Japan Spring 2023 - Kamikochi

Kamikochi topped our favourites list in our 20 days in Japan. This is a beautiful trekking area with aquamarine rivers, very well maintained with proper walking paths hence you will not get your shoes muddy at all!

Some things to note:

1. This place is closed during winter around November and only reopens mid April with limited accommodation, please check their website and plan your trip accordingly. You can download the digital brochure from https://www.kamikochi.org/ which includes details like walking time, places of interest, etc :)

2. Please bring along water and windbreakers/heat packs as it an be quite cold (6-7 deg Celsius) and windy. We were there when they just reopened and there's still snow in some places along the walking paths. I felt just nice with a pair of  jeans and a TNF Ventrix Summit Hoddie with a TNF Resolve 2 shell, wife was similar but with another extra sweater. The little one was on Macpac down jacket (650 goose down).

3. We walked at least 10-12km just within Kamikochi itself. The walking paths are generally flat so walking is easy but they are very long. I don't the think following our below path is recommended for families with younger children unless they can really walk! You can do the first part like ours and have lunch and rest when you reach the restaurant area. You can still decide whether you want to proceed if not too exhausted. There are plenty of places to hang around in that area, take photos, have a cuppa, apple pies and chill :)

We took the 7:40am bus from Takayama and changed buses at Hirayu Onsen, this leg of the trip is about 60 mins. We waited about 10 mins for the connecting bus to Kamikochi and that another 25mins. We disembarked 2 stops prior to Kamikochi, at stop K-28 (Taisho Pond) and walked 1.7km to Kappa bridge, passing by Taisho Pond and Taishiro pond. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have an 8 year old with us hence it took us less than 90 mins to reach the bustling Kamikochi rest area where the main bus stop and restaurants are located.

There are a few restaurants and cafes in Kamikochi so you just need to stay hydrated as their trekking/walking paths are quite a distance. The food there is just for convenience so try not to have your hopes too high. 

After lunch we took the shorter 2.7km path to Myojin bridge, aside from the views from the nearby campsite plus an easier walk, there’s pretty much nothing to see. 
 
Note that there’s an entrance fee (cash only) to Myojin Pond, ¥400/adult and ¥200/child. Myojin pond gives you the opposite feeling of the rushing Azusa river, it’s serene and peaceful. We personally find the river views more spectacular.

For our returning trip to Kappa bridge, we took the longer 3.6km path, it’s more challenging but more views for picture taking. Note that most of the shops in the Kamikochi rest area starts winding down around 3pm the Kamikochi bus station is about 300m away from the rest area, do allow about 5-8mins walking time for that.

If we were able to find more info prior to this trip, we would have started the journey to Myojin bridge from the longer route, which is a small path about 50m from the restaurant which sells apple pies. Because it’s a long walk to Myojin bridge, coming back from Myojin bridge to Kappa bridge we wanted the walk to be short and direct as everyone was already tired, no one is interested in taking any more photos