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  • Suggested Itineraries
  • Nasu Area

Try three types of onsen and feel refreshed in light activities in great nature (4 days, 3 nights)

Schedule

Day 1

Tokyo Station

  1. 70min by Shinkansen

Nasushiobara Station

1
  1. 20min by car / 40 min by bus

Shiobara Coffee

2

A Japanese style café restaurant operated by Cheese Garden

Shiobara Coffee is a shop with a café operated by Cheese Garden, a Western confectionery brand that sells products using cheese. The shop interior is designed with Japanese décor to create a serene and tranquil atmosphere. The café menu features Cheese Garden’s standard products and apple pie available only at our café. You have to be there to taste our famous apple pie made with a generous amount of large cuts of apple compote. The café has a rich lineup on the food menu too including Shiobara Onion Curry Rice and seasonal pasta dishes. There is also coffee-flavored soft ice cream and a range of drinks. Please drop by and enjoy.

  1. 25min by car

Nasu Mukunone

3

Connect with nature at the water garden Mizuniwa in its one and only landscape

Feel nature, savor memorable dishes, and enjoy the space of a luxurious and relaxing retreat at Mukunone. The grounds of Mukunone consist of three areas: AUBERGE featuring villa accommodation and a restaurant that serves dishes prepared with a wide variety of seasonal ingredients and specialty food of Nasu; B&B for a casual overnight stay and breakfast; and Mizuniwa featuring its one and only landscape designed by the architect Junya Ishigami. In this precious space, you can spend time connecting with magnificent nature and reflecting on yourself.
【About Mizuniwa】
Mizuniwa is a spectacular architectural and art piece created with the precise calculation and sensibility of the architect Junya Ishigami. It is a place with a picturesque landscape that makes you want to close your eyes and take deep breaths. Trees keep growing and the stream continues to flow. With these continuous changes, Mizuniwa is a forever unfinished beautiful landscape.
*Mizuniwa is open to the public (reservation required).
  1. 15min by car

ONSEN RYOKAN YAMAKI

4

A small, modern architecture inn with only eight guest rooms. Experience the rich nature, natural hot springs, and untouched landscape of Japan.

Onsen Ryokan Yamaki is a Japanese style inn built to help guests escape from the daily hustle and bustle and fully relax and heal the body and soul.
The ryokan experience here is designed based on the principles of the tea ceremony: harmony, respect, purity, and calmness. These principles, as the ryokan’s philosophy, are also incorporated into its guest rooms, hot springs, meals, and staff hospitality.
Calm guest rooms feature the warmth of wood and diatomaceous earth on walls. All guest rooms are designed differently, and some have a scenic cypress bath filled with hot spring water flowing endlessly from its original source.
The hot spring here was discovered in 1059. It is called Itamuro hot spring and is famous as the “medicine water of Shimotsuke (old name of the area).” It is said to warm people’s bodies from the core and alleviate fatigue and joint pain. The inn also offers esthetic treatment using essential oil (reservation needed). Please enjoy the hot spring and the treatment to relax and slowly unwind from the long day of your trip.
For dinner, the inn serves a Japanese multi-course meal designed based on one of its guiding principles of “respect” for local production and consumption. The dinner menu is developed to serve you a healthy meal prepared with wild plants, vegetables harvested from nearby areas, and seasonal ingredients.

Please savor the out-of-the-ordinary time of healing and relaxation produced by Onsen Ryokan Yamaki.

【About the hot spring】

Water color: clear
Spring water type: simple alkaline spring water
Efficacy: alleviates sensitivity to cold, fatigue, nerve pain, and sore muscles, improves health, and so on

Stay at ONSEN RYOKAN YAMAKI

Day 2

Hotel (ONSEN RYOKAN YAMAKI)

  1. Pick-up service available (need to inquire / Contact : Ride Experience)

Custom Private Cycling Tours with “Ride Experience”

5

Discover authentic Japan in a multi-day cycling holiday with onsen, local foods and local knowledgeable guides!

Ride Experience’s cycling tours are guided by local Nasu cyclists.
As such, they are familiar with the local food, accommodations, and people, and offer cycling tours that provide an authentic experience unique to Japan and the region.
Themes, areas, schedules, routes, and distances traveled can be arranged to meet your specific needs and expectations to create a special private cycling tour.
English-speaking guides as well as professional mechanics will accompany you on the tours, so you can feel confident that you are in good hands.
Come and experience an experience of a lifetime, only here and only at Ride Experience.

  1. Pick-up service available (need to inquire / Contact : Ride Experience)

Nasu Bettei KAI

6

Built with traditional Japanese materials, Nasu Bettei KAI nicely blends with the beauty of the four seasons of Nasu

Nasu Bettei KAI is a ten-guest-room hot spring inn on 6,600m2 of land surrounded by lush green forests. It is right near the Nasu Imperial Villa and stands at the foot of the Nasu Mountain Range in Nikko National Park. The interior, furnished using traditional Japanese materials, is functional and matches the modern lifestyle to provide comfort to guests. All guest rooms come with a tub filled with natural hot spring water from the local historic spring source, Omaru Hot Spring. Guests are invited to enjoy the bath anytime while feeling the season of Nasu.
For dinner, you will be served a satoyama kaiseki multi-course meal, cooked to perfection to bring out the taste of ingredients such as Tochigi Wagyu raised on the land of Nasu, ayu fish harvested from the clear Naka River, and fresh farm products.
Nasu Bettei KAI is a very special inn that maintains connections with the local history, culture, and personality.
【About the hot spring】
Water color: clear
Spring water type: simple spring water
Efficacy: beautifies skin, alleviates nerve pain, sensitivity to cold, sore muscles, fatigue, and so on

Stay at Nasu Bettei KAI

Day 3

Hotel (Nasu Bettei KAI)

  1. 10min by car / 70min by bus

Nasu Heisei-no-Mori Forest

7

Have a healing journey into the woodland!

Nasu Heisei no Mori is a forest park that was originally part of nearby Nasu Imperial Villa. The forest opened to the public in 2011 as part of Nikko National Park.

Nasu Heisei-no-Mori Forest consists of two areas: the Forest Recreation Zone and the Forest Learning Zone.
You can stroll freely through the forest. There are three loop trails in the Recreation Zone. The longest, about 3 kilometers, leads to the Komadome Waterfall Observation Deck. At Nasu’s Komadome Waterfall, the scene created by the dynamic, seasonal landscape of the mountains and the contrast of the waterfall’s stunningly clear, blue water is simply breathtaking.

In contrary, entering the “Forest Learning Zone” is limited to people with guide reservations in advance, but is definitely a valuable experience, since a guide will walk you through the forest while providing you interesting knowledge about the surrounding nature.

During the winter months when the Forest Learning Zone is closed to the public, the Field Center offers guided snowshoe walks through the Recreation Zone.

  1. 10min by car / 50 min by bus

STEAK HOUSE JYURAKU

8

Experience high-quality Tochigi Wagyu at a steak house directly operated by a long-established Wagyu butcher

Steak House Jyuraku serves Tochigi Wagyu.
Tochigi Wagyu is a Japanese Black breed carefully raised in the grand nature of Tochigi. It is brand beef that has received the Award of Excellence many times at the national Wagyu fair in Japan.
The steak house purchases Tochigi Wagyu directly from its producers and thus has full confidence in the meat quality. You will never forget the fine and delicate meat texture and its aromatic fat once you try it.
Jyuraku’s recommendation is A5 Tochigi Wagyu steak. The Sirloin has beautiful marbling, a rich taste, and a texture that melts in your month. The Fillet is red meat that is very tender and moist.
Please come and try the Wagyu steak that Jyuraku proudly presents.
  1. 5min by car / 15min by bus and on foot

Shika no Yu

9

This hot spring facility is located in Yumoto, Nasu Town. It is said to have opened approximately 1,300 years ago.

The origin of the discovery of this hot spring is said to be that a county official was hunting in the mountains and chased a deer that he missed shooting, and the deer healed its wounded body with the hot spring.

It is considered the oldest hot spring in Tochigi Prefecture, and many of the surrounding hot-spring hotels use it as their spring water source.

The baths are divided into six temperature levels ranging from 41–48 degrees Celsius (there is no 48-degree women’s bath). It is said that by following the bathing protocol, such as pouring water over yourself before entering the bath, you can increase the hot spring’s effects.”

  1. 3min on foot

Sessho-seki (Killing Stone)

10

A mysterious legendary rock in a desolate scenic spot

Sessho-seki is a huge lava rock on the slope of Mount Nasu near Nasu Yumoto Onsen.
According to literature from the Muromachi period (室町時代) (1336-1573), a fox with nine tails disguised itself as a beautiful woman and tried to kill the Emperor Toba. After fleeing to Nasu, the demon vixen was vanquished and turned into a stone. The stone was named “Sessho-seki ” (Killing Stone) because many creatures died from the poisonous air it emitted.This place has been designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty.

  1. 5min by car / 10min by bus

Stay at Nasu Bettei KAI

Day 4

Hotel (Nasu Bettei KAI)

  1. 40min by car

Daioji

11

Experience Zen meditation at a Soto sect Zen temple with a history spanning over 600 years.

The family temple of the feudal lord of the Kurobane domain (now the area around Otawara), who belonged to the Ozeki clan, this Soto sect Buddhist temple is over 600 years old. All seven of the buildings on the grounds have thatched roofs, and several have been designated important cultural properties, including the temple's main hall, Zen hall, and cloister. Visitors can enjoy various kinds of scenery depending on the season, from flowers such as peonies, fringed irises, and hydrangeas to fall foliage. At Daioji Temple, anyone is welcome to participate in Zen meditation and sutra copying, regardless of nationality or religion. Even if it's your first time, there will be a thorough explanation of the proper etiquette, so there is no need for concern. In the main hall is a scroll depicting a makuragaeshi, a spirit said to visit at night to one's pillow side and flip over the pillow in Japanese folklore, whose gaze seems to follow you around the room. This rare work dates back to the Edo period (1603-1868). Mysterious and frightening tales report that if you sleep in front of the scroll, you will awaken to find your head and feet facing the opposite direction and your pillow flipped over.

  1. 10min by car

NASU FARM VILLAGE

12

Befriend a horse and enjoy a lunch featuring fresh vegetables in great nature

At Nasu Farm Village, you can spend some relaxing time with horses. It offers programs such as the Horse Trekking Program that even beginners can enjoy and the Horse Therapy Program to befriend a horse. Children and people who are still not quite ready to ride a horse can join this program with peace of mind. The restaurant offers the chef’s special lunch boxes featuring seasonal vegetables harvested on the farm.
*Guidance for horseback riding is provided in Japanese.
For safety reasons, you may only ride a horse if you understand Japanese or if you have an interpreter to explain the instructions for you.
  1. 10min by car ※If you plan on drinking, please take a taxi.

TENTAKA SHUZO Co., Ltd.

13

Join the tour of a sake brewery with over 100 years of history

Tentaka Shuzo established itself in Otawara City, a nature-rich city suitable for sake brewing in Tochigi Prefecture. With a history of over 100 years, the brewery produces organic sake under the motto of “delicious, safe, and enjoyable” and is hosting brewery tours that include tasting. There are two brewery tour courses. One is the Standard Course that takes about 30 minutes, and the other one is the Special Course that requires about 60 minutes. In the Special Course, you can visit many rooms involved in sake production including the rice mill, rice steaming room, yeast growing room, sake brewing room, sake pressing room, and sake filtering room. Why don’t you join the tour and learn about Japanese sake production using the carefully selected ingredients, production method, equipment, and tools?
※Due to production preparation, there are no tours offered between the middle of December and the end of February.
  1. 25min by car ※If you plan on drinking, please take a taxi.

Nasushiobara Station

14
  1. 70min by Shinkansen

Tokyo Station

Suggested Itineraries