Visited Kansai for 1 week in late Nov for peak koyo in Miyajima, Kyoto and around Biwako.
Right after landing in KIX, we headed to an onsen resort in Kobe to relax. It was our second stay.
Kobe harbour views from our room balcony – dusk till dawn.
views taken from room balcony
Miyajima
Right after checkout, we headed to Miyajima by Sanyo Shinkansen, local commuter train and ferry. Went for lunch before taking ropeway to Mt Misen.
Unagi-don
grilled oyster
on the way to ropeway station
views from the ropeway
Mt Misen
It took nearly an hour to queue up for the ropeway – guess it was due to koyo season. By the time we reached the top station it was almost 3pm. Started hiking up to summit but first we had to descend before ascending. Reached summit at around 4pm, rested for a while and commenced the return.Stopped by Misen Hondo and the eternal flame along the descent. Queued for the ropeway again for almost an hour and watched sunset over Mt Misen while waiting. By the time we arrived back at the base station it was completely dark. Returned to our onsen hotel nearby.
Our original plan was to visit Naruko gorge and a boat ride along Mogamigawa as we last did in 2001. However, due to typhoon 22 – second in a row in 2 weeks, we dropped the latter due to rain and strong wind.
From Tokyo, we took Shinkansen to Sendai and picked up a car. Rain was pouring on the way while driving to Naruko Gorge. We did not visit anywhere until the next morning when it cleared.
Naruko Gorge (鳴子峡)
Our 3rd visit but first time by car. Though koyo has past peak as expected in end October, it was still great. Followed the trail down to the bottom of gorge and returned. Back in 2001 we carried on another 4km for some gorgeous koyo down there, but ever since the big Tohoku earthquake in 2011 that section has been closed.
bottom of the gorge where the full trail was closed
local train entering a tunnel in the gorge
From the parking area, we followed another trail for an easy 1-hour walk.
Afterwards, we had to return to Sendai area to check into another historical onsen ryokan in Akiu onsen.
After checking out the next morning, we drove back to Sendai station, returned car, Shinkansen back to Tokyo and left Japan, thereby ending this koyo trip in Tohoku and JP Alps.
views from hotel room shortly before sunset and sunrise. For more views of sea of clouds, refer to the link above.
views from room shortly before sunset
views from room shortly after sunrise
public deck
After checking out from hotel on the next morning, we took the Sky cable car to 1300m. It was another rare sunny day in this trip. We had some nice views up there. Afterwards, we drove to nearby onsen towns for two other waterfalls – the Sou-taki and Budou-taki.
Sky cable to 1300m
view from top station
Nojiri-ko in the distance with sea of clouds
Sou-taki
budou-taki
Imori-ike (いもり池)
Beautiful pond with reflection of Mt Myoko as in featured photo. We then headed to Nagano city, visited Zenkoji, returned car and headed back to Tokyo for weekend.
We next stayed in a renowned historical onsen ryokan in Yudanaka onsen for 2 nights. While the local weather forecast had predicted a sunny day in Nagano Prefecture, rain clouds rolled in not long after our breakfast and we had to embrace for another rainy day again 🙁
Despite this, we had some nice surprises for the day when we visited Matsukawa river valley for the first time ! Apart from peak koyo, we bumped into two waterfalls that were not on our radar screen.
Takai-bashi
Ya-taki (eight fall)
Kaminari-daki (thunder fall)
Walking behind a waterfall for the first time – the Kaminari-daki (Thunder fall) !!
Yonako falls – top 100 waterfalls in Japan (日本の滝百選米子大瀑布)
On the next morning after checkout, we drove to Yonako falls in Suzaka city.
The car park was at 1300m, after 10km of narrow and winding mountain road from Suzaka city. From there, we hiked another 180m uphill to the observatory in about 30min. Though koyo has past peak on the cliffs, it was still stunning.
Given this was our 5th visit we had deliberately booked a ryokan with room facing the Mt Hotaka range for 2 nights. Our original plan was to follow the walking trails to Tokuzawa or maybe Yoko-o as day trip and to buffer for any adverse weather conditions.
It turned out the plan did cater for the latter case only. On the afternoon when we arrived heavy rain and strong wind was ravaging and getting dark. Thus, we did not venture to go anywhere after checking into our ryokan beside Kappa-bashi (bridge). On the next day wind subsided a bit though rain had been persistent. Rain clouds and mists simply obscured almost all the summits – not even the closer Mt Yakedake can be seen 🙁 We only walked the smaller loop between Kappa-bashi and Tashiro-bashi, while the trail heading to Taisho-ike was closed due to flooding.
Kamikochi in rainstorm
D1 – Kamikochi in rainstorm
macaques feeding themselves in rain
Kappa-bashi
even Kappa had to wait
Luckily, the sky cleared up (after typhoon Lan and its rainbands had passed by Japan) upon daybreak prior to our departure, with snow-covered Mt Hotaka range in the background, layered bands of koyo and almost perfect reflections from Taisho-ike !
At last, mother nature and Kamikochi were kind to all visitors in showing off her grandeur. When we arrived at the Taisho-ike observatory point around 8am, there were already a dozen of photographers focusing on the same target after the rainstorms had finally dispersed 🙂
Kamikochi in grandeur
view from room at dawn
Mt Hotaka range @3000m
view outside ryokan before 8am
at Taisho-ike at 8am
Mt Yakedake @2400m
Summit of Yakedake
at Tashiro-ike
Tashiro-ike
at Tashiro-bashi
Mt Roppyakusan
From Kamikochi to Yudanaka onsen via Matsumoto
While we were on the Alpico bus returning to Shin-shimashima, we wondered where the beautiful Mandarina ducks have gone. They were either swimming in Taisho-ike or moving precariously along the river banks during our past four visits. Meanwhile, there were heavy cranes and other machines operating at the far end of Taisho-ike close to the entrance. Hopefully, those lovely birds are still living happily in this closest paradise on Earth.
During the descent, there were gorgeous koyo on either side of the mountains/slopes. After arriving at Matsumoto, we picked up a car and dropped by Matsumoto Castle again.
We then visited Obuse – a small garden town less than 1 hour from Nagano city. As it was the harvesting season of chestnuts, there were plenty of those products for sale.
Before checking into the onsen hotel in Chuzenji-ko we dropped by the Kegon fall. Unfortunately, it was completely obscured in fog+mists+rain. Well, we had seen it four times before. That’s the consolation we told ourselves 🙁
Chuzenji-ko (中禪寺湖)
On the next morning after hotel checkout, the rain did not stop nor did the visibility improve – the entire Mt Nantai was obscured. Thus, we just dropped by an observatory point along the lake rim before returning to Takasaki along the same road.
Fukiware-no-taki (吹割の滝)
Before reaching Numata city we dropped by the funnel-shaped Fukiware falls. It was a short walk of about 30min and worth it.
We returned car in Takasaki and stayed in Tokyo for the weekend. Due to rainy days, we did not go for any outdoor trip but dropped by Roppongi Hills where the Halloween decorations and goods were on the shelves.
Next we headed to Kamikochi while the super-typhoon Lan was approaching.
First koyo trip in 2017 which span for 2 weeks in late October – Okunikko, Kamikochi, spots in Nagano Prefecture, Myoko Kogen and Naruko.
We had originally planned to take a boat ride again in Mogamigawa in Yamagata Prefecture, but due to typhoon 22 which brought heavy rain and windy weather to Tohoku, we had to drop it.
We travelled by trains to the nearest stations and picked up cars to visit all those locations (except for Kamikochi). In between we returned to Tokyo for breaks during weekends to avoid crowds.
Okunikko (奥日光)
Our 5th visit but first time by car approaching from Takasaki in Gumma Prefecture.
After landing in Tokyo, we travelled to Takasaki by Shinkansen, picked up car and headed to Ikaho onsen overnight.
It was raining when we checked out. We drove along the Romantic Road passing the Oze-kogen and headed towards Yunoko @1500m in Okunikko. Koyo was in peak though the lake was obscured in fog/mist. Next we drove to Yudaki waterfall slightly downhill.
lake rim of Yunoko
Yudaki – thundering downhill
Senjougahara (戦場ヶ原) and Ryuzu falls (竜頭ノ滝)
Before reaching Chuzenji-ko @1200m, visited these spots along the way. Peak koyo in Ryuzu falls as well, as in the feature photo.
After exiting the Alpine route, travelled to Unazuki onsen for overnight stay. On the next day, took the cool Torroko train to explore the Kurobe gorge.
Upon returning to Sapporo we visited the Hokkaido University campus where peak Koyo had arrived. Besides, we re-visited theFormer Hokkaido Government Office again. The lily pond – featured in the cover photo looked fairly similar to Monet’s garden in Giverny, though on a smaller scale and offered a different ambience.
2nd visit since 2004. Dropped by Onuma National Park while en route. Koyo was about 10%. Took an easy walking path of 1 hour. Nice view of Mount Komagatake in the distance.
Yunokawa onsen and Trappist Convent
While we took a day time onsen in Yunokawa in 2004, we stayed in an onsen ryokan with seaview and rotenburo in-room. On the next morning, visited the Trappist Monastery before returning to Hakodate city.
view of Mt Hakodate from onsen ryokan
Kaiseki dinner in-room
our room with rotenburo facing the sea
Trappist Convent
Back in Hakodate city, we first visited Kosetsu-en, a famous garden for Koyo. Though Koyo was about 10%, it was a nice walk. We then headed to the morning market for lunch and checked in to new onsen hotel with view of Mt Hakodate and bay. Went up to Mt Hakodate for famous nightview. The narrow road up to the peak was so congested that there were long lines of cars and buses on either way. On the next morning, we strolled around in the bay area before heading back to Sapporo.
