room ryokan opened in 2024 in Yudanaka Onsen, each room with its own open-air bath, for kaiseki in the evening and, by day, the monkeys of Jigokudani and the walks of Shiga Kogen; back at Nagano, the Hokuriku Shinkansen reaches Tokyo in about 80 minutes.