This itinerary allows you to vertically explore the various levels of the Yatsugatake: the town area at 800m, the rural village area at 1000m, the highland resort area at 1500m, and the quasi-national park area at 2000m. It is designed to enjoy both outdoor and cultural activities while discovering the best spots of this area. Let's have a fun trip to the Yatsugatake Mountains!
Duration | 3 days (2 nights) |
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Price | About JPY 100,000/person |
Period | From June to early November |
Overall level | 2 (light exercise) |
Meet up with your guide at the Tourist Information Center inside Chino Station. Go over your plan together, and get ready to start your adventure!
20 min by car- pick-up by guide
Join one of our grannies in Sasahara village, a traditional farming village at 1100m in the mountains, and embark on a delicious adventure.
The locals' food culture is attuned to the cycle of the seasons with different dishes for every time of the year. And summer is a time for farming and tasty fresh vegetables. First, let's gather the ingredients for lunch! Follow our grannie outside to pick some summer veggies such as cucumbers, edamame beans, etc., in the nearby fields. Then, it's cooking time. Our grannie will share all the secrets of Yamaura traditional cuisine she inherited from her ancestors. You may prepare countryside-style rice cakes covered in savory edamame paste, colorful and refreshing agar cakes, tofu soup with hand-made miso, and much more.
1 min on foot
Sasahara village looks as if time stilled a century ago. More than two thirds of the 90 houses which form the village are traditional farmhouses built between 100 and 200 years ago, each with their own traditional “Kura” storehouse (beautifully decorated with plaster relief paintings), pond, and Japanese garden. Sasahara, though, is not a tourist attraction but a real village brimming with life.
Have a walk around the village with a local guide who will share with you the most intimate secrets of traditional life in the mountain, take you inside some farmhouses, and introduce you to other villagers.
7 min on foot
Yatsugatake Cycling guided tours are a great way to explore the highland area on the foothills of the Yatsugatake. Itineraries can be personalized to fit your preferences and stamina. You can ride around rice fields, and peaceful little villages or maybe go up to Lake Tateshina to check out the sculpture park. The guide will show you all the best places and, when the weather is good, you can enjoy great views of the Japanese Alps and the Yatsugatake Mountains.
5 min by car- drop-off by guide
Traditional Onsen Ryokan with a nice view of Yokoya Gorge. The onsen is a unique iron spring with healing red waters. In addition to the large common baths, there is also one bath that can be used privately.
Tateshina Ai is a small high-end onsen ryokan in the Tateshina area. It has two private open-air hot spring baths, and the food served at dinner in the form of a kaiseki course meal is a work of art, both delicious and pleasing to the eye.
Daitoen is a small family-run inn where you can savor local cuisine and wild game. Originally an old folk-house, the inn is a beautiful example of traditional architecture with massive wooden beams and a large irori (hearth) in the main hall. There are two hot spring baths that can be used privately.
Up in the mountains, at 2100m, there is a fairytale-like forest completely covered in moss which looks like it just came out of Hayao Miyazaki's anime world. Enjoy the "macro" forest of igneous rocks and gnarly trees covered by a deep-green layer, then take a closer look at the "micro" forest of moss and lichens, which most people pass by without even realizing. A local guide will accompany you on this adventure to help you unveil the secrets of this mysterious corner of the Yatsugatake Mountains.
30 min by bus
Mugikusa Line- Serigasawa bus stop
*Drop-off by guide available when the bus is not running
A small cafe run by a local couple inside a renovated traditional farmhouse. They have only one menu which features a selection of typical seasonal dishes. Enjoy a delicious lunch, and don't forget to ask for desserts. We recommend their selection of tenyose, elegant and colorful cakes made with agar.
Shikoku-an is located in Serigasawa, a crossroad village where you can hop on the bus to the Moss Forest, Tateshina, or even Lake Shirakaba and Kurumayama.
5 min by car/taxi/Noraza
25 min on foot
Even if you have never heard of kanten, there is a good chance you have eaten it at least once during your stay in Japan. Kanten is, in fact, a key ingredient to many typical Japanese confectioneries. If there is something jelly-like in your traditional sweet, that is most likely kanten.
In this tour, we will visit a local kanten farm located at an altitude of 1,000 meters and the producer will guide us through the entire production process. Kanten is produced in winter, but even outside of the production period, you can see and touch the huge kettle in which seaweed is boiled, the raw kanten that has hardened into a jelly-like substance, and the frozen product. The visit will conclude with a tasting of delicious kanten-based dishes because the best way to discover new food is by eating it.
15 min by car/taxi
This is a large-scale resort hotel that features an indoor pool, hot springs, a bowling alley, and a small amusement park. They have many types of guestrooms you can choose from, dinner and breakfast are served buffet style, and they offer a convenient shuttle service to and from Chino Station.
Little Grebe is a cozy western-style lodging facility. It's small and intimate, with only 8 rooms in total. The owners are an amiable couple, and the home-made dinner and breakfast are delicious. The dining room has tall glass windows facing Lake Shirakaba so that you can get breakfast with a view.
Participate in a canoe guide tour or enjoy standup paddleboarding (SUP) at Lake Shirakaba, a mountain resort at about 1400m. After learning the basics from the guide, enjoy gliding over the lake water. The air up in the highland is crisp and cool even in the middle of summer, and from the center of the lake, you have a great view of Mt. Tateshina and Mt. Kurumayama.
10 min by bus
Shirakaba-ko Kurumayama Line- Kurumayama kogen bus stop
Take the Kurumayama ski lift to reach the summit of Mt.Kuruma-yama at 1925m. From here, you can enjoy a breath-taking view of the three ranges of the Alps, Mt.Fuji, the Yatsugatake Mountains, and Mt. Asama. Kurumayama and Kirigamine plateau are always covered in flowers (red Japanese Azaleas in June, yellow daylilies in July, and Pincushion flowers in August and September).
There are plenty of hiking trails crisscrossing the grassland hills which form Kirigamine Plateau. You can enjoy a short walk around the top of Mt. Kurumayama or plan longer hikes of 2 or 4 hours to Kirigamine and Yashima Wetland. The paths are mostly flat with few ups and downs.
1h by bus + 7 min by taxi
Shirakaba-ko Kurumayama Line- Chino station bus stop
Set off on a journey to discover the origin of Fujimori Terunobu's imaginative architecture. This is your chance to climb up the too-high teahouse, Takasugi-an, which entered the Time's “top 10 precarious buildings” and have tea inside the too-low teahouse, both of which are usually closed to the public.
Along the way, we will also visit Suwa Taisha, one of Japan's oldest shrines, and Jinchokan Moriya Historical Museum, the first work by Fujimori-sensei.
7 min by taxi
You can reach this enchanting spot with a 10-minute walk from Pool Daira bus stop/parking lot. Along the way, you will encounter massive trees perched on
rocks, their gnarly roots cloaked by moss, and a lively waterfall plunging into a crystalline pool.
Meet the "Jomon Venus" and "Masked Goddess," two of the world's oldest statuettes. They're about 5,000 years old but as beautiful as ever.
A pool of crystalline water that reflects the natural environment all around.
*This service comes with no obligations.
Your reservation will not be finalized until you give us confirmation.
Fujimori Terunobu Teahouse Tour
Cook traditional dishes with the village grannies
Tofu Experience
The World of Cinema - A Tour For Creators, Ozu Fans, and Film Enthusiasts
Active and comfortable winter vacation in Chino
Journey into the frosty food tradition of the Yamaura