From $350
Private Hiking Tours
Hirugami Onsen
昼神温泉
Located in Achi Village, at the southern end of the Ina Valley, and only a 40 minute drive from Tsumago Juku, is Hirugami Onsen. If you want to treat yourself, bathe in natural hot springs, and enjoy the delights of Japanese kaiseki cuisine, all while avoiding over touristic, and difficult to book spots, look no further than Hirugami Onsen.
What is Hirugami Onsen?
Hirugami Onsen is probably the major hub of tourism in the Ina Valley. This small mountain town, full of luxurious hot spring inns, provides old fashioned Japanese hospitality in the heart of the countryside. Over 20 hot spring inns, operating at various levels of luxury and price points, provide travelers with a decent capacity of rooms, so bookings are, in principle much easier here, than say, in the popular ancient towns of Magome and Tsumago, both of which have a pretty low capacity.
Starry Nights
Hirugami Onsen is located in Achi Village, which is known throughout Japan as being ranked the number one location for star gazing in the whole country. Deep in the mountains, and at a high elevations, Achi Village escapes the vast majority of light pollution and Hirugami Onsen also provides starry night tours (in Japanese).
Peach Blossoms
The other thing Hirugami Onsen is famous for is its peach blossoms in the spring. From early-April to early May, around 10,000 hanamomo (peach blossom) trees burst into life, with vivid red, pink and white flowers transforming the dull pallet of winter into a frenzy of color and joy. The period is most lively in hanamomo-no-sato in the Sonohara where a full on festival gets underway. This is very close to where our hiking tour of the oldest road in Japan, the Tosando starts.
Morning Market
The people of the countryside are known to be early risers. Hirugami Onsen is proof of that. The local merchants and vendors run their morning market from 6-8am everyday, shifting to 6:30-8am in the winters. Stalls selling anything from local fruit and veg, fermented foods, snacks on the go, and handmade crafts, make a really nice place to take a morning stroll before breakfast at your ryokan.
Handmade jewelry at Hirugami Morning Market
Where to Stay in Hirugami Onsen?
With over 20 hot spring inns, there is no shortage of accommodation in Hirugami Onsen. Perhaps the shortest way to summarize this section is to link you to the official Hirugami Onsen accommodation website. However, I will take this chance to introduce some of the better known ryokan in the town and take a deep dive into one so you can understand the experience better.
Ishida (いしだ) - Probably the best known and most luxurious inn in Hirugami is Ishida. Full board for night costs around 28,000 per person.
Keigetsu (桂月) - In the mid range, this accommodation is very welcoming to international visitors and I will take a deep dive on it further on. Full board for one night will set you back from about 14,000 per person.
Tenshin (天心) - Again in the mid range, Tenshin is probably the biggest ryokan in Hirugami and also welcome guests from all over the world. Expect prices from about 16,000 per person per night full board.
mokki STARDUST GLAMPING - This is a brand new glamping site in the Sonohara area with domes and belle tents and the like is a splurge option with prices ranging from 20,000-35,000 per person full board.
A Deep Dive into a night at Keigetsu
The manager here is so welcoming and so hopeful to bring more international tourism to the area that he was willing to extend to me a free night so I can fully understand the experience. In return, and though it was never why he offered it to me, here is a little puff piece:
Arriving at Keigetsu, from the outside you wouldn’t realize how large the place is. On the inside a large lobby welcomes you and the staff courteously show you to your room. Both beds and futons available. I of course opted for a futon. After so many years in Japan, a bed is a recipe for a sleepless night. As is the way it should be done, I hit the onsen straight after checking in so I could be warm and changed into my yukata gown before dinner. The huge public bathtub is made of the wood of a koyamaki tree. Make no mistake, the Japanese know for a fact that this is the best wood to make a bathtub from!
At dinner the courses keep on coming thick and fast, the wagyu beef and the carp (a fish often served in mountain towns far from the sea), tempura, sashimi, and I could go on and on and on. After the meal it is time for a tour of the night sky. I took a tour which is offered to guests staying at ryokan in Hirugami Onsen. We were picked up by bus and driven for 20 minutes to a quiet spot with no light pollution at all. A hilarious, knowledgable guide showed us the constellations and told us stories of the stars.
I came back feeling chilly and warmed up in the onsen again! After a night of total peace and quiet, I wake early to visit the morning market and buy myself some fermented snacks to bring back to my jealous family. Then back to Keigetsu for breakfast which is a hearty Japanese affair of freshwater fish, tofu, rice, miso soup, etc.
At this point I had to go because work was calling back to reality, but I hope that you can imagine that I, your hiking guide to the area, would pick you up and take on one of our various hiking trips in the Ina Valley or Kiso Valley. The Seinaiji Kaido and the Tosando are particularly close to Hirugami Onsen, and the Nakasendo hikes of Magome to Tsumago and the Yogawa Michi are also not far away.
Wagyu beef at Keigetsu
How to get to Hirugami Onsen?
Now if there is one downside to Hirugami Onsen, it is working out how to get there on public transport.
By Car
If you have a car, it’s easy. It’s 90 minutes drive from both Nagoya and Matsumoto, and 3½ - 4 hours from both Tokyo and Osaka.
By Public Transport
From Nagoya: The best way to get to Hirugami Onsen from Nagoya is by the Meitetsu Bus from Nagoya to Iida. There are several buses daily. However only a few stop inside Hirugami Onsen, so plan it carefully for the easiest route.
From Tokyo: Coming from Tokyo, you can definitely consider a shinkansen to Nagoya and then the Meitetsu bus as one option.
Another option is to take a bus from Tokyo to Iida Station (飯田駅前) or Tokyo to Komanba (駒場), also known as Chuodo Hirugami Onsen (中央道昼神温泉). The buses to Iida are pretty frequent. From there you will need to catch a local bus, or use a taxi to get to Hirugami Onsen. The buses to Komanba are very infrequent and difficult to work out. There are actually a lot of other ways to get there too, but explaining them would be too long a process. From Komanba (AKA Chuodo Hirugami Onsen), Hirugami Onsen is a 45 minute walk, a 10 minute taxi ride, and there are a handful of daily local buses.
From Osaka: Pretty similar to getting there from Tokyo, probably the easiest way is to take a shinkansen to Nagoya and then the Meitetsu Bus. Other than that there are a few daily buses direct from Osaka to Komanba. Again it is a bit of a nightmare but you will get there if you try.