Nasu Animal Kingdom & Onsen - Private Day Tour from Tokyo

Nasu is the summer retreat of the Imperial family and the weekend escape of half of Tokyo, and it is almost unknown to foreign visitors. It is built for children: animals you can feed, a bridge you can walk across in the sky, a volcano’s legend and a hot spring at the end.

We collect you at your Tokyo hotel and drive north for about two and a half hours. The morning is at Nasu Animal Kingdom, a member of the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA) and a hillside park where the animals are the point, not cages: you hand-feed alpacas and capybaras, watch the bird show and the sheepdog trial, and ride the little train between the farm and the forest zones. Lunch is at the park.

In the afternoon we drive to Nasu Shiobara and walk across the Momijidani Suspension Bridge, 320 metres long and 100 metres above the Hoki River, with the whole gorge in autumn colour from mid October to early November. Then up to Nasu Yumoto, the hot-spring village where the Sesshoseki Killing Stone sits in a steaming valley; the legend says a nine-tailed fox spirit was sealed inside it, and when the stone split in two in 2022 it made the news around the world.

We finish with a soak – the Shika no Yu bathhouse has been in use for 1,300 years and has separate baths for children – or a foot bath for those who prefer, and drive back to Tokyo in the early evening.

What you pay is what you pay

The price is one fixed amount for your whole group: the private van, fuel, tolls, parking and your driver-guide for the day. There are no per-person supplements and no booking fees. Animal park entry, bridge toll, onsen entry and lunch are paid by each guest on the day.

Good to know

Nasu is about 800 metres up and cooler than Tokyo. The animal park closes on some weekdays in winter. If it is closed on your date we will tell you before the tour and you can choose a substitute stop or a full refund of your booking, guaranteed.

Flexible day

This is your private tour, so the day is flexible. If you want to skip a stop, stay longer somewhere or add a place nearby, write it in the booking notes or tell your driver-guide on the day and we will adjust the route where time allows.