Shirakawa-go : Japan Kansai-Kanazawa-Kinosaki Drive - Part 5

Day 6
Today is about making our way from Takayama to Kanazawa, with a pitstop at Shirakawa-go and Gokayama!

 

Thanks to the snowfall the night before, the road from Takayama to Shirakawa-go was very scenic! The drive wasn't too long, taking approximately 1 hour. We probably took more time than that as we stopped along the way to take pictures~

We largely walked around the area, and visited the interior of some of these grass-thatched structures. It's probably going to look magical when its all snowy and the air was really fresh. But my stomach was calling for food, especially in the cold weather it just keeps calling out more frequently~ LOL~

After our lunch as we continued our drive towards Kanazawa, we made a small detour to Gokayama 五箇山. 

   

  

Gokayama is a lesser-known village compared to Shirakawa-go, but it is also on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Lesser crowd and quiet environment actually suit us more! 

After a good stroll around Gokayama, my stomach decided its time to replenish~ We hopped back into the car and started our drive towards Kanazawa~ By the time we reached Kanazawa it was already nightfall!

The Tsuzumi ("drum") Gate at JR Kanazawa Station

Apart from beautiful parks and museums, Kanazawa is also famous for cheap and delicious seafood! After checking into our hotel we quickly went out to grab a meal (or two)!

After our dinner, we decided that it wasn't enough so we went back to the area surrounding Kanazawa station to look for supper! 

The next day will be a full day discovering Kanazawa!

 
See the rest of the trip below:

• Part 1 (Osaka-Nara-Kyoto)
• Part 2 (Kyoto)
• Part 3 (Gero Onsen)
• Part 4 (Takayama)

Takayama : Japan Kansai-Kanazawa-Kinosaki Drive - Part 4

Day 5
It's all about Takayama today~ Its a drive to Takayama Old Town, then to our onsen hotel for the night in the middle of Hida-Takayama~


The drive today is short and easy, which gives us more than ample time to enjoy the streets of Takayama Old Town as well as an early check-in so we can have a nice outdoor onsen dip after we check in.

Hello Takayama~

I really enjoyed Takayama~ It's got such old world charm but everything was so clean and neat~ The best thing I enjoyed about Takayama was the streetfood! Wah seh~ The amount of delicious street food this place managed to squeeze into one stretch basically caused us to have our lunch while standing up~ LOL~

1. Hida Beef meat bun for a start~

2. Beef Croquette next!

3. Skewered BBQ Beef~ Yum!

4. Beef Stew~

5. Hida Beef Burger!

6. Finished off with Pudding from this shop!

The cold weather really helped with the appetite~ but it also helped with the walking after the food~ Clean, flat and neatly organized streets made it such a joy to talk around the old streets and taking in the sights and atmosphere. Along the way there was a few shops that offered free sake/miso soup so we gladly obliged~

J fascinated by the small fishes in the drain... the water was very clear!

We spent around 3 hours in Takayama before we continued our journey to our hotel for the night~ As we drove deeper into Hida-Takayama, the scenery started to change~

Our lodging for the night was at 奥飛騨温泉郷　穂高荘　山月 (Hodakaso Sangetsu)

Now the thing about this hotel... is the fact that it has a mixed outdoor onsen! (One more item on the bucket list checked!)

The outdoor onsen is situated on one side of the valley so it offers a magnificent view of the opposite mountains~

And as with all onsen lodging in Japan, its the dinner I look forward to the most~

For this stay package, it also came with A5-ranked Hida beef~

And we were still in time for some Ayu 鮎 fish!

After dinner all of us were so satisfied and tired that no one tempted to venture outside to challenge the outdoor onsen for one more time~  We did take a stroll outside the hotel and it was starting to snow. And that gave us the sight below:

Wow~

Breakfast was just as wow~  but unfortunately I was still trying to digest the food from the previous day...

After breakfast we still had some time before checking out so we took a walk outside the hotel. The scenery of the entire place basically changed overnight~ The fresh snow with the last of the autumn leaves gave the place very fresh and vibrant colors~ Everybody loved the cool crisp air~

Next stop will be Shirakawa-go and Kanazawa!

See the rest of the trip below:

• Part 1 (Osaka-Nara-Kyoto)
• Part 2 (Kyoto)
• Part 3 (Gero Onsen)
• Part 5 (Shirakawa-go)