Afternoon

At around 2:00 pm, take a shuttle bus to Hinano yado Chitose from Matsudai station in Tokamachi.

Take a rest and relax with hotspring and walking around. (Free time)

Evening

At 6:30, enjoy dinner featuring unique and delicious local specialties and the best ingredients of the season and the region.

About Hina no Yado Chitose

Served directly from the hot spring source, the 29-room inn provides three guest rooms with attached rotenburo outside baths, as well as two private baths. In winter, enjoy the special hot spring atmosphere unique to Snow Country, while enjoying meals with many items and styles unique to Matsunoyama—including rice and saké from the tanada.

At the izakaya Chiro, not far from the inn, enjoy floor heating using the spring water, and cooking done before you on the irori open hearth. There’s a calm, timeless atmospheres and dishes unique to Snow Country, giving people a deep sense of the Japanese Satoyama.

It’s a refined place to stay, with the onsen to heal bodies tired from trekking.

Morning

After having breakfast, the guide pick you up at 8:30am at the entrance of the accommodation. Then, drive to the venue.

The course starts at Hokuhoku Oshima Station of the Hokuhoku Line. It’s around 5km, takes around 3.5 hours. (The course length may adjust according to your request.)

The first stop is to visit the local shrine to ask for safety on the walk, and then start the trek. The course provides views of a variety of landscapes, as well as the footprints of the animals of the beech forests (and sometimes the animals and birds themselves). When the weather is favorable, it’s possible to see not only the tanada terraced rice fields, but as far away as Sado Island in the Sea of Japan.

Along the walk are the Hoshitoge Rice Terraces, the most famous tanada in all of Japan. The course, however, is not used by regular tourists, so guests have a private view all to themselves.

Afternoon

Lunch will be served Japanese Bento lunch box made by local ingredients along with fragrant coffee or tea.

2:00pm, after enjoying trekking, experience local craft or specialty dessert making with local instructor. This will be done while interacting with locals, so please ask them about life in the snow country.

By 5:00 pm, you will reach Hina no Yado Chitose, relax in the hotspring and enjoy dinner there.

Morning

After having breakfast, the guide pick you up at 9:30am at the entrance of the accommodation. Then, drive to the venue.

This is a walk from the area around Matsudai Station up toward the mountains. It’s around 5km, takes around 3 hours. (The course length may adjust according to your request.)

There are unique stories to be heard even very close to the town. There are endless tales that have been carefully handed down about village life here from the Warring States Period in the 16th century to the end of the Tokugawa era in 1868.

Head up along a mountain ridge, and encounter the truly ancient ruins of a shiro, usually translated as “castle.” This was not the luxurious home of a lord, however, but a practical fortification built for warfare. You’ll even find that one ancient house here is the repository of one of Uesugi Kenshin’s swords from 500 years ago—there are many tales to be heard here!

Afternoon

Lunch will be served Japanese Bento lunch box made by local ingredients along with fragrant coffee or tea, or, will be taken at a nearby cafeteria.

After completing the course, let’s heal the tiredness of trekking at Shibatoge Onsen “Unkai”, which is famous for its beautiful terraced rice fields.

At 2:00 pm, the guide will drop you off at Matsudai station of Hokuhoku Line and the tour ends.