Michelin Green Guide Nagano, Matsumoto & Kiso — Three-Star Zenko-ji and Matsumoto Castle, and All 34 Starred Sights

What the Michelin Green Guide is — 34 starred sights in Nagano, Matsumoto and Kiso

This is the Michelin Green Guide (Le Guide Vert), which rates destinations rather than restaurants. The Japan edition is published in France: the 4th edition in 2015, the 6th in 2020, and the current one in 2025. Every star below is given with the edition that awarded it.

The Japanese Alps are two-star in the 2015 edition. Nagano Prefecture’s stars fall into three areas: the north around Nagano city (Zenko-ji, Togakushi, Obuse, Jigokudani), the centre with Matsumoto and Kamikochi, and the south along the Kiso road. Tokyo to Nagano is about 90 minutes on the Hokuriku Shinkansen; Nagoya to Matsumoto about two hours on the Shinano limited express. The areas are one to two hours apart, so plan one area per day. Some tours do cross between them — Matsumoto Castle with Narai-juku, for instance.

Three-star Zenko-ji, plus Togakushi and Obuse

In the 2015 edition Zenko-ji is three-star, its National Treasure main hall two-star and the Sanmon gate one-star. The wooden Binzuru figure in the outer hall is three-star in its own right: rub the part of the statue that matches where your own body hurts and you are said to be healed — centuries of rubbing have worn its face smooth. You can also feel your way along the pitch-dark passage beneath the hall, the “key to paradise”. The city of Nagano is one-star.

About an hour by bus from Nagano Station, Togakushi is two-star: its three shrines — Hokosha, Chusha and Okusha — are one-star, and the approach to Okusha, lined with 400-year-old cedars, is two-star. Obuse, the town where Hokusai painted ceilings, is one-star and the Hokusai-kan two-star. The Okusha sits up in the mountains and snow closes it for part of the winter.

Jigokudani Monkey Park and Nozawa Onsen

The 2015 edition gives one star to Yudanaka and to Jigokudani Monkey Park above it, known worldwide for the wild macaques that bathe in the hot spring in winter. From the car park it is a 30-minute walk through the forest, snow-covered in winter, so you need shoes with grip. Follow the rules: do not touch the monkeys, do not feed them, do not crowd them.

The ski and hot-spring village of Nozawa Onsen is two-star, and O-yu, the finest of its thirteen free public bathhouses, is two-star as well. These baths are run and used by local residents, so observe the etiquette: wash before entering, keep your towel out of the water, and leave a small offering in the box provided. The Japan Ski Museum is one-star.

Three-star Matsumoto Castle, the town, ukiyo-e and a wasabi farm

Matsumoto Castle is three-star in the 2015 edition and the town of Matsumoto two-star. It is one of the castles whose keep predates the Edo period, and its black lacquered walls earn it the name “Crow Castle”. The keep is a National Treasure, and you climb its steep stairs to the top floor. In busy seasons there is a queue for entry, so aim for right at opening.

South of the castle, Nakamachi — a street of black-and-white namako-walled storehouses — is one-star. The Japan Ukiyo-e Museum, holding some 100,000 prints, is two-star. Northwest of the city, in Azumino, the Daio Wasabi Farm is one-star, where you walk between wasabi beds fed by meltwater from the Northern Alps.

Kamikochi and Hakuba — the valley and ridges of the Northern Alps

Kamikochi is two-star in the 2015 edition, with the clear Azusa River and the forest pool of Myojin-ike at one star. From a valley at about 1,500 m you look up at the Hotaka range; Kappabashi to Myojin-ike is an hour of level walking each way. Private cars cannot enter — you change to a bus or taxi at car parks on the Matsumoto or Takayama side. The road is normally open from late April to mid-November.

Asian black bears are present in Kamikochi. Stay on the paths, make noise with a bell, never leave food or rubbish, and if you see one, keep your distance and withdraw. To the north, Hakuba and the ski slopes of Happo-one are one-star.

The Kiso road — Narai, Tsumago, Magome, and model routes

The mountain stretch of the Nakasendo between Edo and Kyoto — the Kiso valley — is two-star in the 2015 edition. The post towns of Narai, Tsumago and Magome, the lacquerware town of Kiso-Hirasawa, and the 8 km pass trail linking Tsumago and Magome are one-star. The trail takes about three hours over stone paving and through forest, and in season a luggage transfer runs between the two tourist offices. Bears reach the pass too, so ring the bells along the path as you go.

Michelin Green Guide Nagano, Matsumoto & Kiso — FAQ

Star ratings: ★★★ worth a special journey / ★★☆ worth a detour / ★☆☆ interesting. Stars come from the 4th (2015) or 6th (2020) edition of the Michelin Green Guide Japan, as noted for each sight, and are reviewed with every edition. “Starred sights” counts every entry the guide awards stars to — including buildings inside a site, museum pieces, viewpoints and routes — so it is not a count of separate locations.