Kamikochi

Kamikochi is a river valley in the Northern Japan Alps of Nagano Prefecture, sitting at about 1,500 meters and protected as part of a national park. It is the Japanese Alps at their most approachable, a place of boardwalk trails and clear water beneath peaks that fill the sky.

Day walkers loop between Kappa Bridge, the valley's famous suspension crossing, and the drowned trees of Taisho Pond, with the Hotaka range and the Azusa River for company the whole way. Serious climbers push on toward Yarigatake, while everyone else settles into riverside lodges and hot soaks nearby.

Private cars are banned, so buses deliver you from Matsumoto or Takayama into remarkably quiet air. The valley opens from spring snowmelt to mid-November and closes completely in winter. October brings larch gold, and lodges book out early; give the valley at least one unhurried full day.