Iwamura Guest House Yanagiya

This place is so beautiful, traditional style rooms and sliding doors, lots of natural wood. It felt like I was in a luxury hotel! The woman who ran in was so kind and friendly, I loved my stay here. I stayed here to hike a portion of the Nakasendo Way- Magome to Tsumago. It’s not close, you have to go to take like 2 or 3 transits to get there, I think it was like 2 hours to get there if I remember. It’s an old, traditional Japanese village- the buildings are really cool. There wasn’t much going on though while I was there, not many restaurants open. I ended up stocking up on food from 7/11 in Ena or Nakatsugawa I think it was to take back with me because there aren’t any stores like that in Iwamura that I found. You can get cash out from the ATM at the post office. This was a very peaceful place and a cool insight into a non-touristy area of Japanese life. Would definitely recommend this accommodation.

We really enjoyed our stay. If you are looking for a traditional experience this is the place. The village and the hostel in general is very cute. The only downside are the beds (traditional Japanese style) that are not really comfortable, you can hear everyone in the hostel as the room are separated by traditional paper doors. But you meet a lot of very nice people and socially it’s a really good opportunity