One of the top sightseeing destinations in Central Japan, Shirakawa-go comprises of a combination of majestic nature and serene historical villages. 

Shirakawa-go.

It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the village is famous for its traditional houses with thatched and steep roofs called Gassho-Zukuri.

Booked A Full Day Tour

During my recent trip to Nagoya, Japan, I booked myself on a full-day tour to Shirakawa-go. 

Hida Takayama.

Based on an Internet check, there had been several day tours heading to  Shirakawa-go, by various tour operators, and the one that I picked was organised by Viator. I selected that one mainly because they had offered an English speaking guide. The price of this tour was S$106.38.

My tour had also included a short visit to Hida Takayama, which is a quaint, rustic village that comprises of historic streets, temples, rivers and museums. Known as the “Little Kyoto” of Japan, Hida Takayama is a lovely village set in the mountains of the northern Gifu province in an area known as Hida.

Meeting The Tour Group

To embark on the tour, I met the tour group outside the McDonald’s outlet at the Esca underground shopping mall in Nagoya Station at 7.50am in the morning. 

Being quite unfamiliar with Nagoya, it took me a while to locate the place and I admit that I got rather lost at first. 

But I asked for directions, the Japanese guy whom I approached couldn’t really speak English well, but I thought he was very friendly and helpful, taking me to the exact place that I wanted to go. Thanks to him, I had been able to reach Esca on time. 

Bus Departs

After marking my attendance and meeting my tour group, we were led to the tour bus, which had departed at 8am sharp.

The trip to Hida Takayama took us about two and a half hours, and because of the early start, I was still rather sleepy, so I think that I must have spent the bulk of the time sleeping on the bus. 

During the journey, we took a couple of 20-minute rest stops just in case we needed to go to the bathroom or to buy snacks.

Exploring Hida Takayama

Upon reaching Hida Takayama, the next 90 minutes were free and easy, for us to explore the city. 

Upon reaching the well-known Sanmachi Dori Street within Hida Takayama’s town center, I immediately felt as though I was transported back in time to the 1900s – this is because the small town had been very old-school and rustic, giving me a very laid-back feel. 

This quaint village had felt like the complete opposite of the bustling and busy Nagoya city that I had just left a couple of hours ago.

As I spent the next hour and a half browsing through the village, I bought several types of their local snacks to try. These include the following:

Hida Gyuuman

These are fluffy beef buns made with a soft dough and filled with a generous helping of beef inside. 

Upon biting into one, I thought that this had tasted flavourful and delicious, with the tasty, spicy-sweet seasoning enhancing the natural flavour of the yummy Hida beef. It was addictive and as a result, I found myself gobbling down the warm bun quickly.

Hida beef croquette

Another one of the specialties of Hida Takayama, these consists of a combination of Hida beef and potato that has been fried to perfection.

The outer layer was crispy and the texture of the croquette inside was smooth and soft. As well, the flavours of the potato had combined well with the taste of the Hida beef. And at the same time, there was a slight hint of sweetness to this snack too, which I thought was a good contrast.

Mitarashi dango

This is a traditional snack where mochi rice is formed into small, round dumplings and then covered in soya sauce before it was grilled.

These too, were quite delicious, with the elastic rice dumplings soaking up the flavours of the yummy soya sauce.

Rice Crackers

I love rice crackers, so when I saw that one of the shops at Hida Takayama was specialising in Takayama Senbe, or rice crackers, I knew that I had to go in and buy some, to give it a try.

Not only does this shop sell pre-packaged rice crackers for taking back home to your family, but you can also buy yourself a gigantic rice cracker that has been freshly prepared for you on the spot.

I bought myself one of these to eat, and it was really yummy. The rice cracker was coated with soy sauce and decorated with a piece of seaweed and was probably about the size of my face.

Sake

There are also plenty of Sake breweries around Hida Takayama. There, you can not only buy but also sample the various flavours of Sake. I tried out a few variants and I would say that it is definitely worth checking some of these out when you are in the town.

Other Foods

Besides the food items that I had tried, some of the other food recommendations at Hida Takayama also include the Hida Beef Burger, Hida beef nigiri and the unassumingly plain yet tasty Takayama Ramen. However I did not get the chance to try these.

Do note though that if you are planning to visit Takayama, the more popular shops may have queues if you do not arrive early, so factor in enough time to allow for the queuing.

Other Things To Do In Takayama

Apart from trying their local foods, though, there are plenty of other things that you can also do in Takayama, if you have more time on your hands.

A few of these include visiting the Hida Folk Village, which is a traditional style open-air museum that is meant to recreate a quaint Japanese mountain village as well as heading to the Miyagawa Morning Market to interact with the locals there and tuck into some more local foods. This Market is open from 7am to 12noon every day.

Overall I would say that I was quite impressed with the charming Hida Takayama Village despite the fact that the 90 Minutes I had there, was quite rushed; I would actually have liked to see a lot more of Hida Takayama.

Perhaps it may be better to spend a couple of nights there, if you wish to see Hida Takayama in all its full glory.

Heading To Shirakawa-go

The tour bus also took us to Shirakawa-go and we got to spend about two hours there. This was the main attraction of the tour for me and I thought that this snow-capped village hidden within the mountains is truly an untouched paradise. It is really beautiful and is a place that you simply must visit.

On the way to Shirakawa-go, though, our tour guide had constantly reminded us that Shirakawa-go was not an amusement park and that there were people living in the village.

So this had meant that just like outsiders visiting someone else’s home, we would need to mind our manners and behaviour whilst we were there.

The Observatory

When I crossed the Deai-Bashi Suspension Bridge that connects the main carpark to the village and first stepped into the village of Shirakawa-go, I headed to the observatory, on the recommendation by the tour guide.

This had been so that I could enjoy a birds-eye view of the village. Getting to the observatory is a 30-minutes walk on foot or a 10-minutes bus ride according to the tour guide.

Unfortunately for me, it had been a rather foggy and rainy day, so the view at the top was not as good as I would have liked, so I admit that I had left feeling a bit disappointed.

However, if you are at Shirakawa-go at night time, do visit the observatory because it would be amazing to be able to see the village all lit up, with pure white snow on top of the roofs of the houses.

The Gassho-Zukuri glasshouses and Souvenir Shops

For me, I spent the rest of my stay at Shirakawa-go taking lots of pictures of the traditional Gassho-Zukuri glasshouses and slowly browsing through the shops and having a look at the many types of local souvenirs there.

And I realised that at the various gift shops, they sell a lot of food items ranging from biscuits to buns and cakes, all in the shape of the Gassho-Zukuri glasshouses, which I thought were perhaps a bit tacky for my liking. So I didn’t buy any of these.

Other non-food souvenirs include magnets, towels, cushions and plush toys, though, if you are looking for something to bring home as a keepsake from your trip.

Hida beef rice cakes

I also took the opportunity to try a Hida beef rice cake, too, which is supposed to be one of the local snacks in Shirakawa-go. 

And I thought that the rice cake had been really delicious, with the contrast from the sticky rice and the warm, moist beef being absolutely divine, heating my body up nicely in the cold, rainy weather.

Other local snacks though, also include the tochi mochi which is a sweet pounded rice cake filled with Japanese chestnuts, and the Hida Beef Shigure Soba which is a great way to warm your body up in the cold weather.

Alas, for me, though, the two hours flew by all too soon and before I knew it, I had to board the bus again in order to head back to Nagoya Station.

Other Things To Do at Shirakawa-go

As with Hida Takayama, I admit that I would have loved to spend one or two nights at Shirakawa-go to explore the village further. It felt as though there were so many things that I did not get the chance to do.

But if you have more time on your hands, though, other things that you can do in Shirakawa-go include entering the Wada House to learn more about the lifestyle of the villagers at Shirakawa-go as well as the history of the Wada family.

Or you may also be able to have a look at Tooyama House, which is used for silk farming. Here you would also be able to observe the silkworms in action.

Another place you could also explore too, would be the Myozenji Temple where you can observe the lifestyle of the temple priests as well as to appreciate the various artefacts on display, that depict the history of the temple.

My Final Thoughts 

The tour bus got back to Nagoya Station just before 7pm, upon which I looked around for something to get for dinner before then making my way back to my hotel, to call it a night.

Overall I would say that my Viator tour experience to Hida Takayama and Shirakawa-go was quite good. The organisation was great and the tour itinerary had been quite comprehensive.

The English speaking tour guide had also been great in terms of explaining the basics to us, but I would actually have liked the guide to have been more informative, for example, to have shared more about the places that we were visiting, for example, their history.

I felt that we were generally quite well-looked after on the tour, with enough rest breaks to stretch our legs and go to the toilet along the way, though the time that we had spent at both the villages of Hida Takayama and Shirakawa-go was perhaps a bit too rushed for me.

So in the future, I would feel an overnight stay at both of these charming and lovely places would possibly suit me better, so that I can spend longer time wandering around the streets to see them.