Utsukushi-ga-hara Highlands美ヶ原高原
Nagano長野県
An open-air exhibition hall displaying sculptures. A 360-degree panoramic view of the surrounding mountains.
The Utsukushi-ga-hara-kogen Highlands area is located at the center of Nagano, in the north section of Yatsugatake Chushin Kogen Quasi-National Park. It is a flat tableland of a lava plateau that extends along the highlands at an altitude of 2,000 meters, above Matsumoto City, Ueda City, and Nagawa Town.
The view from Ogato, the highest spot in the Utsukushi-ga-hara-kogen Highlands, is magnificent. You can enjoy its 360 degree panoramic view and look out upon the Northern, Central and Southern Japan Alps, as well as the Yatsugatake Mountains, Mt. Fuji and Mt. Asama-yama.
Cows graze freely in the Utsukushi-ga-hara-kogen Farm, with an area of 4 million square meters it offers a peaceful, pastoral scene in summer. Other attractions are the open-air museum on the eastern slope of the 2,000-meter-high Mt. Ushifuse-yama and the Utsukushi-ga-hara Kogen Art Museum. The entire 133,000-square-meter area is covered with milk vetch azaleas and gypsy roses, and serves as an open-air exhibition site where around 400 sculptures are permanently displayed. In the Children's Art Museum in the premises, you can directly touch the various art objects.
Directions
From Tokyo :
[Rail] 2h 40 min from Shinjuku (Tokyo) to Matsumoto Station by JR Chuo Line (limited express). 1h 30 min from Matsumoto Station to Utsukushi-ga-hara-kogen Bijutsu-kan-mae (museum), or 1h 20 min from Matsumoto Station to Utsukushi-ga-hara-kogen Highlands by bus (no service in winter).
