Wazuka town (和束町) which is located at the southern edge of Kyoto prefecture, famous as the hometown of Uji Tea. Approximately half of the tea from Kyoto prefecture were produced in Wazuka. The town has several scenic tea plantations where visitors can enjoy amazing landscapes.

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How to get to Wazuka town

The closest station to Wazuka town is JR Kamo station(加茂駅). From the station, it will take approximately 20 minutes to get to Wazuka town. If you will have a plan to stay in Nara, I recommend you to visit from Nara city since it’s much closer than visiting from Kyoto or Osaka.

From Kyoto station

Duration: about 1 hour to Kamo station
How : JR train
Fare: 760 yen

Kyoto station（JR京都駅）
　⇓ JR Miyako Road Express (JRみやこ路快速）39 minutes
Kizu stationtion（JR木津駅）
　⇓ JR Kansai Honsen Kaisoku(JR関西本線 快速) 6 minutes
JR Kamo station(JR加茂駅)

From Osaka station

Duration: about 1 h 11min to Kamo station
How : JR train
Fare: 970 yen

JR Osaka station（JR大阪駅）
　⇓ JR Kansai Honsen Kaisoku(JR関西本線 快速) 1h11 minutes
JR Kamo station(JR加茂駅)

From Nara station

Duration: about 16 min to Kamo station
How : JR train
Fare: 240 yen

JR Nara station（JR奈良駅）
　⇓ JR Kansai Honsen Kaisoku(JR関西本線 快速) 16 minutes
JR Kamo station(JR加茂駅)

From Kamo station to Wazuka

Duration: about 20 min
How : #66 Nara Transportation Bus bound for Osugi
Fare: 420 yen
Where to take bus: JR Kamo station west exit【MAP】
Time table:
Going : The bus leave Kamo station at 7:50/ 8:39/ 9:10 /10:41 /11:54 /13:13/ 14:13/ 15:13/ 16:13/ 17:10/ 17:20/ 17:55/ 19:19/ 20:20/ 21:18
Coming back: The bus leave Wazuka Yama no Ie at 6:42/ 7:05/ 7:19/ 7:49/ 9:14/ 10:14/ 10:17/ 12:17/ 13:20/ 14:20/ 15:44/ 16:44/ 17:22/ 18:27/ 19:14/ 20:26

JR Kamo station West exit（JR加茂駅 西口）
　⇓ Nara Transportation Bus (奈良交通) 20 minutes
Wazuka Yama no Ie (和束山の家) 【MAP】

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Two tea plantations you must visit

There are so many tea plantation in Wazuka, but there are 2 famous scenic tea plantations which you cannot miss if you are visiting Wazuka town.

How to get around

A bicycle is the best way to get around Wazuka town. You can rent an electric assist bike at Wazuka Cha Cafe, just 300 m away from the bus stop “Wazuka Yama no Ie”, open from 10 am to 5 pm everyday. Price is 1000 yen per day. Over there, you can try Japanese green tea produced in Wazuka and buy them as a souvenir. 【MAP】
If you are visiting Wazuka by car, you can park car for free at the parking lot next to Wazuka Cha Cafe.

Harayama Tea Plantation

Harayama（原山） is the place where you can see the tea field with round shape looks like an amphitheater. Imagine how much effort was paid to make and maintain the tea field so beautifully. Although the slope is super steep and it’s hard to climb the mountain with bike, it’s worth visiting to see this extraordinary landscape.

●How to get there

From Wazuka Cha Cafe, go East along national highway #5 for 3km, then go up hill from this road. 【Map of the entrance】  Keep on going up the hill until you find a bike parking lot.【Map of the bike parking】Hike up the hill following the sign and 1bt 15-20 minutes walking, you will find round shape tea plantation. 【MAP of round shape tea plantation】

Ishitera Tea Plantation

The most famous tea plantations in Wazuka are in Ishitera(石寺). It was designated and registered as the first of the Scenic Property of Kyoto Prefecture. The hill is totally, from the top to the skirt, covered by tea plantation.

●How to get there

From Wazuka Cha Cafe, go West along national highway #321 for 2.5km. The road is complicated and there is no clear sign in English. Make sure to have a guide or have GPS navigation not to get lost. 【MAP of Ishitera tea plantation】

There is a cafe called dandancafe where you can eat lunch or some matcha sweets and tea gelato, tea from wazuka town admiring the view. (Closed on Tue & Wed, 10am-5pm)

 

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The best season to visit

Tea plantation in wazuka is beautiful to see any time of the year. But we prefer visiting Autumn season since most of tea plantation will be completely green.

In wazuka, most of tea plantation raise 3 crops a year. 1st and 2nd crop will be mostly used for matcha and gyokuro tea, so they will cover the plantation with black sheet. For 3rd crop, they usually make houji tea or sencha tea, so they won’t cover the tea fields with sheet. Therefore for those who want to see tea fields in green color shall go Wazuka around 3rd crop season, Autumn.

●April – July: Some of the tea plantation will be covered with silver or black sheet in order to make the tea sweeter. May is first tea picking season, July is second tea picking season. Tea leaf for expensive tea will be hand picked, so you might be able to see tea pickers working in the fields during this season. During this season, some of the tea fields will be completely cut and bold. The reason is, tea trees which is covered with black sheet use much more energy to grow leafs with limited sunlight, so the farmer will cut all the new stems and make it bold to give them a rest.
●August: Good season to take photo of tea plantation with new green tea leaf. However, there is no shade in the tea fields and it will be dangerously hot to hike in the fields in the day time. 
●September-November: Great season to take photo of tea plantation in green color. October is tea tree’s flower season.
●December-March: The cover of the leaf will be deep green. If you are lucky, you will be able to see the plantation covered with snow.

For more information and pictures in each moth, please check out the twitter of Wazuka town sight seeing department. 【twitter】

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Cautions! The things to note and prepare before your visit

The things to note

More and more tourists and photographers visit Wazuka tea fields however sad to say there are negative impacts of tourism caused by tourists without manner. According to Wazuka town HP, they ask all the tourists to follow the rules below.

1. Tea fields are privately owned by tea farmers. You are not allowed to step into any of the tea fields.
2. Please don’t take a photo of tea farmers. You will violate the personality rights if you do so.
3. Please don’t touch tea leaf and farming tools.
4. You are not allowed to visit any tea fields by car. Street parking is strongly prohibited. Please park your car at Wazuka Cha Cafe and go for sight seeing by bike, walk or by bus.
5. Please don’t litter. Please take your own garbage home with you.
6. Please don’t do anything which will interrupt tea farmers from working.

The things to prepare

• A good pair of shoes (Please be prepared to walk for a long time. The slopes are steep)
• Hats (especially if you are going there during Spring-Autumn time.)
• Drinks
• There are not so many restaurants in Wazuka, so make sure to research where to eat before your visit. If you have any food preferences, we recommend you to bring food with you just in case. There are LOWSON with eating space in the center of Wazuka town and several cafes available too.

We hope you have a wonderful time in Wazuka!

About author:
Rika Shimooka: The owner of Kyoto Machiya Cottage karigane. Majored in textile in university, worked in trading company in Osaka exporting Japanese textile to United States. After she quit the job, she and her husband visited over 44 countries taking 1 year and 5 month. Now back in Japan, started a vacation rental using former tea house in Kyoto. Their hobby is hiking, cycling, tea ceremony and visiting antique market. Our article will be mainly about tips of Kyoto trip for those who want to explore this city deeply.

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*I’m still learning English. I try not to make a mistake, but I believe there are many…So if you find any mistake, I would really appreciate if you could point out by commenting this blog. If you have any question or doubt about the contents of this article, please feel free to comment anytime.