A high-alpine trek through Kamikochi's protected valley and the jagged peaks of the Hotaka range, Japan's most dramatic mountain scenery.
Kamikochi is a car-free valley 1,500 metres up in the Northern Japan Alps, ringed by the serrated Hotaka peaks and threaded by the clear Azusa River. This trek uses it as a base for progressively longer days — gentle valley walks past the iconic Kappa-bashi bridge at first, building to a full mountain-hut crossing toward Mount Yarigatake for those with alpine experience.
Days start early to catch the peaks before cloud builds, and evenings are spent in mountain lodges or a riverside ryokan with an outdoor onsen. Autumn brings golden larch and crowds; early summer brings snow patches still clinging to the ridgelines and far fewer people on the trail. Either way, this is trekking in some of the most photographed mountains in Japan.
