Itinerary · 8 days · 34 places
8 Days in the Japanese Alps
Eight days from Nagoya via Takayama's merchant lanes and the gasshō villages of Shirakawa-gō to the onsen of Okuhida — with a day in the high valley of Kamikōchi and a finale beneath Matsumoto's black castle.
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Photo: fuJi waru · Pexels
The route on the map
The plan, day by day
Day 1Arrival in Nagoya
Arrival in Nagoya
Hotel check-in
Sakae is Nagoya's nightlife district: two subway lines cross here, and the main station for the train into the mountains is two stops away.
Oasis 21
A water-filled glass roof floats above the bus station, with a circular walkway across it overlooking the illuminated Sakae crossing.
Day 2Takayama's old town
Onward to Takayama
Hotel check-in
Takayama Jinya
The only surviving Tokugawa government office, with tatami offices, a rice storehouse and the interrogation room complete with torture instruments.
Sanmachi Suji
Three lanes of dark Edo-period merchant houses, with sake breweries in between that hang their cedar balls above the door.
Yoshijima House
A sake brewer's house from 1907 whose timber framework above the living area is lit by a skylight — the most photographed interior in town.
Miyagawa riverside promenade
The path along the Miyagawa passes willows and carp ponds to the red bridges where the morning market is held.
Evening: Kokubunji-dori
The main street between the station and the old town, with izakayas, sake bars and a few shops open into the evening.
Day 3Hida villages and the temple walk
Miyagawa Morning Market
Farm women from the Hida valley sell pickled vegetables, miso and apples on the riverbank — from seven o'clock, and everything is packed away by around midday.
Hida no Sato Folk Village
Thirty relocated thatched farmhouses around a pond, where weavers and basket makers demonstrate their crafts.
Sakurayama Hachiman-gū
The shrine on the northern edge of town, for whose autumn festival the carved ornate floats are paraded through the old town.
Takayama Yatai Kaikan
Four of the gold-trimmed festival floats are on display here all year round, including one with marionettes that dance on strings.
Higashiyama walking trail
A paved path links a good dozen temples and cemeteries on the eastern slope, with a view over the old town's rooftops at the top.
Evening: Nakabashi Bridge
The red-lacquered bridge over the Miyagawa is lit up in the evening and reflected in the water — the most peaceful view of the old town.
Day 4Gasshō roofs in Shirakawa-gō
Onward to Shirakawa-gō
Hotel check-in
Wada House
The largest gasshō house in the village, still lived in today; the attic still holds the equipment used for silkworm farming.
Gasshō-zukuri Minkaen open-air museum
On the other side of the river stand 25 rescued thatched houses, in one of which buckwheat is roasted over the open hearth.
Myōzenji Temple
A temple whose bell tower and main hall are themselves thatched — in the living quarters you can walk up into the soot-blackened roof frame.
Shiroyama viewpoint
From the castle ruins above the village you see the steep thatched roofs among the rice fields, with the Ryōhaku Mountains behind.
Kanda House
A merchant's house with four storeys under its roof, where the fire in the irori burns constantly — the smoke preserves the thatch.
Evening: Ogimachi by lamplight
Once the day-trip buses have gone, the village falls quiet; a walk among the lit-up houses and the water tanks of the fire-fighting system.
Day 5Okuhida: ropeway and rotenburo
Onward to Hirayu Onsen
Hotel check-in
Hirayu Ōtaki Falls
A 64-metre waterfall on the edge of the village, reached by a twenty-minute forest path; in winter it freezes into blue ice.
Shinhotaka Ropeway
The double-decker gondola climbs to 2156 metres, where you stand on a terrace facing the Hotaka range and Yari-ga-take.
Shinhotaka no Yu
A stone-built open-air pool right beside the Gamata River beneath the bridge, fed by the spring and open for a small donation.
Evening: Hirayu Onsen rotenburo
The open-air baths at the forest edge in Hirayu are open into the evening — hot, iron-rich water beneath beech trees and stars.
Day 6The high valley of Kamikōchi
Taishō-ike
The pond formed in 1915 when the Yake-dake volcano dammed the Azusa River; the stumps of the drowned trees still poke out of the water.
Kappa-bashi Bridge
The wooden suspension bridge over the turquoise-green Azusa is the heart of the valley, with the Hotaka range perfectly lined up behind it.
Myōjin-ike and Hotaka Shrine
An hour upstream lies a clear spring-fed pond at the foot of Myōjin-dake, next to the mountain shrine with its rowing boats.
Weston Memorial
A bronze relief on the rock commemorates the English clergyman Walter Weston, who made the Japanese Alps known as a mountaineering destination.
Evening: foot bath at the Hirayu bus terminal
Back in the valley, the free foot bath next to the bus station warms your legs after a day on the gravel paths.
Day 7Matsumoto's black castle
Onward to Matsumoto
Hotel check-in
Matsumoto Castle
The black-panelled main keep of 1594 stands in its moat; inside, steep wooden stairs climb past arrow slits and a musket collection.
Nawate-dori
A shopping street by the stream below the castle whose emblem is the frog — sweet stalls, bric-a-brac and a small shrine.
Yohashira Shrine
The town shrine between Nawate and Nakamachi, dedicated to four deities, with one of the oldest rows of torii in the city.
Nakamachi-dori
Black-and-white plastered kura storehouses that survived the town fire now house craft shops, coffee roasters and sake bars.
Evening: Isemachi
Matsumoto's nightlife quarter west of the Metoba River, a tight web of izakayas, sake bars and noodle kitchens.
Day 8Clocks, art and the journey home
Matsumoto Timepiece Museum
Behind Japan's largest pendulum clock stand several hundred antique clocks, many of them wound and running.
Matsumoto City Museum of Art
The museum shows the dot paintings and pumpkins of locally born Yayoi Kusama, plus calligraphy by Shinzan Kamijo.
Departure from Matsumoto
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