DAY1 START!
Access to Fukui
JR
Osaka
Station
JR Express About90minutes
JR
Tsuruga
Station
Rainbow Line Summit Park
An overwhelmingly beautiful park located at the top of a mountain with an altitude of 400 meters that allows you to enjoy a 360-degree panoramic view while walking around. There are five stylish terraces designed as “sky terraces above the Five Lakes of Mikata,” and you can take in the spectacular views from your favorite terraces.
10minutes by Car
Battery-Powered Tour Boat
(Mihama Lake Center)
Battery-Powered Tour Boats at Mihama Lake Center are boats that take you around the Five Lakes of Mikata, which is designated as a Ramsar wetland by the Ramsar Convention and Japanese Nationally Important Agricultural Heritage System.
They are the first boats in Japan that do not use any fossil fuel, such as gasoline and light oil, and are powered only by charged electricity generated by the solar panels installed at the lake center. You can enjoy your time on the boat while listening to local guides sharing places of interest only locals know.
15minutes by Car
Hinata Heshiko Kobo Hinodeya
(includes Heshiko brewery tour and Heshiko sashimi tasting)
Heshiko is preserved food soaked in rice bran for a long time that was developed in each household in Wakasa Mihama. At Heshiko no Kura, freshly caught mackerels are soaked whole in rice bran for about a year. You can watch them being fermented and aged there.At Heshiko Chaya, you can enjoy rice balls filled with Heshiko tempura and Heshiko paste porridge. You can enjoy Heshiko cuisine while looking out over Lake Hyuga.(Advance reservation required)
15minutes by Car
Fukui Prefectural Varve Museum
The geological layer of striped pattern, “varve,” formed at the bottom of Lake Suigetsu, one of scenic Mikata Five Lakes, is the longest in the world (about 70,000 years worth), and is recognized as the yardstick of the world standard for measuring the age of varves. As the first museum in the world themed on varves, the facility displays the varves of 45 meters from 70,000 years ago like a set of stained glasses.
30minutes by Car
Posting Station Kumagawa-juku
Wakasa provided an abundance of foods from the sea and mountains to the imperial capital as a “Miketsukuni” (province that supplied the Imperial family and court with abundance of regional offerings). Kumagawa-juku, a town that flourished as a trading hub for such goods, still retains the traditional townscape to this day and is designated as a Japan Heritage as well as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings.
1minute by Car
Yao-kumagawa
An old traditional house renovated into a vacation house rental in Kumagawa-juku, a posting station located in between mountains along the road that connects Wakasa and the imperial capital. Village-style kamado stove cooking class is popular. It lets you experience starting a fire in a traditional apanese kamado using firewood, cook rice and miso soup over it, and savor the best rice you’ve ever had.
