Last Updated on tenth April 2023 by Sophie Nadeau
Japan is a unbelievable nation the place outdated meets new and historic traditions meet innovative expertise. It’s a rustic roughly the identical dimension as California with loads of historic temples, buzzing fashionable cities, and every part in between. And in the event you’re trying to get off the crushed path? Here are the most effective hidden gems and secret spots in Japan.
Hidden gems of Japan
Kinosaki Onsen
By Erin of Neverending Voyage
Onsen cities are a uniquely Japanese expertise and excellent for a soothing break soaking within the steaming waters of sizzling spring baths.
Kinosaki Onsen is good to your first onsen city. It’s beneath the radar for many guests to Japan, but it surely’s foreigner-friendly (with indicators in English, and unusually, tattoos are allowed) and solely 2.5 hours by prepare from Kyoto or Osaka.
Staying in a ryokan (conventional inn) is a key a part of the expertise (Morizuya Ryokan is a good choice). You’ll sleep on a futon and luxuriate in scrumptious multi-course meals served in your tatami mat room.
The ryokan supplies a yukata (cotton kimono) and geta (wood sandals), which you put on to walk alongside Kinosaki Onsen’s picturesque canals and hop from one onsen to a different.
Kinosaki Onsen has seven public onsens, all included within the free move you get along with your lodging. They all have a distinct character—some are small and intimate, whereas others have a number of baths (and even saunas) to get pleasure from. Many have fairly backyard views.
Mandara-Yu is the oldest tub in Kinosaki Onsen, relationship again to 720 AD. Goshono-Yu, in a temple-like constructing, is among the most engaging onsens, particularly the beautiful stone out of doors tub with a waterfall.
It’s important to familiarise your self with onsen etiquette earlier than your go to. You have to be fully bare and bathe completely earlier than stepping into the tub. Public onsens are divided by gender.
Some accommodations even have non-public onsens accessible for mixed-gender use, that are a very good place to start out.
Once you recover from any preliminary apprehension, it’s a splendidly enjoyable expertise.
Spring (normally early April) is an particularly lovely time to go to Kinosaki because the cherry blossoms are in bloom alongside the canals. It’s a lot much less busy than Kyoto, so you possibly can benefit from the blossoms with out the crowds.
Naoshima Island
By Jonny of Backpacking Man
Naoshima Island, often known as Naoshima Art Island, is among the most surreal locations to go to in Japan. Located within the Seto Inland Sea, it’s often known as one of many important fashionable artwork areas of Japan, with many unusual artwork sculptures to see exterior, in addition to some up to date artwork museums.
Mush of those artwork areas got here from the Benesse Corporation and the must-visit museums when there are the Chichu Art Museum and the Lee Ufan Museum. If you go to throughout Spring, Summer, or Autumn, the Setouchi Triennale up to date artwork competition could also be on.
It’s simply not the artwork that makes Naoshima top-of-the-line locations to go to in Japan. It’s rural vibe, with laid-back seashores and a timeless really feel is one other facet to the island that many guests miss out on if solely coming to see the artwork.
One of the most effective methods to see Naoshima, particularly to see the randomly scattered artwork items dotted exterior across the island, is to hire a bicycle.
You can hire a bicycle from rental locations on the important port of arrival. Apart from Naoshima, there are a number of close by islands price exploring, though you will have extra time than only a day for a go to to those.
You can keep in Naoshima at accommodations and guesthouses, but it surely’s additionally simple to do as a really lengthy day journey from the cities of Okayama, Hiroshima, Osaka, and even Kyoto, because of the rail hyperlinks to succeed in the ferry port for the island. If you do that you may be rushed although to see every part.
Shirakawago
By Chloe of Chloe’s Travelogue
Shirakawago is among the best-hidden gems in Japan that worldwide guests have solely just lately travelled to. This tiny city with lower than 600 households is nestled deep contained in the mountainous Hokuriku area and tucked away from any highlight…till it turned a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.
The quiet farm village’s most culturally priceless property is the 300-year-old gassho-zukuri, conventional Japanese farmhouses with a thatched roof. With the Japanese Alps as a backdrop, they create a picturesque surroundings much like lovely cities within the Swiss alps.
Mountain farmers nonetheless dwell in these heritage homes, making the complete village a dwelling museum. There are a number of open homes and lodging for anybody occupied with peeping in. Visitors are requested to respect the privateness of residents in different properties.
Visiting Shirakawago is a singular cultural expertise at any time of the yr; nevertheless, the most effective time to go to is in the course of the snow season.
In January and February, the city hosts Shirakawago Winter Light-Up Festival. When the complete village is illuminated at nightfall, the farmhouses coated in snow resemble the gingerbread homes from a winter wonderland.
During the latest festivals, solely company with tickets have been permitted to the village to keep away from over-tourism and to protect the cultural heritage. Book your ticket, transportation, and lodging nicely prematurely to attend the competition. Event particulars will probably be introduced within the early fall.
Takachiho Gorge
By Kenny of Knycx Journeying
Located in a small city in Miyazaki Prefecture, Kyushu, Takachiho Gorge is a lesser-known pure treasure to international vacationers. It’s lengthy been some of the standard geological points of interest among the many locals due to its lovely surroundings and non secular worth.
The greatest technique to get to Takachiho is self-driving, for vacationers on a highway journey to Mount Aso, Takachiho Gorge is about 50 kilometers away from the Aso and it takes about one hour to drive there.
It can also be doable to go to there by public transportation, because the city has numerous bus connections with the most important cities in Kyushu, like Fukuoka, Kumamoto, and Miyazaki.
The spectacle is a slim passage of Gosake River. Both sides of the rocks on the gorge have been crafted by means of a million-year technique of volcanic actions.
On prime of the 17-meter cliffs are lush and dense inexperienced foliage and the Minainotaki waterfall that cascade to the river under, making a poetic and dreamy image that leaves guests in awe.
There are two methods to understand the gorge from completely different views. From above, take a stroll on the scenic paths on the sting of the cliffs the place guests can have an summary of the complete chasm and the encompassing panorama.
There are a few small diners with a desk on the terrace and a view of the river. The paths result in the Takachiho Gorge Boat Rental.
Descend to the floor of the river and row a ship to get into the gorge. Take a more in-depth take a look at the rock formation and listen to the rumbling sound of the waterfall – however watch out that you could be get moist in the event you row proper within the falls.
Noboribetsu Onsen
By Kate of Adventurous Kate
If you need to get off the crushed path in Japan, head to the island of Hokkaido. Want to get even additional? Head to Hokkaido in winter. And searching for the final word Hokkaido winter gem?
Head straight to the city of Noboribetsu Onsen, a preferred spa city in Japan’s northernmost island the place the land bubbles with scorching sizzling water.
Start your time without work with a stroll by means of Jigokudani, or “Hell Valley,” a brief stroll north of the city middle. Here the land is steaming with geothermal exercise, tendrils of smoke wafting up from volcanic craters.
Be certain to stay to the wood walkways, and put on good winter boots if visiting in winter, as there may be just about at all times a layer of snow on the bottom right here!
Next up, get your self a hearty seafood lunch. The stalls lining the streets are stuffed with the contemporary catch of the day. Settle down for some sushi or seize a chirashi don (bowl of rice with sashimi on prime). If you’re visiting in winter, attempt snow crab or sea urchin.
Finally, it’s onsen time. Onsen Tengoku welcomes day guests and has loads of baths of various temperatures, with a big window overlooking Jigokudani from a distance. You’ll soak away each ache you could have from the hike! Be certain to brush up on Japanese spa etiquette earlier than you go.
While Noboribetsu Onsen is a well-liked spot to in a single day or spend the weekend, it additionally works nicely as a day journey from Sapporo. Take the prepare to the city of Noboribetsu (70-100 minutes) and swap to the bus taking you into city (10 minutes).
Magome within the Japanese Alps
By Vicki of Vicki Viaja
If you need to escape to outdated rural Japan and expertise idyllic nature concurrently, Magome could be the best place for you. The small village within the Japanese Alps is simply good for individuals who need to escape the hustle and bustle of the large metropolis of Tokyo for a short while.
Located a few 3-hour drive from Tokyo, Magome could be reached by bus or automobile.
Magome can also be a superb vacation spot for hikers. As a cease on the Nakasando Trail, a preferred roughly 11-day mountain climbing path by means of the Japanese Alps, Magome is taken into account some of the lovely locations you’ll move by means of whereas mountain climbing.
While (native) hikers might have found this peaceable place for themselves, Magome stays just about untouched by mass tourism.
The picturesque path that leads by means of the small village takes you alongside lovely outdated buildings and some ryokans. Since a number of native tour buses steadily come to Magome in the course of the morning hours, it’s price staying in a single day to expertise the place’s magnificence with none vacationers.
To full the expertise, it’s endorsed that you simply e book a ryokan. This manner, you’re going to get the entire “Japan experience” on this beautiful place, with a full typical Japanese dinner and breakfast.
Stroll alongside the trail and uncover the sights of the place, such because the cemetery, which provides an incomparable view of the area’s nature.
If you need to expertise extra of the native nature, you should use the following day to hike on the Nakasendo Trail to the following cease, one other cute village referred to as Tsumago.
The Magome Tsumago Trail is a straightforward hike that solely takes a number of hours. If you’re fortunate, chances are you’ll even spot some wildlife alongside the way in which, corresponding to Snow Monkeys.
Saiho-ji Temple
JBy ames Ian of Travel Collecting
Saiho-ji Temple in Kyoto is a small temple in Kyoto that’s usually referred to as Kokedera “Moss Temple” due to the attractive moss backyard there.
The web site has been a temple since 749, but it surely wasn’t till 1339 {that a} backyard was added. It was initially a Zen sand backyard, however after it fell into neglect about 200 years and flooded, a moss backyard grew as a replacement.
The backyard is centered round a lake formed just like the Japanese kanji image for “heart”. There are three tiny islands within the lake referred to as “Sunrise”, “Sunset” and “Mist”, and a few small tea pavilions in between the timber and moss.
This hidden gem takes some effort to see. The solely technique to go to is to submit a request for a reservation in writing (snail mail) one week to 2 months prematurely and embody a particular return postcard for them to mail again to you.
They will designate the day and time and the return postcard then turns into your ticket. The easiest method to do that is to ask your lodging supplier that will help you and use their deal with.
On the day of your go to, make sure to deliver the affirmation and the payment in money.
When you go to, there’s a necessary pre-garden expertise on the temple, which can be chanting sutras, meditating, or copying the guts sutra (in kanji).
You are then capable of wander the gardens for about an hour. There are over 100 styles of moss within the gardens, and it’s a fantastic, mystical place that few individuals get to see.
Nonbei Yokocho
By Catrina of 24 Hours Layover
Nonbei Yokocho – often known as Drunkards Alley is among the greatest hidden gems of Japan – situated proper in the midst of Tokyo would you consider!
Situated out of sight simply behind the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing (Shibuya Crossing) you will see that this quirky and charming conventional space with a number of slim alleyways and lantern-lit streets that appears like an entire new world.
Whilst Shibuya has modified drastically through the years and is now one of many brightest and busiest neighbourhoods in Tokyo, it’s wonderful how one can nonetheless discover a small reminder of the outdated city amongst the again streets.
Nonbei Yokocho is unquestionably a beautiful place to flee the crowds for the fortunate few who find out about this distinctive little spot. There are many little eating places and bars right here – some so small that they will solely maintain round 4 individuals without delay!
They are stuffed with native individuals and these ‘yokocho’ (alleyways) in Tokyo are positively price a go to, if to not expertise the true Tokyo, then a minimum of to have a break from the crowds and expertise some of the hidden but genuine picture spots in Tokyo.
The bars are eating places have been right here in Nonbei Yokocho because the 1950’s – earlier than then this was dwelling to the Tokyu railway company Head Office.
Nonbei Yokocho might be probably the most genuine ‘yokocho’ in Tokyo you’ll discover. It’s stuffed with character and is an absolute must-visit while you’re right here, making it top-of-the-line secret spots in Japan.
Travel tip: head right here within the night so you possibly can go contained in the small bars for a drink and to combine with the locals! Each of the bars have their very own distinctive ambiance and are very cosy! Note that many of the bars are shut on Sundays and in the course of the day!
