NORIKURA KOGEN 💙🌿 + Private Outdoor ONSEN Experience in Japan!

Today we’re exploring Norikura Kogen, or the Norikura Highlands in Japan’s Nagano Prefecture. This destination wasn’t initially on our radar, but then we found a beautiful guesthouse in the forest with a private outdoor onsen, and we booked it! The theme of the trip quickly turned to relaxation, and I don’t think it could have worked out any better. So we invite you to join us for a bit of hiking and plenty of pampering in the Northern Japanese Alps.

Our Trip to Norikura Kogen in Nagano Prefecture, Japan:
00:29 – Getting to Norikura Kogen
03:49 – Checking in at Raicho Guesthouse
06:06 – Hiking to Zengoronotaki Falls
09:36 – Dinner at Primavera
10:44 – Japanese Tea and Desserts
11:13 – Private Outdoor Onsen Experience
13:55 – Lunch at Okamisan Dining
16:20 – Hiking Ichinose Meadow Trail
20:31 – Guesthouse Tour and Final Thoughts

#norikura #norikurakogen #ruraljapan

* * * * * * * * * * * *

HOW YOU CAN HELP
🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/samuelandaudrey
🧱 Buy us a Brick: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/samuelandaudrey
❤️ Like, share, subscribe and comment so the videos can reach more people.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

SOCIAL MEDIA & TRAVEL BLOGS

AUDREY:
blog: https://thatbackpacker.com/
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thatbackpacker/
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thatbackpacker
twitter: https://twitter.com/ThatBackpacker

SAMUEL:
blog: https://nomadicsamuel.com/ and https://pictureperfectportfolios.com
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nomadicsamuel
twitter: https://twitter.com/NomadicSamuel
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nomadicsamuel/

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Music We Use: http://bit.ly/SamAudreyMusic

Today we’re exploring nikura kogan or the nikura highlands in Japan’s Nago prefecture this destination wasn’t initially on our radar but then we found a beautiful guest house in the forest with a private outdoor Onsen and we booked it the theme of the trip quickly turned to relaxation and I don’t think

It could have worked out any better so we invite you to join us for a bit of hiking and plenty of pampering in the northern Japanese Els all right Ladi so the bus connections to get to nuda aren’t very frequent sometimes the bus only goes

Every 2 hours so we ended up taking a bus that left from Matsumoto and came all the way to here this is this I believe is Sando bus terminal that’s right it was like the journey was like about an hour and a half and took a

While for us to get out of the city but then it was amazing because we got right out into the the Japanese Alps the mountains and we’re on the most Serpentine roads you could ever imagine oh yeah very narrow too and so just to give you an example of how remote it is

We’ve arrived in this place and our next bus connection to our final destination is in for 2 hours so they were kind enough to keep our bags at the station and now we’re having a nice little local lunch here I’m ordered the basically the Tatu with Cur and you’re getting uh w b

With egg exactly so we’re excited so this is how we we are passing time here yep in this little Alpine bus terminal that’s right I would say that was a nice little meal just a little over 2,000 Yen a nice way to spend an hour of the 2hour

Weight time we have yeah we needed some time to kill and a very pleasant Place great service just a friendly gentleman taking our order and he has a very impressive toy truck collection which I should have filmed that’s something to take a look for you’ll know you’re in

The right place if you notice that when you first walk in the door yeah it’s the only restaurant in the area and now we’re just walking up back up to the bus terminal to continue onwards this is the Sando National Park gate and it’s a hub for travelers making their way to

Various destinations in the northern Japanese Alps it acts as a bus terminal as well as a visitor center so while we waited for our bus we got better acquainted with the local Wildlife so just like back home in Canada we are in black bear country that’s right I don’t

Think a lot of people necessarily realize that you can see bears in Japan and over here they have the last sightings so it’s just a couple days ago where and when and what time location it also has a contact information if you see one yeah so they can track them yeah

They they obviously want to know what’s going on they also have some great information about what to do to prevent being in contact with the bear and in the 100 m race we know that the Asian black bear is faster than usin bolt so don’t think you can outrun the bear

Because the bear can outrun even the fastest of Runners here so we get some VI after catching our bus we travel to bus stop number 29 nikura kogan tourist information center as little travel tip it’s important to know your bus stop if you’re traveling in this area because

There aren’t any real towns in this part of the NAA Highlands it’s basically a scattering of guest houses and Trail heads that lead into the forest and because buses are infrequent you want to make sure you’re getting where you need to be on your first Try well guys good afternoon we have just arrived arrived at our beautiful guest house here in nura so we thought we would give you a tour before the place gets really messy as it always does we have booked our accommodations here at the raicho guest house it’s a

7-minute walk from the bus stop bus stop number 29 by the tourist info center so yeah it’s a beautiful room very traditional to Tommy floors we’re going to be sleeping on futons so let’s have a little look here so excited to be here this place just looks fabulous we’re

Going to be booking our own time in an indoor and outdoor onent you get 30 minute sessions each so excited to be here I’m also excited because I’m finally wearing a flannel and that means that it’s not too hot anymore so fall has finally arrived we’re going to be

Doing so many cool interesting things while we’re here all of them being outdoors and want to give us a tour of the room yeah sure what I’m noticing already compared to other Rons we’ve stayed at this is a more spacious room and if you you take a look down here we

Have our beds that have already been pre-made for us we have a permanent table with some chairs they’re low to the ground it’s not quite sitting on the ground like your traditional Ron but they’re low to the ground and the unique thing about that is that normally our

Beds would get put away and then the table would be moved to the center of the room that’s a typical Ron with a really small room but we have enough space to have the beds out and the table out permanently I kind of like that okay

And while we’re at I’m going to show you the bathroom we actually have a private bathroom here right next to our bedroom aside from access to the private onon time so let’s have a look just going to open this door here so we step in you’ve got your

Toilet with the bedet as you would expect from Japan little sink here this controls both the sink and the shower head shampoo body wash conditioner little mirror hello hello and that is a tour of the bathroom well we’re not going to waste our first afternoon here we are dressed

Ready to go ready to hit the trail and we saw a trail for a waterfall on the walk over so we’re going to retrace our steps yes and can you point down for a minute I’m finally wearing my shoes hiking shoes hiking shoes yeah first time this trip feels strange to have

Real shoes on it’s been a few weeks well the weather’s cool enough now that we’re up in the mountains so yeah let’s head on over I love this weather zingoni Falls 1 km we’re really excited like just literally mere meters from our guest house was a turn off to go to see

Some waterfalls only 1 kilometer away we’re looking for an easy little hike before we have supper it’s the perfect thing great way to ease into a hiking trip right and to work up an appetite for maybe a pizza tonight yes I’m thinking about it those muscles I’m

Thinking about it we have a little bit of drizzle but it’s actually not too bad in the forest because we’ve got a lot of foliage protecting us overhead but I did pack an umbrella just in case I thought I had packed my rain jacket for hiking

On this trip but I can’t seem to find it anywhere in my suitcase so an umbrella it is and we’re going to hike rain or shine I don’t know about you Audrey but I am absolutely loving it out here that fresh Mountain air lush green everywhere

And just the lack of crowds we’ve chosen sort of a non-touristy place up here in the Japanese mountains just incredible so far every single step I’m loving right now to me nature is therapeutic and it’s just such a privilege to have a chance to be here yeah I’ll mention

Originally we were looking at going to kamakoi which is a more well-known area for hiking in beautiful landscapes but it just it was just too expensive it’s a bit more touristy it’s well known and accommodation costs were through the roof so this was an alternative we found and honestly so far

We are very happy with her decision like we kind of ended up here by chance but I mean it’s been great it’s been great to be honest I’m more about the underrated gems in in places around the world now than I am about checking off like the typical I don’t know place

That everyone else likes to go to so this is amazing loving it out here and uh just I thought I’d share that Enthusiasm all right friends this was a pleasant surprise I thought we had reached the waterfalls when we crossed the first bridge but let me turn you around around there you have the real waterfalls those are huge and if you go stand over at the other Lookout Point

Like you just get blasted by the Mist it almost feels like it’s raining it’s just so impressive so powerful and so massive I mean I was not expecting this today it’s so Beautiful We have gone for a non-japanese dinner today y we’re keeping it real guys showing you what we do today we’ve gone for two different pizzas we have the mixed one which appears to have shrimp looks like there’s some green pepper and onion and some tomatoes and yours over

Here is it’s called the margarita y um an interpretation of it with tomatoes cheese and it looks like pesto pesto yeah so this restaurant it’s called the Prima Vera spring and we’re doing something kind of fun we’re going half Seas so get uh to try half and half yeah

All right friends let’s try this very cheesy very stringy that’s some pretty decent pizza craving it today and after that hike in in in the little cold a little bit of rain after dinner we picked up a few treats to enjoy back at our guest house

One thing we liked about this place is that they had a communal kitchen with tea and coffee available to all guests so we made ourselves a pot of green tea to enjoy with our app Apple pancake Nagano prefecture is one of the top Apple producers in Japan with plenty of

Apple orchards so of course we had to try one of their local Specialties it’s really nice really nice green tea okay so we are lucky enough to have booked a Ron that has an Onsen we can use privately this is our first time ever in Japan so pretty excited you’re

Going into the bathing suit I’m getting naked been afraid okay I will clarify the indoor one you have to be naked the outdoor one they say wear a bathing suit because neighbors other guests could see you that’s why I’m an exhibitionist what can I say whoa feel so I’m going to

Dress um it’s already dark but I’m going to try and film a little bit so you get an idea of what it’s like all righty I’m time please cover yourself we do not need to see anything so here is Sam enjoying outdoor onen life how’s it this is the best nature

Tranquility and this Onsen is really nice it’s um it’s obviously warm but this one isn’t like piping hot there’s some that are like you feel like you’re kind of being boiled alive this one not it’s just very comfortable and oh could be here all day we only got a half an

Hour we’ve got a little clock here to keep track of time we get this place for 30 minutes there’s the guest house we came down those steps that’s the change room and this is the magical outdoor Onsen in the middle of the forest would you look at that all righty well I’m

Going to go in as well is there a stu here y careful oh it is hot what do you mean it is not hot it’s not that come on are you kidding me what do you mean it’s not hot perfect get in there all righty going to try to film a

Little bit of this so we’re going to enjoy and then we’ll take you to the indoor onen for a different experience t Ta on on so this is where you would have a little shower rinse off sit on the stool and then you can make your way in

You just have to lift off those covers and this one was piping hot couldn’t show you cuz it was a NY one Bit of a rainy morning around these parts it’s raining it’s pouring the old man is snoring yeah it’s raining guys wasn’t supposed to but it started last night and uh it’s continued into the morning the thing is every time I checked her forecast they keep pushing

It back and hour was like it’s going to stop at 9:00 it’s going to stop at 10:00 it’s going to stop at 11:00 and um yeah we’ve just been holding off on the hike because we we want to be able to film it obviously it’s tough to film in the rain

And we also want to be able to enjoy it we don’t want to get soaking wet so we’re going to wait it out have a super early lunch around it’s like 10: something in the morning and hopefully it clears by 11:00 or 1200 but if it

Doesn’t we’re just going to suck it up and go outside yeah hike with umbrellas and rain jackets in your case I don’t know where mine can you do what can you do what can you do and some hot barley tea to warm up from the walkover yeah so

We’re at a local little spot it’s called okaman d dining it was one of the few places that was open at this time uh they open at 9:00 a.m. and they have some really nice dishes I got something with fried chicken and they also have udon uh different curry sets Sam got

Some ginger pork and like all their sets come with rice and with miso so I’m really looking forward to like a warm hearty meal and filling up my belly before we head out into the cold and the rain fried chicken potato salad some greens rice miso soup pickled veggies

I’m a happy girl it’s a complete meal mhm I think I ordered the best this time you did you you got you got a rare win against me I’m insisting half SE I’m I’m invoking the half SE claws mine looks fine but yours looks absolutely delicious I have slight food and me

Ginger pork nice thin strips guys that’s absolutely delicious I just love that Ginger sauce it’s got a a very nice balanced set lots of vegetables here some rice and miso so you know a nice healthy balanced meal yucky so those are the buckwheat dough dumplings yep we had those in Matsumoto

For the first time got three saving two for the hike and we’re going to try one now it’s pure potato M okay so we’re at the trail head joyful walks niura yeah um it stopped raining we got excited and then started raining again it is what it

Is so yesterday we basically did this Trail okay we did the Blue Trail all the way out to the zeni falls sorry it’s a Zen Goron notaki Falls Zen Goro noaki Falls and then we came back home cuz we only had limited time in the afternoon

But today what we’re planning to do is this substantially lengthier orange Trail all the way like that so it’s going to take us approximately 3 hours 2 hours and 50 minutes it’s an easy Trail compared to the one we did yesterday which was two out of five stars had a

Bit more of a steeper incline and then this one over here the 6h hour track uh is a three star so we’re not going to have time to do that one yeah that one has a lot of elevation gain that that’s the difficulty so we’re opting for the

Easy and Scenic One and this one is called Ichi no Meadow Trail that’s the one we’re going to do right now and we’re we’re ready we’ve got our rain jackets we’ve got our umbrellas and we also have a camera that can hand as weatherproof so we’ll take you along and

We’ll film it as best we [Applause] can these little plastic clear see-through umbrellas are amazing especially especially if you’re visiting Japan during the rainy season which technically we’re not but it means you can really take in the sight and enjoy the scenery even if it’s raining cuz it’s clear taada this is pretty nice

Rain and all it really is it’s really nice just being out of nature doesn’t matter and we’re getting teased with the sun it just keeps popping out for a few seconds still keeps raining but um yeah so far so good we haven’t seen anyone else on the trail no not yet yeah it’s

Been really nice very Scenic this bridge is especially nice you have all these rocks covered in Moss you have a nice stream coming down with all the rain um yeah it looks like the sun’s starting to pop out so we’ll see we’ll See here comes the Sun First point of Interest here on this Trail we have made it to the azami pond which means the thistle Pond apparently it’s shaped like a thistle Leaf okay and this is our first major attraction on this hiking route and guess what what it’s not raining no more the Sun finally

Came out so we we battled rain for about the first half an hour 40 minutes of the hike and now it looks like we’ve got sun and here are some of the animals you can expect to see we’ve got the malard the malard duck here we have the great spotted

Woodpecker and the Eurasian J so we’ll see if we get lucky with any of these birds uh I like it uh Uh On the way back to our guest house we stopped at a little coffee and tea shop on the side of the trail I ordered something called Japanese chai and it was the most beautiful explosion of spices a nice and completely unexpected treat plus we also got some little

Cookies with a local jam it was Just What We Needed before waddling back to our Accommodations and now here’s a mini tour of the r show guest house where we stayed for two nights I think this is one of those times where the guest house was the destination we booked this place when we saw that it came with access to a private outdoor onen and we sure made

Use of it we booked our three 30 minute time slots per day and the rain also kind of forced us to enjoy some downtime so we may not have done a whole lot here but we sure felt pampered which was nice after several weeks of non-stop travel

Across Japan so that’s all for this episode if you enjoyed this video we invite you to subscribe and leave us a comment and we’ll be seeing you very soon with the next adventure