Welcome to Togura Station, the gateway to Togura-Kamiyamada Onsen. And, welcome to the Onsen Town Togura-Kamiyamada Audio Tour.
Nestled in a valley along the banks of the Chikuma River, the hot spring mineral waters of Togura Kamiyamada have been rejuvenating travelers to Nagano for 125 years. The skin-smoothing alkaline onsen water high in sulfur content can be enjoyed at the various inns and hotels as well as the 7 day-use bath houses. Togura-Kamiyamada became renowned as a stopover point for pilgrims to nearby Zenkoji Temple and boasts a lively geisha presence to this day.
Togura-Kamiyamada is a convenient 2 hours from Tokyo by shinkansen bullet train, and is centrally located to the best of Nagano, such as the snow monkeys of Jigokudani and Matsumoto Castle. It isn’t isolated in the middle of the mountains, nor is it crowded into a concrete jungle of a city. It is a town, with 30 ryokans for lodging and over a hundred outstanding eateries and bars, and a plethora of family-run local shops to explore. It is a town – an onsen town. We like to think of it as THE Onsen Town, Togura-Kamiyamada.
Your guide for this audio tour of Onsen Town Togura-Kamiyamada will be me, Tyler, an American-born innkeeper of one of the local ryokans. I hope you will enjoy getting an insiders perspective to our town.
To start the tour, head across the river from Togura Station to the Kara-Koro Footbath in the onsen town’s center. Take a bus or taxi, or if you’re staying the night, most ryokans provide free pick-up. Away we go – ikimasho.
