2026-07-08 Echigo-Yuzawa Summer Trip: Alpine Botanical Garden and Sake Bath Experience#

The original itinerary for July 8th was to visit Daruma-ji Temple in Takasaki, but upon closer inspection, we realized there were quite a few stairs. Since my wife had already “used up” her stair-climbing quota for this trip, we searched again and decided to detour to Echigo-Yuzawa.

Echigo-Yuzawa is a historic hot spring area and a famous ski resort. However, it’s midsummer now, and since we know nothing about skiing, this naturally didn’t concern us. Another major feature here is the top-tier Koshihikari rice and Japanese sake, but that didn’t matter much to us either, as we don’t drink a drop of alcohol.

Fortunately, while searching online, my wife discovered that we could enjoy beautiful scenery and expansive flower fields just by taking a cable car up the mountain (the alpine botanical garden at the summit, named “Alp no Sato,” is a great place to overlook the Echigo Mountain Range, often mistaken for Nagano’s Northern Alps). Learning that there was a shuttle bus available at the top, we decided to go.

Stepping out of the train station, the scene was completely different from Yahiko yesterday; it connects to a rather large and unique shopping mall. However, we didn’t linger and went straight out onto the street, heading towards the cable car station.

The cable car station is about a ten-minute walk from the train station. The streets along the way have a distinctive charm, primarily featuring traditional Japanese architecture, occasionally interspersed with a few Western-style houses.

Arriving at the cable car station, we found it lacked the thrilling feel of Yahiko. There was even an elevator going straight to the platform, which was very convenient.

The cable car cabins here are very spacious and run extremely smoothly, which instantly put me at ease.

After reaching the summit, we smoothly found the shuttle bus, but the reality was quite different from my wife’s expectations. The bus only drove for a minute or two, went up a steep section of the road, and arrived at the stop. My wife originally thought the bus would stop station by station like a sightseeing car, so this little expectation unfortunately fell through!

Therefore, my wife had to sit and rest at the European-style Restaurant Edelweiss. The view here is quite nice and very relaxing.

As for me, I walked around the mountain paths alone.

For young, strong people or those with extensive hiking experience, this path might be nothing; but for an “old man” like me, the road condition was slightly rugged. I couldn’t help but feel glad my wife didn’t follow me.

Later, we took the cable car back down the mountain. After enjoying lunch, we strolled back to the train station. Inside the station, there is the famous local “Sake Bath.” This is a unique experience where Japanese sake is added to the hot spring water (of course, it’s not for drinking). After soaking in it, it truly made us feel completely relaxed, with all our fatigue washing away.

After soaking in the bath, we wandered around the shopping mall inside the train station and stumbled upon a large rotating exhibit. Looking closely, it turned out to be pieced together from densely packed small dolls, with very exquisite craftsmanship.

The entire mall is filled with decorations featuring strong local characteristics.

As for the interior architecture of the train station, although it has a somewhat rustic and primitive feel, the design lines are quite elegant.