Aomori is undoubtedly perfect for the neon deep traveler, but it's really not a popular travel choice again. You can enjoy the cherry blossoms of Hirosaki Castle in spring, the coolness of the Oirase Stream in summer, see the red leaves of Lake Towada in fall, and go wild snow skiing on Mt. Hakkoda in winter.
As for the "Hakkodasan - Oirase Stream - Lake Towada" line, which is located in the south-central part of Aomori Prefecture, the Oirase Stream is a famous maple-viewing resort, and Hakkodasan is favored by skiers of all countries as a resort for skiing on the open slopes.
This time, I experienced two great hotels in Aomori, and I would like to recommend them as a classic itinerary for the "Hakkodasan - Oirase Stream - Lake Towada" line.
First of all, it is close to these attractions, and you can get close to the Oirase Stream. Secondly, Hoshino has its own shuttle bus, and if you stay at Oirase Stream and Aomoriya, there is also a shuttle bus between the two hotels.
Do not look at the map is small, this section of the road is very difficult to drive, and in winter there are a lot of big mountains and many roads are not accessible. If you're not driving, I recommend the road I've listed.
The map shows the places listed above, so if you're driving from Aomori to Hachinohe yourself, you can see the transportation costs clearly (of course, having a car isn't something I need to be concerned about)
If you're booking one of these hotels, you'll have to get to the hotel from Shin-Aomori Station - Okuirase stream - Aomoriya. -Hachinohe section of transportation would be a no-brainer for myself and would cost zero! Then go on to read the following tips to know why these two hotels must stay.
First of all, Hoshino has three hotels in the Tohoku region: Aomoriya, KAI Karuizumi, and Oirase Stream Hotel.
KAI Karuizumi is a hot spring series hotel under the "KAI KAI" category, which focuses on luxury natural hot spring tours (of course, the price is also the most expensive, but there are also money-saving tips for 20-30 year olds to stay at KAI KAI hot spring hotels for almost half the price, which is, of course, a good way to save money. (Afterthought, when I practice I will write again!)
As for the Aomori House and Oirase Stream, these two are part of its personalized hotels with local characteristics, which can highlight the local characteristics and present a unique style, so that people can enjoy the details of the fun in the hotel resort. Anyway, if you come here, you should definitely play something unique, right?
The Oirase Stream Hotel focuses on the feeling of being close to nature and exploring Oirase in depth, while the Aomori House is more suitable for young people and parent-child ambience, and focuses on the theme of the Sandman Festival, where you can have a lot of fun in the hotel.
You can feel Hoshino's "landlord" spirit from the location of the hotels, such as Aomori House, which has a small park all to itself, and Oirase Stream Hotel, which is the only hotel in the Oirase Stream area, so if you want to go deeper into the Oirase and sleep on the stream, this hotel is the only choice. strong> ------
A winter wonderland surrounded by forests and streams
Name: Hoshino Oirase Stream Hotel
Location: 231 Tochikubo, Oaza Oirase, Towada-shi, Aomori
Fantasies of staying in a deep forest, with a silver-white sky and a babbling brook outside your window have finally come true at this hotel in Aomori.
The Oirase Stream is a 14-kilometer stretch of stream trail from Towada Lake Konokuchi to Yakiyama in Aomori Prefecture, with Towada Lake at its source. This section of the stream is dotted with many waterfalls, all of which exude a different kind of attraction as the seasons change.
The Oirase Stream is one of the most fascinating natural treasures in Aomori Prefecture. In the winter, when the snow covers the entire forest, it becomes a winter wonderland that is rarely visited by tourists, and the flowing stream and the powdery snow form a deep blue gouache painting.
The most beautiful season is definitely the first fall, although I have not been to Oirase in the fall, but how popular in the fall also needless to say, will be directly reflected in the hotel floating price. Of course, I think the second most beautiful season is winter.
Before, the bitterly cold snowy country of winter was almost inaccessible to tourists, and since the end of 2017, the Oirase Stream Hotel, which has been closed in winter for years, has finally opened for the first time.
There are no pickups in winter, only transfers to and from the station. We were choosing to get on the bus at Aomori Station, which starts at 15:00 and takes two hours to drive to the hotel.
After getting off the bus and checking in, you can see the Netflix lobby - River God. The giant bronze statue in the very center is 8.5 meters high, carved with images of humans dancing with forests and elves***, a masterpiece by Japanese artist Taro Okamoto. (It was only later that I remembered he was the designer of Osaka's Tower of the Sun.)
It's a heater, with wood burning underneath, which adds a lot of warmth to the atmosphere. The snowy landscape in front of the unobstructed floor-to-ceiling windows is a natural painting.
Sitting on the sofa in front of the fireplace and roasting the fire, I can't help but think: this is the most romantic thing in winter, right, outside the window is the cold place, inside the house with a roaring fire, and pillowed with the aroma of such firewood want to fall asleep.
The hotel room is basically divided into two types of rooms: stream view and mountain view, that is, one side facing the stream and the other side facing the mountain, it is recommended to book a room facing the stream, and you can't see anything at all if you are facing the mountain.
The room with stream view has a whole wall of oversized glass windows for travelers to better enjoy the scenery of the forest and the stream, and there is a comfortable sofa placed against the window. The room is decorated in a very Japanese style, so I didn't take any pictures of the room.
After unpacking, we went to the Aomori Apple Kitchen for dinner, which is included in the room rate. The Apple Kitchen offers a lot of apple meals and apple desserts, and of course, the best part is the warm apple pie, and you can make your own ice cream on the side.
If you don't want to eat at the hotel, there is also a grotto pizza place very close to the hotel on the left, google it, it's called Ortolana Grotto Pizza. But unfortunately, when we went there, the pizza store was closed for the new year, so we didn't get to eat there. The stores here close very early, so be sure to check google for opening and closing times.
From mid-December to late March, there's a winter-only Ice Cascade Onsen, which is an off-site infinity hot spring. The entire open-air hot springs are surrounded by walls of ice, lying on the side of the hot spring pool in front of the snow-covered forest, while soaking in the soup while feeling the snowflakes fall on the face, the scenery is too beautiful. (Of course, can not take pictures, the picture from the official website, respectively, the night and daytime scene. This official picture is true, I have seen with my own eyes I swear
The hotel has prepared a good hot spring with a basket, as long as the room to take away their own small basket can go to the bath, very convenient. After the bath on the way back to the room through the river god hall and sat down, in front of the fireplace to drink a bottle of Oirase yogurt, do not say that the taste is really good.
There is another onsen a little farther away, which you need to take the hotel's ferry to get to, called "Yaejyu Kujyu no Yu". But this open-air onsen is closed in winter, so it's a great spot for maple-viewing in the fall, so be sure to give it a try. (The hot spring outside the museum is a mixed bathing, do not need to bring a swimsuit, will prepare clothes, after 8:30 p.m. is exclusively for women.
In the evening, we also took a tour of the "Icefall at Night" (I was fooled by the official website.)
First, we took a look at the "Icefall at Night".
Let's take a look at the official website.
In fact, the Shuttle bus took us to the attractions of the Oirase Stream, stopping at three places, the hotel's own color-changing spotlights on the ice waterfall, the one blue, one purple changing light show, and if with a little music? (I probably don't know where I am.
Personally, I suggest that if you go in winter, there is no need to participate in this activity, but if you have nothing to do in the hotel, the activity is free of charge anyway. In fact, the next morning's Oirase stream tour will come back to these places ......
So if you don't go on this tour, what else can you do? Go stargazing, of course. A recommendation for an excellent location for stargazing is the parking lot next to the hotel, as told by the hotel staff.
Oirase Stream is in the middle of the mountains, surrounded by a national park, and there are no other lodgings or homes, so the light pollution is not very serious. On a clear night, you can really see the stars in the sky, and in winter, it's a great pleasure to look at the stars in the snowy woods.
Back to the room, with the snow outside the window, sleep on the pillow.
When I woke up in the morning, I opened the curtains and could see the snow-covered mountains and forests directly across the street, with a babbling brook below, which was a great feeling.
The next day, I joined the hotel's Oirase daytime bus tour, and took the shuttle bus to visit Mamonite, Yuni no Taki, and Sanshou no Ryu, which lasted for about an hour. (But Oirase is actually good for hiking, so if you have enough time, you can get up early to explore deeper along this stream.)
Activities in winter will be more limited than in other seasons. The winter itinerary consists mainly of bus trips to enjoy the snowy streams and the icefall light show at night.
Of course, if you pay, there is also a Hakkodasan ski tour or a tree ice viewing event, and a guided snowshoe hike through the icefalls, all of which can be viewed on the website itself. The website offers different programs for different seasons, so check the schedule yourself.
The snow in Oirase is the most quiet and peaceful snow I've ever seen.
In winter in Oirase, the land along the streams is covered with thick white snow, the trees and branches are also covered with snow-white clothes, and the waterfalls along the streams are ice-cold while the milky streams continue to flow.
When the bus was about to drive back to the hotel, we proposed to our guide that we should walk back on our own, and the guide gladly agreed.
The sun was shining, and it was the best day in Aomori. Walking alongside the Oirase stream, it was as quiet as if we were in no man's land, and all that was left was the sound of our shoes clicking on the snow.
This is the ultimate beauty of life, got a moment of great satisfaction, this whole mountain, belonging to a private snow scene.
A few lines of Wooden Heart come to mind:
They are drifting down, decorating the tree branches and window panes.
The plains are far away from the mountains, the road and the road.
Back to the hotel waiting for the shuttle bus to come, the driver grandfather found my booking, help us take away the luggage, I did not expect a whole big bus on the only us, it is true that the epidemic led to Japan's tourism industry is cold ah, very quickly, an hour later to the Aomori house. strong> ------
Memories of Aomori are all here <
Name: Hoshino Group Aomoriya
Address: 56 Aza-kuma Kizan, Misawa City, Aomori
The four major festivals in Aomori are: the Aomori Sandman Festival, the Hirosaki Sandman Festival, the Hachinohe Sansha Taisai Festival, and the Goshogawa Hara Syoibutsu Todo. The annual Sandman Festival is fixed in August, and travelers from all over the world flock to Aomori and Hirosaki in the Tohoku region to visit the festival.
But for tourists, it can't be just in time for the summer experience, so Hoshino created the Rikuo Matsuri House, which puts on performances of Aomori's most traditional cultural festivals every day of the year.
Aomori House is, I think, the most fun and cost-effective of Hoshino's properties. Aomori has it all - forests, snow, yukata, sandman lamps, foot baths, horse-drawn carriages, scallops, drums ...... and the old Shibusawa Residence garden, which is known as a tangible cultural asset.
Check in fell in love with the cute Aomori House and this cute, cute, cute apple key.
It's worth mentioning the nostalgic Showa-inspired "Joy Plaza" in the center of Aomori House, a huge event plaza on the basement level with an adorable octopus quilt, a brewery where you can enjoy a drink with your friends, a retro coin-operated game arcade, and the chance to fish for scallops (which is too hard to do anyway, and I didn't catch a single one), The park is a great place to spend an entire day, so we didn't even get to walk around Aomoriya's park.
The entire plaza is decorated superbly for photos, and Sandman lanterns can be seen all over the hotel. I couldn't resist renting a nice set of yukata, only 500 yen can be rented until the time of departure, very cost-effective (of course, the hotel room is also provided in the pavilion to wear the yukata, also prepared a basket directly take away to go to the bath, only the yukata color is not so bright and nice.
Aomori House is located in the Komaki hot springs spring quality is great, once has been the top of the list of hot springs in Japan. There are two hot springs in the hotel, one is "Genyu" which requires a shuttle bus to get there, it is indoor and you need to pay attention to the time of the shuttle bus.
There is also an open-air wind Lu "floating soup" out of the plaza on the first basement level of the museum, and at night there is a lighted Sandman to accompany you to soak in the hot springs. But every time you rush out to the snowy outdoor requires unlimited courage, you have to soak yourself in the indoor pool until you are as red as a roasted pig.
However, it's really super romantic to soak in the hot springs under the beauty of the snowy sky while enjoying the giant Sandman lanterns under the night sky, and the lanterns and aqua lights that flutter in the wind.
In addition, it is highly recommended to try the apple shower gel and shampoo provided by the hot spring bath in the museum. Generally Hoshino's hot springs are provided with pola toiletries, this is Aomori, but also provided a set of hotel homemade apple series, really good smell.
Dinner was served at the hotel's buffet restaurant, のれそれ cafeteria, "のれそれ" is a dialect of Aomori, meaning all, a lot. So I feel that this cafeteria has a wider variety of ingredients, with unlimited large scallops and teppanyaki steak, which I personally feel is slightly better than the cafeteria in Oirase.
Every night, the hotel puts on performances of Aomori folk music and shamisen, which is a wonderful opportunity to be able to enjoy traditional Japanese songs and instrumental music.
The next morning, we went to the "horse-drawn carriage parade", which is a very popular activity that requires a fee and a 20-minute trip, and the time is very strict, so if you don't make a reservation in advance, you won't be able to get it. （The price is very high, and the time is very strict, so if you don't make a reservation in advance, you won't be able to!
At ten in the morning, our carriage was already outside the lobby to meet us, the body of the carriage is made of Aomori produced Rohan cypress to build, the interior is very retro.
When we walked out of the hotel lobby, it was so cold. As soon as we stepped into the carriage, the heat from the fireplace came over immediately. After traveling for a while, the coachman opened the window on the side of the carriage facing the park, so that you can breathe fresh air, and the heat provided by the fireplace does not make people feel cold at all. The coach driver would also grill squid for us while the coach was traveling. The squid will be ready in no time, and there will be a small bag for us to take away if we can't finish it.
Because there are so many activities in Aomoriya, we didn't experience the afternoon tea "Hachimanma Lounge".
According to the website, it is a Japanese-style lounge built on a lake, and you can buy a one-day pass at the front desk for unlimited drinks including champagne and coffee, and limited desserts for one day.