Mt Naeba (苗場山, naeba-san) is one of the Hundred Famous Mountains of Japan, located on the border of Nagano and Niigata prefectures. It’s particularly famous for its beautiful marshland near the summit.
This post is a bit of a throwback, as I hiked Mt Naeba with some friends back in October of 2023 before I was regularly writing up all of my hikes on this blog. Of course since it’s a Hundred, and I got such nice photos of it too, it had been on my to-do list for a while to put it up on this blog - and now it’s finally made it out of the drafts.
Hiking Mt Naeba: a quick summary
An overnight bus from Shinjuku will drop you at the Haraigawa trailhead, or you can take a taxi to the Koakasawa trailhead. Both trailheads also have carparks, and it's about a 3 - 3.5h drive from Tokyo.
- Haraigawa trailhead (out-and-back)hardOvernight bus8 hrs·14 km
- Koakasawa trailhead (out-and-back)mediumTaxi5.75 hrs·8.8 km
Since it is a bit of a drive from Tokyo, we opted to stay in a guesthouse near Echigo-Yuzawa the night before (and have some delicious dinner at Asakusa Shokuya) before setting out early in the morning to make the final drive to the trailhead.
When we arrived at the Haraigawa trailhead (祓川登山口), we were super surprised to see snow! It had rained the night before, which translated to snow on the mountaintops. This was rather unexpected for October, but a pretty cool sight to see autumn foliage and snow at the same time.
The course we opted for was a nearly 8-hour, 14km out-and-back course.
You cross a ski field, so there is a chairlift to make your climb up a bit shorter - but we had just missed the cutoff for the year and it was already closed.
Although this was my first time hiking Mt Naeba, it wasn’t my first time visiting. Since it operates as a ski resort in the winter months, actually this place was the first ever place I tried snowboarding. Not that I really recognised the scenery - I think this section is more of an advanced slope.
Looking back at these photos now, I’m surprised at really how much snow there was.
There’s one section of the hike where you’ll descend before you then make the final climb back up to the summit, so you can see that ridgeline stretching out before you. A pretty neat sight, albeit partly obscured by the snow and fog.
We also passed a sign pointing out a flower meadow.
The marshland at the summit is quite iconic and we had been looking forward to this view, but it was an unexpected winter version that we got to experience. Arguably much prettier too!
After a summit photo, we had a quick lunch break. Even though the sun was fully out, due to the low temperatures it was quite chilly. I was super grateful for my friend who had brought along her burner and shared some hot chocolate to help warm me up.
As we started our descent and the snow began to melt, it felt like I was hiking a completely different mountain.
On the way back, we could see the flower meadow sign had revived a bit.
Since the path on the way there has you do a descent and then a climb, on the way back this also means there’s another climb. From here I took one last look towards Mt Naeba.
For comparison, this was that exact same view like 3.5 hours earlier:
Crazy to see the difference!
Of course, with all the melted snow the path back was pretty muddy and wet. Partway through, I resigned myself to having completely wet shoes and socks.
We finished the hike around 4pm, from where we made the long drive back to Tokyo.
Hiking course options
This is the course I hiked, an out-and-back from the Haraigawa (祓川) trailhead. You cross a ski field near the start, which can make the course shorter if the Kagura No. 1 lift is operational.
There’s also a second trailhead at Koakasawa (小赤沢) if you are looking for a shorter hike. The main downside is that this one is a 4h drive from Tokyo, so it’s a bit further away.
Using the Kagura No 1 lift from Haraigawa
You’ll remember there was a chairlift (かぐら第１高速リフト) near the start of the hike from the Haraigawa trailhead. This runs between mid-July and mid-October on weekends from 6am. If you take this lift on the way up, you’ll be able to shave an hour off your hiking time. The lift only takes people up, so you’ll have to walk back down.
Public transport access
From a quick Google, there are at least two options for hiking Mt Naeba via public transport:
- Get an overnight Maitabi bus. It’ll leave Shinjuku at 1130pm, and drop you off at the Haraigawa trailhead at 4:30am. The lift ticket is included, and you have until 3:15pm to finish your hike. It’ll then stop by an onsen, before you are dropped off back at Shinjuku station at 9pm.
- Get a taxi to the Koakasawa trailhead, which looks to cost at least 8,700 yen 1-way (I suppose if you can find 3 friends, it will become cheaper?).
Staying at a minshuku
We stayed at a minshuku the night before - it was super cozy, and the price was reasonable too (around 5000 yen for my own room).
If you’re not familiar, a minshuku usually has Japanese-style tatami rooms. The toilets are shared and the bath/shower is onsen-style. Echigo-Yuzawa is a very popular skiing area, so I’m sure minshuku costs in the skiing season are over 10,000 yen per night, but they must do it quite cheaply in the off-season. Unfortunately I can’t remember which one exactly I stayed at…
Car access details
I think there are quite a few trailheads in total for Mt Naeba, but here are teh carparks for the two I have mentioned above:
- Haraigawa trailhead carpark - 3 - 3.5h drive from Tokyo
- Koakawasawa trailhead carpark - 3.5 - 4h drive from Tokyo
https://maps.app.goo.gl/7qmeVSJd9h743tFm6
When to hike Mt Naeba
Mt Naeba can be hiked without snow during late June to mid-October. We hiked it on the 22nd of October in the hopes of still catching it during its autumn foliage season, but ended up being caught out by the snow!
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See other hikes nearby
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