The Japanese Alps

• Takayama’s Edo lanes. Timber houses with dark fronts, and sake breweries that announce the current brew with a cedar ball hung above the door.
• Hida beef. Raised in these mountains, grilled or in small bites in the old town’s stalls. It is often the meal travellers talk about afterwards.
• Two nights in the same room. The whole day stays free for the valley, and the bags do not move.
• The thatched roofs of Shirakawa-gō: gassho-zukuri, “hands joined in prayer”, raised without a single nail to carry the winter snow.
• Kenrokuen. One of the three great gardens of Japan, its pines held up by ropes once winter comes.
• Nagamachi. The quarter where the samurai lived, its earth walls and narrow lanes, less busy than Kyoto’s.
• Ōmichō market. Fish and vegetable stalls from the region, minutes from the round glass museum of contemporary art.

Itinerary

Day 1 — Takayama

The train leaves Hakone for Takayama: about four and a half hours, with one change at Nagoya. The last stretch, heading north, climbs the valleys: the line follows the river, the mountains close in, and you are in the Japanese Alps.

Takayama is a small town; everything here is done on foot. Its old heart has come through the centuries: streets from the Edo period, wooden houses with dark façades, sake breweries that announce the batch of the moment with a ball of cedar hung above the door. You walk it without a plan, stopping where you like.

In the evening, Hida beef, raised in these mountains, served grilled or in small bites at the stalls of the old town. It is often the meal travellers talk about afterwards.

Day 2 — Shirakawa-gō

A second night in Takayama: the same room stays yours, which leaves the whole day for Shirakawa-gō.

A bus leaves Takayama station in the morning and brings you back in the late afternoon. This is not a guided tour: three to four hours of free time on the spot, to cover the village on foot, at your own pace.

Shirakawa-gō lies in the hollow of a valley, its houses lined up along the river. The steeply pitched thatched roofs are raised without a single nail: the gassho-zukuri style, “hands joined in prayer”, drawn to carry the winter snows. You climb to the viewpoint above the village, then come back down between the rice fields.

Day 3 — Kanazawa

In the morning, on to Kanazawa: two and a half hours, one change at Toyama. Down from the mountains toward the Sea of Japan.

Kanazawa is larger than Takayama, but still on a human scale. The city came through the war lightly: its old districts are there, less busy than those of Kyoto.

There is Kenrokuen, one of the three great gardens of Japan: pines held up by ropes once winter comes, ponds, tea houses. The Nagamachi district, where the samurai lived, keeps its earthen walls and narrow lanes. At Omichō market, the fish and vegetable stalls of the region. And close by, the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, round and glazed, the modern note in a journey otherwise turned toward tradition.

Our addresses

In Takayama

Two nights in the same place. The town being small, all of these addresses are within walking distance of the centre or the station. You choose according to the mood: the comfort of a recent hotel, or the immersion of a ryokan.

• Hotel Wood Takayama. Recent, comfortable rooms, careful design; our preferred address on this side trip.
• Hotel Around Takayama. Modern, a step from the station, handy for the journeys.
• The Machiya Hotel Takayama. In the spirit of a machiya revisited, a little more character.
• Ryokan Tanabe. A genuine traditional house: tatami rooms, dinner and breakfast included, for full immersion.
• Oyado Yoshinoya. A simpler ryokan, the same Japanese spirit, at a gentler price.

Travel times

This side trip is a crossing: you come in through Takayama, on the Nagoya side, and leave by Kanazawa, on the Sea of Japan side. Nobody doubles back, and you can arrive from Tokyo or from Kansai equally well, since both go through Nagoya.

One change on the way in, at Nagoya, where you leave the shinkansen for the Hida express up the valley. On the way out, Kanazawa is joined directly to Tokyo.

Good to know

• Two nights in Takayama: the pace stays calm, and the return trip to Shirakawa-gō is made without unpacking.
• Shirakawa-gō is visited freely, on foot, three to four hours on the spot.
• Hida beef and the sake breweries are as much a part of this side trip as the landscapes: a table can be arranged for the evening in Takayama.