Nanzansou

After visiting tokyo and kyoto, we planned a couple nights in the mountains outside of Mitake to relax, hike, and experience a more "traditional" Japanese setting. Our stay here was amazing. It was perfect. The food (breakfast and dinner) were outstanding, and totally home made. I feel like I could write an entire review on just the food because it was delicious. My wife, my brother, and my best friend and I arrived in Mitake from Tokyo via train. We used our JR passes, which was great. We then took a short bus ride (the stop was right by the train station and the ride only cost about 280 yen), from Mitake to the cable car, which took us up to the mountain. After getting off the cable car (about 1100 yen round trip), which in itself is a fun experience, we walked for about 10 minutes to reach Nanzanso. The highlights: - breakfast and dinner homemade and delicious - the bath was so relaxing and even had a view of the mountains - the rooms were clean, well kept, and had outstanding views. - we got to wear yukata robes when in the inn. - we hiked to the top of a nearby mountain, which had more great views - for our hike, our host made snacks for us to take with us - our host - she was so kind, warm, courteous, welcoming, and thoughtful. Even with our limited Japanese and her limited english, we managed to bond by sharing pictures, and using our cell phones and google translate to let her know how appreciative we were and how much we loved the experience. I can't recommend this enough. It was by far and away the best part of the trip, and our trip was awesome.