【Yamagata】Hidden hot-spring retreat at Hijiori-onsen

Tour Highlights：
✔ Stay overnight at a traditional hot-spring inn in a hidden mountain village
✔ Learn how to fully appreciate the Japanese hot-spring bathing culture
✔ Indulge in a traditional course meal of authentic 'Shojin ryori' (Shinto vegetarian cuisine)
✔ Experience over 4m of snow in Japan's deepest snowfall area!
✔ Opt to participate in local experience programs

Ever wished you could just switch off your digital devices and leave the constant pressure and demands of your busy modern lifestyle behind you? We may have found the answer!

Located deep (and we mean deep!) in the mountains of Yamagata prefecture lies Hijiori-onsen, a quaint hidden-away hot spring village of terraced rice-fields and traditional Ryokan inns lining a narrow river. Recently, the village received attention for reaching record-breaking levels of snowfall – over 4.5 metres – during the winter of 2018 (the deepest snowfall recorded in the entire country for that year).

This accommodation-inclusive program is designed to give travelers a deeper, more meaningful experience of staying at a Japanese hot spring inn.

16:00　Check-in to your lodging for the night.
You will stay a rustic hot-spring ryokan inn called ‘Matsuya’, famous for its atmospheric ‘cavern baths’ said to have been created in the Taisho Era by digging out a private spring inside the grounds of the inn.

Enjoy a specially prepared ‘Shojin-ryori’ course menu created using only local vegetables and ingredients (100% oriental vegetarian/vegan). The local Shojin Ryori dishes of Hijiori-onsen were traditionally prepared and consumed by Shinto priests and pilgrims as part of their ascetic practice and preparation for their pilgrimage to the Three Holy Mountains of Dewa. These days, the meal is often enjoyed by lay people who seek to refresh their body and mind and to escape the busy modern lifestyle.