YAMAGATA
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Five travelers on the rim of Mount Zao look down on the emerald Okama crater lake

Yamagata · Japan

Bathe in a volcanic spring.Paddle a flooded forest.

Private, guided journeys in Yamagata — one of National Geographic’s 25 best places in the world for 2026. Led by the people who live here.

Discover the Onsen TrailPlan a trip
National GeographicBest of the World 2026 — the only destination in Japan
As seen on NHK WorldCycle Around Japan, July 2026
Licensed tour operatorRegistered DMC in Yamagata Prefecture
Local guidesWe live here. We guide here.
Lake Shirakawa in spring, with the snow-covered Iide mountains behind and canoes on the water

Why Yamagata

Japan, without the crowds.

Two and a half hours north of Tokyo by Shinkansen, Yamagata is a land of volcanoes, deep snow and hot springs. National Geographic chose it for its Best of the World 2026 list for age-old tradition and outdoor experiences far from the crowded Golden Route — and wrote about our home water, Lake Shirakawa, where snowmelt floods a forest every spring.

“Guided canoe tours weave right through the willows”
— National Geographic, Best of the World 2026
Watch: paddling the submerged forestWatch: paddling the submerged forest

Signature journey · 3 days / 2 nights

Onsen Trail

Walk across a volcano. Bathe in three sacred waters.
Snowmelt becomes rivers; volcanoes turn water into steam. Over three days you walk — and bathe — your way across the Ou Mountains toward the sacred peaks of Dewa, with a local guide at your side.

SeasonJune – late October
Length3 days / 2 nights
StylePrivate & fully guided
Walking1–3 hours a day · moderate
StartFukushima Station
EndYamagata or Tsuruoka Station
Travelers wade across a vivid orange riverbed on the trail to Namekawa Great FallsNamekawa Great Falls, an 80-metre cascade, with hikers at its foot
DAY 1

The Hidden Spring

Namekawa Onsen
A slow train into the mountains, a walk to an inn that time forgot, and a waterfall few travelers ever see.
  • Walk 3.5 km from a tiny mountain station; your luggage goes ahead
  • Wade across a river whose bed runs vivid orange
  • Stand beneath the 80-metre Namekawa Great Falls
  • Soak in the riverside bath of a 150-year-old inn
Okama, the emerald crater lake of Mount ZaoZao Dai-Rotenburo, a milky-blue sulfur open-air bath in a mountain ravine
DAY 2

Into the Crater

Mt. Zao
From a mountain railway to a volcanic ridgeline — and the emerald eye of Okama.
  • Ride a chairlift to the crater rim
  • Walk the ridgeline for two to three hours, the lake in view
  • Descend by ropeway to one of Japan’s great open-air sulfur baths
  • Dinner and a night at a hot-spring ryokan
Stone steps lead up to the great vermilion torii gate at Mount YudonoTravelers walking the approach to Yudonosan shrine
DAY 3

The Sacred Bath

Mt. Yudono
The journey ends where words end — at a shrine of which pilgrims are told: “Speak not of it. Ask not of it.”
  • Drive into the sacred Dewa mountains
  • Make the pilgrimage to the inner shrine — no photographs, and no telling
  • A final soak in the sacred waters at the pilgrim lodge
  • Transfer to Yamagata or Tsuruoka Station
Travelers walking a forest road toward Namekawa Onsen
August 2026 — five travelers from the United States walk the trail.
Four travelers share a bento lunch at the inn
Lunch at the inn: foraged mountain vegetables.
A guide briefs travelers beside the river
Your guide reads the river before every crossing.
A room at the inn with two beds, tatami flooring and exposed wooden beams
Your room at Namekawa Onsen.
A multi-course ryokan dinner
Dinner at the ryokan.
Travelers chatting on the crater rim
On the rim of Okama.
From ¥200,000per person4 guests · 3 days / 2 nights · private departure
2 guests¥300,000 pp
3 guests¥240,000 pp
4 guests¥200,000 pp

Includes — private guide, 2 nights at hot-spring ryokan, meals, local transport, and all entrance, bath and lift fees.

Not included — travel to and from the meeting point (Fukushima Station), and drinks.

Shorter on time? Each day also works on its own. We arrange one-day and two-day versions, and tailor pace, lodging and start point.

Travel partners — net rates on request.

Ask about dates

Optional extra · experienced hikers only

Yunosawa Geyser

Deep in the mountains of Iide, a geyser pulses warm mineral water — 30 to 40°C — into a rust-orange pool. Unusually for a geyser, you can get in. There is no resort here, no changing room, no path to speak of: just the pool, the forest, and the pulse of the earth.

Getting there is the hard part. The old forest road has collapsed, so you scramble up and down short cliff sections, duck under and climb over fallen trees, and push through grass and brush. This is a demanding off-trail day for fit, experienced outdoor travelers — not a walk.

  • Half a day to a full day
  • Add it as a fourth day, or swap it for one of the three
  • By request only. We go when the conditions, and your experience, make it safe to
  • Not included in the Onsen Trail price — quoted separately

More journeys

Guided by locals, in every season.

Canoes among willow trees standing in the clear water of Lake ShirakawaTwo paddlers in a red Canadian canoe spread their arms wide among the flooded trees in spring sunshine
Spring · late March – late May

Submerged Forest Canoe

Each spring, snowmelt from the Iide mountains fills Lake Shirakawa and the forest stands in the water. For about two months you can paddle between the trunks — first among snowbanks, then under new green leaves, with the snow-capped Iide range standing behind the forest on a clear day.

  • Late March to late May, on Lake Shirakawa
  • Stable kayaks make it easy for first-timers
  • Paddled before? Try a Canadian canoe and the art of the single-blade paddle
  • Featured in National Geographic’s Best of the World 2026 and on NHK World
Watch: the White Forest, in early springWatch: the White Forest, in early spring
A paddler seen from behind, entering a narrow gorge between rock wallsShafts of light fall between the sheer granite walls of Mifuchi Gorge, with small kayaks on the lake below
Summer – autumn · June – November

Mifuchi Gorge Canoe

The lake lies still between the mountains, and for a while your paddle is the loudest thing on it. Then comes the first waterfall, and another, each one breathing cool air across the water. You follow the shoreline as it bends left and right — now forest, now bare rock — the way ahead never quite in view.

Then the walls close in. At the mouth of Mifuchi Gorge you pause to offer a quiet word to the mountain and its gods, and paddle on between granite cliffs that rise sheer from the water. The world you came from is gone: no wind, no voices, just cool, still air, even at the height of summer. They say a dragon god lives in these depths. In here, it does not feel like a story.

  • Half-day guided tour on Lake Nagai Hyakushu, June to November
  • For anyone who has paddled a canoe at least once, with average fitness
  • At least two guides with you at all times
  • Meet at Nogawa Manabi-kan, 10 minutes by car from central Nagai — no car? Tell us in advance and ride with your guide
Snow monsters — fir trees encased in ice — under a blue sky on Mount ZaoSnowshoers walk in single file past a towering snow monster
Winter

Snow Monsters Snowshoe Hike

On Mt. Zao, Maries’ fir trees become encased in ice and snow, forming towering “snow monsters” — a winter spectacle found in only a few places in the world. Walk among them on snowshoes with a local guide.

A traveler lifts noodles from a steaming pot beside a village ramen masterThree people smile behind bowls of ramen they have just made
All year

Ramen Making, Farm to Table

Pick the vegetables in the morning, then cook your own bowl in the kitchen of a village ramen shop, side by side with the people who run it. Then eat.

When to come

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Onsen Trail
Submerged Forest Canoe
Mifuchi Gorge Canoe
Snow Monsters Snowshoe Hike
Ramen Making, Farm to Table

Shaded = operating season. Half-shade = early or late season, conditions permitting.

For travel partners & media

Your partner on the ground in Yamagata.

YAMAGATA EXPERIENCE is a licensed destination management company (DMC). We design, book and guide — so you work with one local team from first enquiry to the last hot spring.

  • Custom itineraries for independent travelers and small groups
  • Lodging, local transport and meals arranged under our travel agency license
  • English-speaking support, from planning to the trail
  • Net rates and trade information on request
  • Media: photo library and press visits on request
Four YAMAGATA EXPERIENCE guides in logo T-shirts, cheering in front of a green rice field

Led by Morihiro “Cap” Horie — the guide who took NHK World through the submerged forest for Cycle Around Japan in 2026.

Plan a trip

Tell us your dates.
We will do the rest.

Write to us in English. Tell us when you would like to come, how many you are, and what you love — we will reply with ideas and a quote.

Email usContact form

canoe@hacinc.jp  ·  +81 50-1722-1103