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Matsumoto

2 Day/2 Night Mini-Itinerary Addition

Located at the base of the Japanese Alps in Nagano prefecture (home of the 1998 Winter Olympics!) is home to one of the few original castles in Japan, where you can experience the way the samurai lived and climb the steep inner steps to the top to survey the beautiful Kiso valley. The area is known for its apples, soba (buckwheat) noodles and is the birthplace of the famous Suzuki music method. Near the city are numerous onsen (hot spring) towns and ryokans where you can enjoy geothermally heated spring water and multi-course kaiseki meals.

Day 1

  • Start in Tokyo
  • Take a wonderful train ride through the mountains to Nagano a small town outside of Matsumoto.
  • Here enjoy a lunch of Soba noodles (something the town is kown for before getting back on the train headed for Matsumoto.
    • remember to arrange to arrive by 5pm if you are staying at a Ryokan.

Accommodation: you will be staying the night at a carefully selected hotel to meet your travel style and budget
Meal: Dinner

Day 2

  • Today after breakfast enjoy a morning in town. You can either choose to do a few actives such as visiting a Sake Brewery or Making Soba Noodles or you can decide to see some sites.
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  • If you choose to see the sites shopping in the Nakamachi area is a good start, there are lots of great local shops, and wonderful resturants.
  • From there you can walk to the Matsumoto castle
    • it is one of the few remaining castles in which you can actually walk through, we highly suggest doing this because the view from the top is one you won’t forget.
  • You can also choose to see some of the museums that Matsumoto is famous for as well such as the Yayoi Kusama Museum.

Accommodation: you will be staying the night at a carefully selected hotel to meet your travel style and budget
Meal: Breakfast, Dinner

Day 3

  • Today you will travel onto your next destination which will be Kyoto.

Accommodation: None
Meal: Breakfast

If you are interested in booking or purchasing this itinerary please contact me using the Contact form on the Get in Touch Page.