De Sendai: Ginzan Onsen & Árvores Cobertas de Gelo de Zao & Tour pela Vila da Raposa

Our tour guide, Ashley, was very friendly and provided detailed explanations! We got to use the fast lane for the cable car, avoiding long queues to go up the mountain! The guide mentioned that the snow had started melting two days prior, leaving only branches. Luckily, the day before our trip, strong winds blew the snow back, and the weather was perfect! ❄️🌲 We were so fortunate to see beautiful ice-covered trees ❄️ even though it was very windy and cold at the summit 😆. The sun even came out as we were leaving! We were truly lucky! It's definitely worth seeing!

Thank you very much to our guide Ashley for meticulously arranging a perfect itinerary for us today. In the morning, we went up to the peak of Mount Zao and saw the perfect 'snow monsters' (Juhyo), which was an incredibly stunning view! In the afternoon, we visited Yamadera, with ample time to hike and experience the tranquility of the deep mountain temple and gaze at the beautiful panoramic mountain scenery. It was a truly perfect day! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Overall the tour was great and the guide was lovely. It was a shame the visibility wasn’t fantastic so I could barely see the snow monsters, but you can’t control the weather. One thing that I’d suggest changing is spending a little bit more time at Risshaku-ji Temple. We only had about 45 minutes which isn’t enough time to go to the top and actually enjoy the views. I ended up running down the mountain to make it back to the bus in time. I also went on the Ginzan Onsen tour on a different day which was magical!

Joining a tour group eliminates the inconvenience of transportation, and the stay at Ginzan Onsen is just right, with about 2 hours. Due to heavy snow, the tour guide repeatedly reminded everyone to be careful of slippery roads when entering Ginzan Onsen.

(26.02.26) I bought a one-day trip package at the meeting point. The tour company didn't have a sign showing the meeting location. Luckily, I walked over and asked the guide who was at the front of the bus. I'm deducting 1 point for that. But overall, I was impressed. The shuttle was on time, all the tour participants arrived early, the bus was clean, and the guide explained the places and the meeting point clearly.

Although we couldn't go to Fox Village, at least we fully experienced the Zao Snow Monsters. We had plenty of time and it was a beautiful, unique snowy landscape.

Finally arrived at Ginzan Onsen ♨️, which I've long admired! Our tour guide is a girl from Hong Kong who works very hard in Japan! Her service was very thoughtful! It's a pity it didn't snow at Ginzan Onsen, which was the only drawback!

The tour guide said he had just been assigned to this group, so he didn't know anything. He didn't introduce any attractions throughout the day, basically just communicated with the driver and took us to our destinations, asking us to return to the bus within the stipulated time. The arrangements for the day were very chaotic. Why would Klook arrange such an inexperienced guide to lead us? The experience was very poor. The silver lining was that we had enough time to explore at both the Great Kannon and Ginzan Onsen – because the guide didn't know that we needed to queue in advance for the shuttle bus, he left us a lot of time to explore Ginzan Onsen, and we were able to see the lights at 4:30 PM, which was very beautiful. Of course, the result was a delayed itinerary, and he was scolded by the driver (how did we know he was scolded by the driver? Because we booked Klook's day tours for two consecutive days. The first day was Great Kannon + Ginzan Onsen, and the second day was Zao Ropeway. After Ginzan Onsen that day, we joked that we wouldn't encounter the same guide again on the second day, but indeed, it was still the same guide + driver combination on the second day. The driver was very impatient on the second day and strictly controlled the itinerary time, which led to our itinerary time being shortened on the second day, and the tour even ended one or two hours earlier than planned).

Despite the heavy snowstorm that day, the tour guide also reminded us to be careful of the potential risks posed by 'tree soldiers'.

Tour guide Xiao Li was very kind and polite, sharing his life in Japan. Although we couldn't reach the Fox Village due to the weather, we saw a very beautiful snow scene.