2 to 13 november 2027 · northern japan
The Autumn Leaves Tour of Northern Japan 2027
twelve days · the far north in autumn colour · $19,500 per person, twin share
The far north of Japan has an autumn of its own, and a wilder country to set it in. This is the Japan most visitors never reach: a fourteen-kilometre gorge of waterfalls and moss at Oirase, ranked among the great autumn landscapes of the country; a milky sulphur onsen more than three centuries old in a beech forest; a gas-lit valley that has not changed its face in a hundred years; and a private wooden boat down the Mogami River, through the same canyon the poet Basho descended in 1689. We follow the colour down the spine of the north, from the mountains above Sapporo to the valleys of Yamagata. We plan it, we arrange it, and we travel every mile of it beside you, so that across twelve days your only work is to be there.
signature experiences
oku no hosomichi
The road to the deep north
In the spring of 1689 the poet Matsuo Basho set out on foot from Edo for the far north of Japan, a journey of some five months and 2,400 kilometres through country most of his contemporaries thought too wild and too remote to be worth the journey. The record he made of it, Oku no Hosomichi, the Narrow Road to the Deep North, is the most loved travel book in the Japanese language: a sequence of encounters with landscapes, temples, and rivers, each distilled into a handful of syllables. Basho went north precisely because the north was deep, slow, and far from the capital, a place where a traveller might see more clearly. The regions this tour crosses, the beech forests of Towada, the mountains of Akita, the Mogami River in its canyon, are the ones he walked and wrote, and to travel them in the turning of autumn is to follow the oldest idea of the northern journey: that the far country, met slowly, gives back more than the famous one seen fast.
signature moments
The heart of the journey
oirase gorge
The gorge that earns the journey north
Fourteen kilometres of river, waterfall and moss in autumn colour, taken stretch by stretch, the car waiting at each.
nyuto onsen
The onsen in the beech forest
A milky sulphur onsen more than three centuries old, in a mountain village at the end of the road.
mogami river
Down Basho's river, by private boat
A private wooden boat down the Mogami River, through a canyon on fire with autumn that shows its full height only from the water.
ginzan onsen
The inns of Ginzan, over the river
A hot-spring street of wooden inns and gas lamps that has not changed its face in a hundred years.
The colour keeps moving
The autumn colour opens in the high country of Hokkaido and travels south through Tohoku, and the route travels with it, north to south.
the itinerary
the itinerary
The shape of the journey
The tour opens with three nights above a gorge turning gold in the mountains beyond Sapporo, then crosses to Honshu by the Shinkansen that runs beneath the Tsugaru Strait. From there it follows the colour down the spine of the north: to the waterfalls of the Oirase gorge and the caldera lake at its head; to a samurai town whose avenues turn gold; into the beech-forest springs of Nyuto, and an onsen more than three centuries old; and out to a gas-lit valley at Ginzan, where a private boat carries you down the river Basho immortalised. Twelve days, north to south, with the autumn moving beside you the whole way, ending within reach of Tokyo.
the journey begins at home
Before you depart
The journey begins weeks before Japan. Your Tour Directors meet you in a private video call: introductions, the shape of the twelve days, and your preferences gathered quietly, so every kaiseki kitchen knows your table before you land. A pre-journey welcome pack follows: packing guidance for the season, arrival instructions, and reading worth the flight. By the time you clear arrivals at New Chitose, you are already known, and already expected.
1 · three nights
Jozankei
2 · one night
Hakodate
3 · two nights
Oirase, Towada
4 · one night
Kakunodate
5 · two nights
Nyuto Onsen
6 · two nights
Ginzan Onsen
the extension
continue on · 2 days, 2 nights
The Tokyo extension
Rather than end a twelve-day journey with a rush to the airport, the tour can close with two quiet nights in Tokyo. Your Tour Directors travel with you into the city, and a private chauffeur meets the Shinkansen.
You stay at the edge of the Imperial Palace gardens, where the ginkgo and the late maples hold the last of the autumn over the moat, with a day given gently to the season and a farewell dinner to close the journey, before the transfer to Haneda or Narita. It is the calm last note a long journey deserves.
duration
2 days, 2 nights
price, per person
$4,200
ends
Tokyo (Haneda or Narita)
accommodation
accommodation
Where you stay
jozankei · nights 1 to 3
Jozankei Tsuruga Mori no Uta
A ryokan set above the Toyohira gorge, its spring water drawn from the valley below, the gorge turning gold outside the windows.
hakodate · night 4
Bourou Noguchi Hakodate
A modern onsen ryokan in the hot-spring quarter of Yunokawa, its top-floor onsen looking out across the Tsugaru Strait.
oirase, towada · nights 5 to 6
Tsuta Onsen
A wooden inn standing in the beech forest since the Meiji era, its main onsen built directly over its own spring.
kakunodate · night 7
Tamachi Bukeyashiki Hotel
A small hotel within the samurai district itself, the avenue of dark wooden fences and weeping cherries at the door.
nyuto onsen · nights 8 to 9
Taenoyu
Set where two streams and two waters meet, with a waterfall onsen and a riverside terrace beneath the beech canopy.
ginzan onsen · nights 10 to 11
Fujiya
A ryokan of eight rooms behind a preserved Taisho facade, its interior rebuilt in bamboo lattice and glass onto the river.
tour experiences
tour experiences
Moments along the way
Autumn foliage over the Oirase stream
The onsen in the beech forest at Nyuto
A river gorge in autumn colour
First-class rail, the length of the country
A private chauffeur, at every arrival
The mirror lake at Tsuta-numa
South through the farm country
what is included
Looked after, entirely
From the moment you land, everything is anticipated. This is omotenashi, the Japanese art of caring for a guest before they think to ask, and for twelve days it is the texture of the whole tour. A private car and chauffeur meet you at New Chitose, and the Yamagata Shinkansen carries you to Tokyo at the close. Your Tour Directors travel with the group throughout, by private van and by the Shinkansen beneath the strait, so you never navigate a timetable or wait on one person. Every reservation is made and every arrangement is settled long before you arrive. One price, settled before you travel, covers everything from the airport to the last dinner in the gas-lit valley: every night, twenty meals, and every arrangement in between. Your only task is to give the north your whole attention, while someone who knows it completely carries the rest.
One price, settled before you travel
$19,500
per person, twin share
Part of your journey
included, always
Every night of the journey, at the properties named above
Your Tour Directors with the group throughout
Private vehicles and the Shinkansen beneath the Tsugaru Strait, Green Car
A private chauffeur meeting you at New Chitose, and the rail journey south to Tokyo at the end
Every entrance, and every arrangement in between
the days
Three nights above the Toyohira gorge, and the amphitheatre of colour at Hoheikyo Dam
The fourteen kilometres of the Oirase gorge, and the caldera of Lake Towada
A samurai town whose avenues turn gold and amber
The beech-forest springs of Nyuto, and an onsen more than three centuries old
The Mogami River by wooden boat, chartered for your group alone, a boatman telling the river's story and your Tour Directors translating
The gas-lit Taisho streetscape of Ginzan Onsen after dark
at the table
Kaiseki at every ryokan of the journey, the mountain larder of the north
Obanazawa soba and Yonezawa beef in the kaiseki at Fujiya
Yonezawa beef and Yamagata sake in the gas-lit valley
A farewell kaiseki at Fujiya, eight river-facing rooms behind a Taisho facade, its interior rebuilt by Kengo Kuma
Twenty meals in all, eleven breakfasts and nine kaiseki dinners, every one included
Every night, twenty meals, and every arrangement in between: one price covers everything from the airport to the last dinner in the gas-lit valley.
how we work
We plan it, we run it, and we travel it with you
We plan, organise and run every tour, and your Tour Directors travel every mile with you, in a group that never exceeds eight, a small number of couples and no more. The route runs north to south, from the mountains above Sapporo to the valleys of Yamagata, the order in which the colour moves, and every night is spent at a property named on this page.
how it works
How it works, and the terms
The process
Enquire through the form and we reply personally. If you would like to talk the journey through, a call with your Tour Directors is available, though many guests are happy to book on the strength of the itinerary itself. A deposit of $3,500 per person secures your place, and the balance falls due 95 days before departure. Nearer the time, your Tour Directors call you again, to prepare you for the days ahead.
Payment
One price, tax included. It covers every night, every train, every transfer, every reservation, and every meal set out in this itinerary. Payment is safe, secure and encrypted, by card or bank transfer.
The terms
Your booking is governed by our Booking Conditions, which set out what is included and excluded, and our cancellation terms in full.
Good to know
International flights to New Chitose and home from Tokyo are not included. Comprehensive travel insurance is a condition of booking.
questions
frequently asked
Questions before you enquire
If your question is not answered here, ask us; it is what the enquiry is for.
How many guests travel on the tour?
What is the pace of the tour like?
What is included in the price?
Can you cater for dietary requirements?
Where does the tour finish?
When does the tour run, and when should I enquire?
Further questions
when to speak to us
A journey that keeps coming back to you
This is a journey that keeps coming back to you long after you are home: the waterfalls of Oirase in the gold light, the milky onsen in the beech forest, the gas lamps of Ginzan in the steam off the river, Basho's canyon seen from the water. Months later a certain slant of autumn light brings the whole north back, and you find you know a country most travellers never reach.
Considered. Intimate. Perfect.
The next step is a conversation. Begin your enquiry, and we will confirm your dates and your extension before you book a single flight.
2 to 13 November 2027eight places$19,500 per person, twin share
Not these dates? The Private Collection travels on the dates you choose.
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