Ouchi-juku suits rail travel: the Aizu Railway delivers you to Yunokami-Onsen Station, where a bus serves the village and a taxi takes about ten minutes. From Asakusa the ride to that station is three hours forty-five minutes. Below are the rail fares via Nishi-Wakamatsu Station, bus and taxi costs, Machinami Tenjikan fees and closures, event dates, and places to stay.
Getting to Ouchi-juku from Aizu-Wakamatsu by Rail
The rail approach starts at Aizu-Wakamatsu Station. You ride first to Nishi-Wakamatsu Station, then on to Yunokami-Onsen Station on the Aizu Railway, and change there to a bus or taxi for the last stretch into Ouchi-juku. The fares are listed in two legs; the onward transfer is covered in the next section.
- A ticket from Aizu-Wakamatsu Station to Nishi-Wakamatsu Station costs 200 yen.
- The fare from Nishi-Wakamatsu Station to Yunokami-Onsen Station is 860 yen one way and 1,720 yen round trip.
- The trip from Asakusa to Yunokami-Onsen Station takes 3 hours 45 minutes.
- The separate reserved-seat ticket for the Ozatoro observation train is 500 yen for an adult and 250 yen for a child.
- Yunokami-Onsen Station is staffed from 8:30 to 17:00.
These fares cover the two rail legs separately, and the reserved-seat ticket for the Ozatoro observation train is an extra on top of the base fare. Yunokami-Onsen Station has staffed hours during the day. If you have time at the departure end, see Aizu-Wakamatsu's Tsuruga Castle and Iimoriyama for the city itself.
From Yunokami-Onsen Station to the Village
From Yunokami-Onsen Station the last stretch into Ouchi-juku is by road, and the choices covered here are the Aizu Bus route service or a taxi. Drivers arriving on their own will find paid parking at the village. The figures below give the fare for each, the taxi time, and the parking charges by vehicle type.
- The listed Aizu Bus regular route bus fare to the Ouchi-juku stop is 510 yen.
- A taxi from Yunokami-Onsen Station to Ouchi-juku takes about 10 minutes.
- The one-way taxi fare from Yunokami-Onsen Station to Ouchi-juku is about 2,000 yen.
- Parking at Ouchi-juku costs 500 yen for an ordinary car.
- Parking at Ouchi-juku costs 1,500 yen for a microbus.
- Parking at Ouchi-juku costs 3,000 yen for a large bus.
- By car, the lookout at Koyasu Kannon-do is about 15 minutes from Yunokami-Onsen Station.
The bus is the cheaper way in, while the taxi trades a higher fare for a ride of about ten minutes from the station. If you come by car, the parking charge depends on the size of the vehicle. A drive from the station also reaches the lookout at Koyasu Kannon-do, which looks down over the thatched roofs.
Where to stay
Places to stay near Ouchi-juku and Shimogo, Fukushima →
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Machinami Tenjikan: Fees, Hours and Winter Closures
The Ouchi-juku Machinami Tenjikan charges admission by category, with one rate for adults, another for elementary and junior high school students, and lower group rates. Its opening hours, the year-end closure, and the hours for the painting experience with Akabeko and Okiagari-koboshi are set out in the table below.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Individual admission, adult | 250 yen |
| Individual admission, elementary and junior high school students | 150 yen |
| Group admission (30 or more people), adult | 200 yen |
| Group admission (30 or more people), elementary and junior high school students | 100 yen |
| Opening hours | 9:00 to 16:30 |
| Winter closure | December 29 to January 3 |
| Painting experience hours (Akabeko and Okiagari-koboshi) | 9:00 to 16:00, inquire in advance |
The Machinami Tenjikan is closed from December twenty-ninth to January third, so a visit in the year-end week will find it shut. At Minatogawa-ya, closing days are irregular, and December through March is also listed as an irregular closing period, so check before you count on it.
Events Through the Year
Ouchi-juku has a few dated events each year, and the ones listed here are the tea ceremony, the Hange Festival, and a disaster-prevention drill with simultaneous water discharge. The dates are set out below so that you can line up a visit with one of them.
- The Ouchi-juku tea ceremony is scheduled for June 1.
- The Ouchi-juku Hange Festival is held every year on July 2.
- A disaster-prevention drill with simultaneous water discharge is held at Ouchi-juku on September 1.
The dates run from the start of June through early July to the start of September, so the fixed-date events listed here sit in the middle of the year. If you are giving Aizu more than one day, Kitakata's storehouse streets make another destination in the same region.
Staying Overnight in the Valley
The ride from Asakusa to Yunokami-Onsen Station takes three hours forty-five minutes, and the transfer by bus or taxi comes on top of that. Whether a same-day return works depends on your own schedule; staying overnight in the valley is the other option, and it leaves the return journey for another day.
One example: at Iseya (伊勢屋), a thatched-roof farmhouse inn, a one-night stay with two meals starts from eight thousand yen. That figure covers a room with meals included rather than a bed alone, and it is a baseline for the valley. For more time in the valley than the journey from Asakusa allows, browse places to stay in Ouchi-juku and Shimogo.