Menu
Day 1
Arrive at Nagano Station and pick up your rental car.
Visit Togushi Shrine on your own. Mt. Togakushi is one of Japan’s sacred peaks, walking on the mountain feels like slipping back into another era. It is famous as a power spot where visitors can absorb the earth energy of old.
1 night at hotel in Nagano city with breakfast
Day 2
Half day tour of Nagano visiting sake brewery for some sake tasting. Nagano has a reputation for high quality sake due to fine quality water and weather with approximately 100 breweries in the region.
For lunch, try your hand at making some soba noodles.
Enjoy soba-making in their wide-open workshop area and purchase some lovely souvenirs for the back home.
Soba lessons are 1,080 yen per person and for 330 yen more you can eat there. Class will take roughly an hour.
In the afternoon, please make your way to Zenkoji Temple, National Treasure and Japan’s most important pilgrimage sites.
You will stay here overnight to experience temple lodging filled with authentic zen experiences such as zazen meditation, sakyo transcription and trying some Buddhist vegetarian cuisine.
Zenkoji also has volunteer English speaking guides to provide you with a more in-depth experience.
1 night at Zenkoji Temple in a traditional Japanese room with breakfast and dinner
Day 3
In the morning, we recommend you to wake up nice and early for the temple’s daily 5.30am morning prayer service by the local monks.
After breakfast, please make your own way to your next destination
Nagano City is close to areas such as Hakuba, Nozawa Onsen or Shiga Kogen.
Why not extend a few nights and make it a snow holiday? (during ski season)