1-Day Togakushi Tour: Soba making, Ninja Town, and Hidden Shrines
Description
Escape to the Mountains: Ninja, Soba & Sacred Cedars Step out of the city and into the mist-shrouded forests of Togakushi, where Japan’s creation myths and ninja secrets come to life. This immersive 1-day adventure from Nagano blends hands-on tradition with ancient spirituality. Tour Highlights: Master the Soba Blade: Don’t just eat lunch—make it. Under the guidance of a master artisan, you’ll knead, roll, and hand-cut Togakushi’s world-famous buckwheat noodles before enjoying your creation. The Path of the Ninja: Explore the historic 12th-century refuge of the Togakure school. Navigate the Ninja Trick House, a labyrinth of trapdoors and secret passages, and test your aim with shuriken throwing. The Giant Cedar Avenue: Walk the ancient Togakushi Kodo pilgrimage trail. Pass through the iconic red Zuishimon Gate into a breathtaking cathedral of 400-year-old cedars leading to the hidden Okusha Shrine. Perfect for Tokyo Day-Trippers! Easy access via Shinkansen.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Start your soba making journey from scratch with the help of your guide and the museum's expert soba artisans. Enjoy the fruits of your labor with a handmade soba lunch inside of the museum's restaurant seating area!
Depart for the Togakushi Ninja Museum, with a short stop at the Togakushi Chusha Shrine along the way.
Once arrived at the ninja museum, your guide will accompany you to the ninja trick house to enjoy engaging and authentic puzzle-solving to escape the manor. Time permitting, you will have time to enjoy other aspects of the ninja museum during free time.
Walking from the Ninja Museum with your guide, you will head toward the 'Okusha' (Upper Shrine) through the 'Zuishimon' Gate and along the giant cedar avenue. This is specactular landscape and ideal end point for the tour. The walk to and from the gate takes around 25-30 minutes (in both directions). Please note, due to time constraints and difficulty of the walk, we will not walk all the way to the Upper Shrine.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- This tour has a minimum of 2 guests to operate
- This tour includes a significant amount of walking, often along forest trails. While paths are well-maintained, the ground is uneven in places and requires a reasonable level of fitness to partake. The itinerary is designed to breakup periods of walking into 30-minute blocks. Please ensure you wear good quality shoes or boots.
- This tour is well-suited to children but they will need to be able to walk or be carried for up to 30-minutes at a time.
- This tour spends a considerable period of time outside. Weather conditions in Togakushi are often notably cooler than Nagano City, even in summer. Please also ensure you wear suitable clothing for the season and bring a waterproof jacket and/or umbrella as weather conditions can change quickly.
- This tour includes a 'soba' (buckwheat) noodle lunch in Togakushi village. If you have any dietary requirements please let us know at time of booking.
- Infants (0-5) are free of charge. An infant lunch is not included and the order will be made directly to the restaurant according to your needs.
- All listed events, activities, and experiences are subject to availability. Please note that while certain tour options may appear bookable through our platforms, this does not guarantee that every experience can be carried out as scheduled in the tour itinerary. Many activities require direct confirmation with our partner venues, and availability may vary based on the date and other factors. Should any part of your ordered itinerary require adjustment or deviation from the original schedule, or if a specific experience is unavailable, we will contact you promptly to discuss suitable alternatives or amendments.
- Due to the amount of walking, this tour is not suitable for guests who are mobility impaired
Reviews(18)
We had a fantastic day despite the weather being terrible. Nadine was a great, knowledgeable, and friendly guide. Making soba noodles is an experience we won't soon forget and the results were delicious thanks to the expert guidance. Shrines and ninja house are really fun and worth a visit in any kind of weather. Recommended for any visitor to the area!
Great day for the whole family. Fun things for the kids and the soba noodles were great. Kevin was a wonderful guide who made the day fun for everyone. A really relaxed feel. What beautiful scenery we got to experience.
Kevin is awesome. We had such a great time and so much fun. Perfect for our family of four. The kids loved the Ninja Museum.
We had a pleasant journey. There is a guided translation throughout the course, and there are no barriers to participating in the production. Ninja Village is fun. The tour guide is keen to help us take pictures and introduce local cuisine, the driver is also very smooth and comfortable throughout the trip
Dear Valued Guest, Thank you for booking multiple tours with us and reviewing them both! We are happy to know you liked the scenery, soba making, and history shared by your guide in Togakushi. We hope to see you again! Snow Monkey Resorts
We had an amazing time on the 1-Day Togakushi Tour! The soba-making was such a fun hands-on experience, and the noodles turned out delicious. The Ninja House was also a blast and added a playful touch to the day. Our schedule was a bit tight, so we didn’t make it all the way to the inner shrine, but the trail itself was beautiful and so photogenic that we didn’t feel like we missed out. A nice surprise was the Kumazasa ice cream at the entrance—refreshing and tasty, though I know the unique flavor may not be for everyone. Our guide, Shawn, was excellent—very informative, helpful, and made everything run smoothly. He’s also a great photographer and helped us capture some wonderful memories along the way. He really made the trip memorable for us. Highly recommend this tour if you’re visiting the area! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Dear Taan, Thank you for your glowing review. We’re delighted to hear that you had fun and found Togakushi to be beautiful. Shawn truly is an excellent guide, and we're happy to know he was informative and helped take some nice photos too. We look forward to welcoming you back for another exciting visit! Snow Monkey Resorts
Our guide Shawn showed genuine knowledge in the history and traditions of shintoism, and really capture our attention. Our teenage children appreciated most Ninja village!!!
Dear Ema, Thank you for your positive review. We are thrilled your family enjoyed the tour in Togakushi with Shawn. It's awesome that the Ninja Village was a huge hit, and we hope to see you again! Snow Monkey Resorts
We absolutely loved this tour, such fun activities! Shawn our guide was fantastic, super knowledgeable and interesting to chat to. He was also very patient and sensitive to the needs of our three young children, tailoring the day to ensure they had the best time. Making the noodles and the ninja village were both such cool activities. Highly recommend this for a great day out!
Dear Amy, Thank you for your lovely review! We are thrilled that your family had a great time in Togakushi, especially with soba making and ninja activities. Shawn will be glad to know that his knowledge and hospitality was appreciated. We look forward to providing another fun experience for you in the future! Snow Monkey Resorts
This was a wonderful day out for our family. The tween and teen especially loved the ninja house and the adults enjoyed the beautiful (and hot!) walk to the shrine through the 400 year old trees. Shaun was accommodating and we appreciated it!
Dear Valued Guest, Thank you for leaving such a positive review about the tour and Shawn! We are pleased to hear that your family enjoyed your time in Togakushi from the ninja house to the beautiful shrine walk. We look forward to providing more memorable moments for you in the future. Snow Monkey Resorts
Super nice day, making dough is really fun. Our guide Kevin was really super nice. I recommend
Dear Lyne, Thank you for your wonderful review! It's great that you enjoyed your time in Togakushi, with the soba making experience being a particular highlight. We’re also pleased that Kevin's knowledge and friendliness made the tour even more special. We hope to see you again soon! Snow Monkey Resorts
Our experience of this one day tour was most memorable from learning to make soba noodles and being served our handiwork for lunch, to finding our way out of the Ninja House, and walking through the tranquil cedar forest to explore hidden shrines along the way. We were lucky to have Shawn as our guide. He gave us interesting commentaries on stories on soba, ninja culture and legends behind the shrines of Togakuschi. He was also very flexible and accommodating in conducting the tour at a pace that was comfortable for us senior citizens.
Dear Richard, Shawn and the entire team would like to thank you for the wonderful review! It makes our day to know that you had a memorable day from the soba making to the beautiful forest walk to the shrines. We know you have choices when it comes to your travel adventures, and it means the world to us that you chose our tour in Nagano. We hope to see you again! Snow Monkey Resorts
