Matsumoto Castle and City松本城・松本

One of five castle keeps in Japan that are National Treasures (with Himeji, Hikone, Inuyama and Matsue). The black five-tier, six-storey keep dates from the 1590s; the red-railed Tsukimi-yagura (月見櫓, moon-viewing turret) was added in the Kan’ei era (1624 to 1644). Inside, the stairs are steep; a visit to the keep takes 45 to 60 minutes.

The ticket (¥1,200 e-ticket with a timed slot, ¥1,300 on paper, children ¥400) covers the inner garden and the keep. E-tickets cannot be changed or cancelled, and same-day tickets cannot be timed. The castle’s own page showed a wait of about 20 minutes at the keep entrance on a normal day; Golden Week and Obon queues run far longer, and staff limit numbers for safety. Hours are 08:30 to 17:00 (last entry 16:30), longer on 8 to 16 August (08:00 to 18:00), and 10:00 to 15:30 on 1 to 3 January.

A merchant street of white-walled kura (storehouses) with black-and-white lattice plaster, now craft shops, cafés and sake sellers. It is the part of Matsumoto that looks old without being a museum, and it sits on the way from the station to the castle, so it costs almost nothing in time to walk it instead of the main road.

A short pedestrian lane of small shops along the river bank, known as Frog Street for its frog goods. Snacks, souvenirs and old-style shopfronts; it is touristy, and a good place to fill the half hour before a timed castle slot.

Yayoi Kusama was born in Matsumoto, and the museum keeps a permanent room of her work, “Yayoi Kusama: The place for my soul”, running all year. The polka-dot vending machines by the entrance are the most photographed thing in the building. The permanent collection is ¥700 online or ¥800 at the counter; special exhibitions are priced separately. Open 09:00 to 17:00 (last entry 16:30), closed Mondays (the next weekday if Monday is a holiday) and 28 December to 4 January.

Opened in 1876 and now a National Treasure: a Meiji school in a western style, with an octagonal tower and carved waves over the entrance. Seismic retrofit work kept it shut for about three and a half years; it reopened on 9 November 2024, and 2026 is its 150th year, marked with an exhibition of the building’s architectural drawings. Open 09:00 to 17:00 (last entry 16:30); closed on the third Tuesday of the month until November and every Tuesday from December.

A castle plus Kaichi School e-ticket is ¥1,600 (castle entry timed, valid 2 days). Castle plus City Museum is ¥1,500, castle plus Art Museum ¥1,700, and all four venues ¥2,600 (valid 3 days). Entry to the school on its own is priced by the city; check on the day.

One of the biggest wasabi farms in Japan, laid out over spring-fed channels with water wheels on the Azumino plain. Entry is free and it has no closing days; hours shift with the season (about 08:30 to 17:30 in autumn, shorter from November), so check the farm’s site. Eat the wasabi soft serve, wasabi soba and tempura, and walk the paths between the fields. The 20-minute boat ride (¥1,400) runs to late October.

The Ōito Line is covered by the Hokuriku Arch Pass, so the train leg costs nothing extra on the pass. A tourist loop bus from Hotaka Station runs on selected days from late April to early November (about ¥600 a ride).

Asama Onsen (浅間温泉) is Matsumoto’s old spa quarter, with about 30 inns and a few day baths, a short bus ride north-east of the station. Utsukushigahara Onsen (美ヶ原温泉) is a quieter spa town in the hills, with a day bath at Shiraito-no-yu. Both are in the onsen guide below with the spring type and how each bath treats the water. For one night worth building a trip around, see Tobira Onsen Myōjinkan, a 1931 inn at 1,050 m above the city.

A mountain valley at about 1,500 m in the Northern Alps, closed to private cars, with Kappabashi bridge and Taishō Pond. The 2026 season runs 17 April to 15 November. It is a full day trip from Matsumoto: allow about two hours each way, reserve the bus ahead, and note the fare was revised on 17 April 2026 (roughly ¥3,000 one way; sources differ, so check Alpico). Neither the Hokuriku Arch Pass nor the Alpine pass covers this line.

Nagano is buckwheat country, and soba is the dish to eat here. Cold zaru soba on a bamboo tray with a dipping sauce is the standard order, often with a plate of tempura; ask for the hot cooking water (soba-yu) to drink at the end. Even the station has a soba counter, and in the hills bowls often carry venison and mushrooms, as in the photo.

This page lists dishes, not named restaurants: small soba shops change their opening days, so look the place up on Google Maps the same day.

Basashi (馬刺し) is raw horse meat sliced thin and eaten with soy sauce and ginger or garlic; Nagano is one of the main horse-meat prefectures in Japan. Sanzoku-yaki (山賊焼) is a marinated chicken thigh, deep-fried whole and cut up, a local dish of the Matsumoto and Shiojiri area. Both appear on izakaya menus in the evening.

The Azumino plain north-west of the city grows wasabi in cold spring water. Buy a whole root to grate at home, or eat it at the farm in soba, tempura and ice cream. A fresh root only keeps a few days even wrapped in damp paper in the fridge, so a tube of paste is the practical souvenir for a long trip.