Aizu-Wakamatsu in One Day
The samurai castle town of Fukushima: Tsuruga Castle, the tragic hill of the Byakkotai, sauce katsudon for lunch, and the thatched post town of Ouchi-juku.
Last updated 2026-09-03 · 1-day self-guided plan
Aizu-Wakamatsu & Ouchi-juku
A red-roofed castle and a road of thatched inns
For travellers heading north with an interest in samurai history, who want a castle, a real post town and a hot-spring soak all before the evening train.
- 1
Tsuruga Castle
From Aizu-Wakamatsu station, reached from Koriyama on the Banetsu West Line in about 70 minutes, take the loop bus or walk 25 minutes to the castle for opening in mid-morning. Tsuruga is a rebuilt keep with an unusual red-tiled roof; the museum inside covers the Boshin War siege, and the top floor looks across the Aizu basin to Mount Bandai. The Rinkaku teahouse in the garden serves matcha.
1.5 HoursCost: ¥400–800 - 2
Iimoriyama and the Byakkotai graves
Take the loop bus 15 minutes east to Iimoriyama. A long stair, or a short paid escalator, climbs to the graves of the Byakkotai, the teenage samurai who saw smoke over the castle in the Boshin War, believed it had fallen, and took their own lives here. On the way down is Sazaedo, a wooden temple with a double-helix ramp inside so that ascending and descending pilgrims never meet.
1 HourCost: ¥200–500 - 3
Nanokamachi street and sauce katsudon lunch
Bus back to Nanokamachi, a street of Taisho-era storehouses and shopfronts now selling lacquerware, sake and akabeko, the red papier-mache cows that nod their heads. Lunch around 13:00 is the town's own dish, sauce katsudon: a pork cutlet dipped in sweet Worcester-style sauce over rice and shredded cabbage. Then take the Aizu Railway from Nishi-Wakamatsu toward Yunokami-Onsen.
1 HourCost: ¥1,000–2,000 
4Ouchi-juku
From Yunokami-Onsen station, about 40 minutes on the Aizu Railway, a bus or shared taxi runs 15 minutes up to Ouchi-juku, a former post town where thatched houses line a single wide street with water channels on each side. Eat negi-soba, buckwheat noodles eaten with a whole leek as the chopstick, and climb the steps at the end of the street for the view down the whole row, the famous photo.
1.5–2 HoursCost: ¥300–800
5Onsen at Yunokami or Ashinomaki
Back at Yunokami-Onsen, the only station in Japan with a thatched roof, the ryokan along the river open their baths to day visitors in the late afternoon; an outdoor bath over the gorge is the right end to the day. Alternatively stop at Ashinomaki-Onsen, one stop back toward the city, for a larger choice of day-use baths. Aim to be on a train to Aizu-Wakamatsu by early evening.
1 HourCost: ¥500–1,500
Day 1 Estimated Cost
- Food¥2,500–4,000
- Transport¥2,500–4,000
- Admissions & onsen¥1,500–3,500
Tips
The Aizu Railway to Yunokami-Onsen runs roughly hourly and the Ouchi-juku bus fewer times still: check both timetables at Aizu-Wakamatsu station before committing to the afternoon.
Iimoriyama is a steep staircase and Ouchi-juku's viewpoint is another climb: flat walking shoes, and in winter snow boots, since the post town sits under deep snow from December to March.
Sauce katsudon in town, negi-soba in Ouchi-juku, and a bottle of Aizu sake from a Nanokamachi shop to take home; the region's brewers win national prizes most years.
The Ouchi-juku photo is from the shrine steps at the top of the street looking down; go up in the mid-afternoon when the sun is behind you and the day-trippers are thinning.