To Shirakawago

I took a bus from Kanazawa to Shirakawago. The view was amazing! There were two parts of the route: the first part consisted of rice fields and the second part consisted of mountainous views.

The rice fields were spectacular! It was at the planting season, so I saw green patches across the entire area. There were brick-roofed houses in the middle of the farms, presumably owned by the farmers.

The bus stopped briefly at the Gokayama, where the first part of the scenery ends. The second part of the mountainous views is decent. Though I have seen better sceneries in Viet Nam :) oops.

Place of stay

I stayed at Curio Shirakawago, which was a little but further away from the centre of the village. The place looks like a private villa with a few rooms. It offers a very unique experience of staying in a small village in the middle of a rural area.

And here is the view from the front door of the hotel. Spectacular view with the clouds floating around the mountains at the background!

With a short walk from the hotel, I could see a lovely waterfall-like river.

Beautiful!

Omigachi observatory

Take a few steps up the slope (850m walk, 50m elevation) to get a better view of the village.

Beware, there are bears!

The view is absolutely breath-taking! I could see the entire village with thatched roof houses, laying against the mountainous background.

Though it was 6pm when I arrived at the top, it was still clear enough to see the view.

Village view

The next morning, I set out to see the village. The rain added a layer of mystic cloud over the air, making the place even more spectacular.

I walked around from 8.30 to around 9, then started visiting the houses.

Houses

Nagase house

One of the houses open to visitors. Here you can see the inside of a house and daily life of the people living here.

They have an altar with Buddha in the center and photos of people that have passed away. Typical Asian household altar.

The attic looks crazy: they are raising silkworms with complicated-looking machineries.

Wada house

This looks like a more popular choice of house to visit than Nagase house. It is greater in size, and has a higher ceiling.

Similar to Nagase house, this house also has an altar of Buddha and photos of the people that have passed away.

The attic is also more spacious, with more room to move about and a great view towards the outside.

And here are the views on the two sides from the attic:

Food tour

From lunch time onwards, I went on a food tour. Starting with lunch, I had Hida beef, a delicacy in this region, since the beef itself is produced here.

The portion is a bit small in size, but it was worth it: the beef is quite tender, making it totally worth the price.

I visited at 10.40am, briefly before the shop opened, so as to get seats without waiting. After I left, there was already a queue.

I got ice cream after lunch. This is premium milk-rich ice cream, the flavour is very much unique and tasty. The texture of the ice cream is more solid than regular ice cream.

I decided to take a break at a coffee shop on the street. Unlike other coffee shops, this one is in a garage. While the sitting space is rather unconventional, I had a clear view of the bustling street.

Concluding words

This place is definitely worth a visit. The rural experience is great, especially if you can stay overnight one day, as there are much fewer people at night and in the early morning; there are more visitors during the day since most people travel to Shirakawago for a day trip from Kanazawa or Takayama. The food is very good, making the visit all the more worth the time.