My personal golden triangle for Japan lies between Kanazawa, Nagano, and Kiso, with the Japanese Alps at its heart. This region offers something for everyone - whether it be high mountains, gorges and valleys, the sea, wildlife, incredible architecture, cultural venues, or urban centres. I've been here before, so for this go around, I had a singular focus: autumn foliage.
Coming in from the Tokyo area on the Hokuriku Shinkansen, the first stop was Karuizawa, famous for its autumn foliage, at the beginning of November. Kumoba Pond especially is one of Japan's best spots. Avoid the weekend, though, as half of Tokyo shows up during peak autumn, being only an hour away by shinkansen.
My base for the next week was Nagano. From there I visited Narai-juku and Matsumoto. It wasn't quite peak autumn, but that's the challenge with an autumn itinerary - you'll never capture every place at their peak, but the goal is to optimise as much as possible. You also need to improvise as autumn leaves are dynamic. For example, 2025 was a record hot summer for most of Japan, and as a result, autumn foliage was delayed by a week or two. There's also the matter of different elevations and different species of leaf peaking at different times. Overall, it was great fun.
Next up was the incredible Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, where you take 7 different types of transport to reach the high alps. Having been here in summer before, it was a completely different experience showing up in late autumn. This region is a microcosm in what I mentioned above, with elevations ranging from 800m to 3,200m and diverse flora, you'll find some part of this region with autumn foliage from late September all the way to mid-November. In the first week of November, I was definitely late for most of it, but it opened a unique window where autumn coincides with snowfall. On the northern side was Kurobe Gorge, with a charming trolley train. It was definitely early, but I saw great foliage in the mountains surrounding the gorge.
This golden triangle has tons of other attractions, particularly Kanazawa being a concentrated Kyoto, but I skipped those for this trip to focus on the autumn foliage. As mentioned above, it's a race against time to see the autumn spots at their peak.
From the Nagano base, I moved to Takayama in the second week of November. Takayama isn't the most famous autumn spot, but it's always a charming place to visit. Hida Folk Village is particularly great in autumn, and one of the best showcases for traditional Japanese architecture. However, from Takayama you can visit places in the southern end of the Northern Japanese Alps - Kamikochi, Shinhotaka, Hirayu Onsen, for some epic views of the mountains and autumn foliage, especially golden larch.
There are many rail passes available that cover most of the above journeys by train. Alpine-Takayama-Matsumoto Area Tourist Pass is an excellent deal, but there are others like Hokuriku Arch Pass or Takayama-Hokuriku Tourist Pass you can look at depending on your itinerary.
From Takayama, I took the Limon bus straight to Kawaguchiko for the main event - Mt. Fuji, which stands alone, separated from the Japanese Alps. I stayed here till mid-November. The Fuji area is pretty easy to get around using public transport, and there are affordable passes available. I visited 4 of the Fuji Five Lakes, each with their own unique views of the magnificent volcano. However, it was the lakesides that were breathtaking, with spectacular Japanese maple trees lining them. My favourite was the shores of Lake Yamanaka. Not the best views of Fuji, but absolutely some of the best autumn foliage you'll see anywhere in the world.
Autumn is a great time to visit Fuji, not just for the autumn leaves, but also its snowcap. Fuji is snow free from May to October, and it's just not the same without its snowcap. It's also less crowded than spring. From Kawaguchiko, I headed straight to Shinjuku, Tokyo with a 2-hour train ride.
I hope I've convinced you, in some small way, to add Mt. Fuji and the Japanese Alps in Autumn to your bucket list! As always, feel free to AMA.
You can see the location and description of all photos in the captions. All photos were shot on an OM System OM-5 II and Samsung Galaxy S25.