Matsumoto Castle, Sake & Local Bites Walking Tour
Description
Discover Matsumoto on a relaxed walking tour featuring castle history, local sake, old streets, and a light local snack. Visit Matsumoto Castle, one of Japan’s most beautiful original castles. Explore its wooden interior and hear stories from Japan’s feudal past. The tour then continues to a small local sake shop with a warm, homely atmosphere, offering a relaxed tasting experience that feels like stepping into a local home. After that, stroll through Nawate Street and Nakamachi, known for their preserved buildings, small shops, and nostalgic atmosphere. Along the way, enjoy a light Japanese snack and discover another side of Matsumoto beyond the castle. ・Explore Matsumoto Castle, one of Japan’s most beautiful original castles ・Enjoy sake tasting at a small local shop with a warm, homely atmosphere ・Walk through Nawate Street and Nakamachi with a local guide ・Try a light Japanese snack during the tour ・Discover historic streets, local shops, and hidden details beyond the castle
Tour Options
Itinerary
Meet your guide in front of Starbucks at Matsumoto Station. After a short introduction, the tour begins with a relaxed walk through central Matsumoto toward the castle.
Visit Matsumoto Castle, one of Japan’s most beautiful original castles and a designated National Treasure. Learn about the history of the samurai era while exploring the castle grounds and enjoying views of the iconic black keep.
Enjoy a relaxed sake tasting at a small local spot loved by residents. Learn about Nagano’s sake culture while sampling regional varieties in a casual and welcoming setting.
Explore Nawate Street, a charming retro shopping street famous for its frog theme. The area is filled with small shops, snacks, and local souvenirs.
Walk along Nakamachi Street, known for its traditional white-walled merchant buildings from the Edo period. Today the street is lined with small cafés, craft shops, and galleries.
The tour finishes with a relaxed walk back to Matsumoto Station, where your guide will say goodbye.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- o8Experience is a locally based tour company offering private and small-group experiences across Nagano and surrounding regions. From food and culture to nature and history, we create meaningful journeys tailored to curious travelers. Visit o8Experience to discover more.
- Walking shoes are recommended
- Minimum alcahol drinking age is 20 years. So we offer another drink for under 20.
- In case of late arrival, the tour cannot be extended.
Reviews(6)
The tour was amazing; Masa was very warm and friendly and did a great job guiding us around Matsumoto castle, nawate shopping street and nakamachi shopping street. The sake tour was great fun and I would highly recommend this tour to anyone else in the area.
Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback! I’m thrilled to hear you enjoyed the tour and had a great time exploring Matsumoto Castle, Nawate Shopping Street, and Nakamachi Shopping Street. It was my pleasure to guide you through these beautiful spots and introduce you to the sake tour experience. Your recommendation means a lot, and I hope to see you again on another adventure! Safe travels! — Masa
We had a fantastic time on this tour! Our guide was knowledgeable and fun. Sake sampling at 300 year old brewery and the owner was kind and interesting and also gave us samples of local dishes. Also our guide took great pictures along the way
I'm so glad to hear you had a fantastic time on the tour! It sounds like a wonderful experience, especially with the sake sampling at the 300-year-old brewery and the kind owner sharing local dishes. And how awesome that your guide not only provided great knowledge but also captured amazing photos along the way! Thank you for sharing your experience with o8Experience !!!
We had a wonderful relaxing afternoon spent with our guide Matsu. He was very courteous and provided us with lots of information about the area and the sites we were seeing. He also saved us over an hour waiting in line time by purchasing tokens that allowed us to walk right in to Matsumoto Castle. We tasted sake made on site by a family that has been making it there for 300 years using the spring water that comes out right at their front door. We also walked down Frog Street and a food vendors street. In addition we visited a 500 year old former Samurai house and a Shinto shrine with a temple. Highly recommend this tour.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful feedback! We’re delighted that you had such a relaxing and enjoyable afternoon with me. It sounds like you experienced so many wonderful highlights, from the rich history of Matsumoto Castle to the local sake tasting, and of course, the exploration of Frog Street and the Samurai house. I am happy to know that my insights and efforts made your tour special, especially saving time at the castle! We greatly appreciate your recommendation and are glad the tour was memorable for you. We hope to welcome you back again in the future for more adventures in Nagano!
Masa was a great host and tells you jokes, knows a lot about history and takes care of you during the tour. Reservation with him definitely.
Thank you for joining our tour and hope see you again in Nagano!
Masa was a great guide! He helped us see Matsumoto castle while explaining the signficance of its history, and took great photos throughout. Afterwards, he brought us to a local sake brewery where we drank with locals, which was a great time. Lastly, he showed us some local shops and bought us taiyaki to try, which was delicious. I would recommend anyone to take a tour with him!
Thank you very much for joining the tour of o8Experience!! Also, thank you so much for chosing our tour while you are on the business trip. I am so glad to hear that you enjoyed the experience you had. Hope see you again in Nagano !!
What a fantastic tour! Very personalized and relaxing. Our guide was amazing, he was friendly and accommodating. Two highlights...there was a real samurai guarding the castle grounds who was so excited to take a picture with us and the sake tasting was A+. Highly recommend!
Thank you very very much for joining out tour ! We hope to see you and your all family in Nagano city again ! Please contact us anytime if you wanna any questions to travel around Nagano !!
