South to Towada-ko Travel Video Guide

South to Towada-ko Travel Itinerary

• Maps and flag of Japan
• South to Towada-ko travel photos
• South to Towada-ko travel forum
• Flights to South to Towada-ko
• Hotels in South to Towada-ko
• Hostels in South to Towada-ko
• Buy the guide book!

Japan's third largest lake, Towada-ko , fills a three-hundred-metre-deep volcanic crater in the northern portion of the Towada-Hachimantai National Park. The steep-sided crystal-clear lake rates as one of northern Honshu's top tourist attractions, but for many visitors the real highlight is the approach over high passes and along deep, wooded valleys. Though there are four main access roads, the most attractive route is south from Aomori via the Hakkoda mountains, Sukayu Onsen and the picturesque Oirase valley . For this last stretch it's the done thing to walk the final few kilometres beside the tumbling Oirase-gawa, and then hop on a cruise boat across to the lake's main tourist centre, Yasumiya .

Many roads around

Towada-ko are closed in winter, and public buses only operate from April to November. During the open season, however, there are regular services to the lake from Aomori, Morioka, Hirosaki and southerly Towada-minami, a station on the line between Odate and Morioka. Though it's best to buy tickets in advance on all these routes, reservations are required on the JR buses from Aomori; tickets can be bought at any JR green ticket window, and rail passes are valid but you still need a booking.

Your Tips For South to Towada-ko

• Central Honshu Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  Located roughly midway along the Japanese archipelago, the seven prefectures of CENTRAL HONSHU , known as Chubu , offer a wide choice of terrain and travel possibilities. - Japan
  

• Western Honshu Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  Also known as Chugoku , meaning "middle country", Western Honshu used to be at the centre of the Japanese nation, lying between the country's earliest settlements in Kyushu and the imperial city of Kyoto. - Japan
  

• Tokyo Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  On the edge of the Orient, TOKYO - the last great conurbation before the yawning chasm of the Pacific Ocean - is one of the world's most perplexing cities. - Japan
  

• Hokkaido Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  Many Japanese see HOKKAIDO as an idyllic, unspoiled frontier - the perfect place to escape from industrialized Japan and get back in touch with nature. - Japan
  

• Okinawa Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  The prefecture of Okinawa comprises more than one hundred islands, stretching over 700km of ocean from Kyushu southwest to Yonaguni-jima, almost within sight of Taiwan. - Japan
  

• Around Tokyo Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  Tokyo is hemmed into its coastal location on the Kanto plain by a ring of mountains and volcanoes, featuring temples, parks and a couple of bustling towns and cities. - Japan
  

• Northern Honshu Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  When the famous poet Matsuo Basho set out on his travels along the "narrow road to the deep north" in 1689, he commented, somewhat despondently, "I might as well be going to the ends of the earth. - Japan
  

• Kansai Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  In a country so devoid of flat land, the great rice-growing plains of KANSAI , the district around Osaka and Kyoto, are imbued with an almost mystical significance. - Japan
  

• Kyushu Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  Lying off the south end of Honshu, Japan's third largest island, KYUSHU , is surrounded by a spray of smaller islands which trail off in a long arc across the East China Sea. - Japan
  

• Shikoku Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  It has beautiful scenery, a laid-back atmosphere, friendly people and several notable sights, yet SHIKOKU , Japan's fourth main island, is usually at the bottom of most visitors' itineraries - if it appears at all. - Japan