Outside the town center of Kusatsu Onsen lies an amazing park - not the park you could think of where you see kids play on the playground, or benches where you could relax, or adults running around and exercising. This park is unspoiled - a very close to nature that is.
Sai No Kawara Koen (西の河原公園 or Sainokawara Park) is located a few minutes walk from the famous Yubatake. It's on the upper part, not on the usual part of the town where tourists gather. We intentionally did a little bit of hiking to go there with my friends on our 2nd day in Kusatsu Onsen, to lose those carbs we just had at lunch and to pass time before riding the bus going back to Tokyo.
It was a cold day, I mean it's in the middle of winter and we're on the mountains. So we stopped by to get coffee on the way to the park. A friend who had been there before told us there's no cafe or shops in the park so if we wanted to spend time there, better get something to drink or eat just before we enter the park. I got myself a hot cafe latte. Let's see if this hot drink would help me keep warm.
Just before entering the park premises, we noticed there's an ongoing construction but no workers. We went last year, they must have finished by now. 😅
We just followed the walking trail and delighted ourselves with the view of nature. Too bad the snow wasn't a lot by the time we went so we were not walking on a white carpet. On the other hand, it's better because there's no risk of slipping and we could walk properly.
I was so left behind as I was so busy with photos and videos of the park. We're not yet halfway though.
We passed by toriis (red gates) lined up. I was pretty sure there's a shrine at the top. We didn't bother going though. I was a bit curious of the shrine but if I went up, I would lose sight of my friends.
Notice the rocks and their colors? Sainokawara Park is actually full of hot spring water flowing all over (not on the walking trails though). Because it's too hot, the rocks have changed colors.
It's okay to dip in here. Actually we were looking for a place to sit and put our feet in the water (足湯 as in foot bath) but we couldn't find a place to sit. I knew some people come here, sit on a rock, drinking coffee while having a foot bath. I wanted to do the same but we couldn't find a good spot.
There were mini pools, that would have been already perfect for a foot bath. And there's a big one where you could sit on the edge made of wood. Unfortunately there was a notice that it's not allowed to do a foot bath that day, but we saw 2 people not minding the notice and just went on with it.
And now I was totally left behind. I went in another direction and was enjoying the view and now my friends were up there!
The mini waterfalls look so refreshing in winter. Say hi to @appleeatingapple and @itz.inno waving at me like we're miles apart.
And here's me, finding shade in the hut, still holding my not-so-hot-anymore cafe latte.
Since I didn't want to be left behind any longer, I was able to find my way up only to be welcomed by the majestic view of the park. It's like a mix of untouched and constructed nature.
I was finally able to catch up with the gang right outside the bathing house.
Yes, it's an open air bath house, and because it's an onsen, expect to get naked in the snow. Well, not really in the snow, but imagine soaking in a big hot bath while you're in the middle of a snowy forest. It's cool, right?
There's a fence so your privacy's certain but my friend told me there's a place where you could see the men's area from outside the fence. uwu 😸 Too bad, I didn't go near it!
It seems there were many people who wanted to try but for us, we're not here for onsen. We're just here for a walk. I heard inside there's no shower, just onsen so you have to bring your stuff if you wanna go onsen there.
We headed back on our way but we're still looking for a place to settle down. We found a hut and took a few minutes break there. Only for a few minutes while waiting for others, because at that time, we were already freezing in the cold. Our hot drinks were now cold.
Even when our goal was to relax our feet in the hot water on the streams, talking with each other with a drink on hand, none of it happened and instead we were freezing, it was still a fun walk in this park. I got to enjoy the wonders of nature. It was my 2nd time in Kusatsu but it was my first in this park. It was an enjoyable walk and I wish I could come back again some other time - and at that moment, I will really fulfill that goal. Who knows, maybe I can hit the open air bath around this place.
Did you know that today's Hive Power Up Day? Have you powered up already? Here's mine, even only a little!
Few hours left, don't forget to join the HPUD!
Thanks for reading!
See you around! じゃあ、またね!
With love,
If you like to read my Kusatsu Onsen travels, here's for you!
Title & Link | Remarks |
---|---|
Another Onsen Trip and Overnight At A Ryokan - Birthday Blog Part 1 - 温泉旅行 | Ryokan/Japanese Inn |
The Hot Water Field Of Japan - Birthday Blog Part 2 | Attraction |
Discovering More Of The Hot Spring Town: Kusatsu Onsen's Charms | Town Walk |
All photos are taken using my phone unless stated otherwise.
Congratulations, your post has been added to the TravelFeed Map! 🎉🥳🌴
Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!
Want to have your post on the map too?
- Go to TravelFeed Map
- Click the create pin button
- Drag the marker to where your post should be. Zoom in if needed or use the search bar (top right).
- Copy and paste the generated code in your post (any Hive frontend)
- Or login with Hive Keychain or Hivesigner and click "create post" to post to Hive directly from TravelFeed
- Congrats, your post is now on the map!
PS: You received this comment because you used the Pinmapple code snippet. Pinmapple is closing down and we are continuing Pinmapple's legacy. You can also import your previous Pinmapple posts to the TravelFeed map.Opt Out
wiiii. that is how far back your delay is? ahahaha
Hahaha I have this in my drafts for a long time. I just posted now. LOL
at least you had them in draft. i only had mine in picture gallery. ahaha
I have a lot of drafts, just incomplete, sometimes I ran out of words to write or sometimes no photos yet. 😅
If you have some spark to write, just add it in the drafts hahaha then get back to it later on
i usually have them hearted in my gallery, then uploaded to drafts.
i'm stuck in the heart stage now. hahaha
(i left some words in draft before, ended up rewriting the whole thing)
Congratulations @wittyzell! You received a personal badge!
Wait until the end of Power Up Day to find out the size of your Power-Bee.
May the Hive Power be with you!
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
Check out our last posts:
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!
Want to have your post on the map too?
👏 Keep Up the good work on Hive ♦️ 👏
sagarkothari88 to upvote your post ❤️
🙏 Don't forget to Support Back 🙏❤️ @dimascastillo90 suggested
Lol yeah, it happens when you are busy taking beautiful shots and lose your squad. That's for sure a beautiful place... 💝
It is! It's also not so far from the town center. The hot streams are perfect for the cold weather when we went there at that time.
The lucky thing is the locals didn't take over those lakes and put tickets on them.
They don't usually do that here 🙂
Manifesting that one day I'll be here, such a wonderful view
I hope you'll be able to one day make that happen!
Congratulations @wittyzell! You received a personal badge!
Participate in the next Power Up Day and try to power-up more HIVE to get a bigger Power-Bee.
May the Hive Power be with you!
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
Check out our last posts:
Congratulations @wittyzell! You received a personal badge!
Participate in the next Power Up month to get another one!
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
Check out our last posts:
Congratulations @wittyzell! You received the biggest smile and some love from TravelFeed! Keep up the amazing blog. 😍 Your post was also chosen as top pick of the day and is now featured on the TravelFeed front page.
Thanks for using TravelFeed!
@for91days (TravelFeed team)
PS: Why not share your blog posts to your family and friends with the convenient sharing buttons on TravelFeed?
Thank youuuu!
The sun and snow together make a good combination. I love spending time in the snow when it's not freezing cold. You captured some beautiful photos, some of them are even iconic like that one
Yay, thank you! I like to take photos like this to remember what I've been stepping on and seeing them after a while makes me want to remember the good memories I had on those times. 😅
Snow is nice, but it’s a totally different story when you’re sliding because of it hahaha
thank you! 😊
I love it, I really appreciated your work to make a great lanscape photos of the park. Also you look so cute with notsohot latte😅 Thanks for sharing this beautiful moment.
Thank you! 😊
I’m happy you liked the photos! I wasn’t sure if I did well in capturing how awesome the place was. It’s more beautiful in actual!
This place is incredible. I loved your post. Top photographs. Thanks for sharing ☺️
Thank you!
Reading about trip to Sai No Kawara Cohen was like falling into a winter sleep. I was amazed at how even on the coldest days the beauty of the park manages to show itself, from the quiet paths to the thermal waters that change color on the rocks. I can imagine the disappointment of not being able to wash your feet, but your experience was still full of valuable moments.😮
These photos are so amazing!!! I love them 💚 I'm very curious about Japan and look forward to following your blog to learn more about it.
Hugs from Portugal 🇵🇹
Thank you! I hope you’ll learn more about Japan from my travels.