Takayama

If you want to extend your Shirakawa-go adventure from Kanazawa, why not continue to Takayama city? The old city center of Takayama retains much of its original Edo Period architecture and just outside the main city, you can visit Hida Minzoku Mura Folk Village and take in a bit more of the refreshing countryside life.

One of the best ways to experience all that Takayama has to offer is to go on the city bike tour – it lasts about three hours, but depending on the course, you get to see areas like Takayama’s old town, the Folk Village, and local favorite spots. You’ll need to make reservations so they will have bikes available and English-speaking tour guides. Check it out here!

After (or instead of) the bike ride, you can be more leisurely about your Takayama touring by going sake tasting. Test your taste buds with the six different kinds of sake during the tasting, or at least through the lesson you can sharpen your sake tasting skills. You can even add a side of Hida beef to your tasting experience! As with the bike ride, the sake tasting requires reservations.

Tips:

• If combining a visit to Takayama with Shirakawa-go and only doing a day-trip, you’ll want to leave Kanazawa early in the morning to have enough time to see both.

If you do the sake tasting experience, please don’t drive or ride bikes afterwards as Japan has a zero-tolerance policy.