Nasu Kogen is a highlands popular as a place to get away from the summer heat. Blessed with an abundance of nature and beautiful scenery, Nasu Kogen is also filled with many excellent places for visitors such as leisure facilities, art museums, farms and zoos. For those willing to go a bit further out, the World Heritage temples and shrines are also excellent to visit.
Located three-and-a-half hours away from Tokyo, the lakeside leisure park area and family ranch at Nasu Kogen Rindo Lake is 300,000 square meters large and surrounded by a beautiful natural setting. There are rides, an interactive farm, a Swiss-style building, and you can enjoy pleasure boats on the crystalline lake. With fresh air and the backdrop of the Nasu mountain range, you could almost think you were in the Swiss Alps. In fact, the area is sometimes called the "little Switzerland" of Japan.
Perhaps this explains why they teamed up with the animated series "Heidi, Girl of the Alps," a franchise still going strong 45 years after the anime first aired in 1979, for a year-long special event called "Heidi's Hill"
Mount Nasudake is also a popular hiking destination. A ropeway leads to within a 45 minute hike of the summit. There are also a variety of hiking trails in the forests further down the mountain and a pedestrian suspension bridge that offers nice views out over the trees. Azalea bushes flower around Nasu Onsen in late May, while the autumn colors peak along the slopes in early to mid October.
