Shirakawa Go and Hida Furukawa

We booked a van (from our airbnb host who happens to be a tour guide )  to take us to Shirakawa go and Hida Furukawa. You can also reach the village via tour bus from the tourist office.

For info on how to get to Shiarkawa go... refer to my previous post here (jumping point was takayama)

The village and Gifu itself is located in central Japan.. if you ride the bus going there... all I can say is, enjoy the view.... its actually called the ALPS of Japan... views of villages, with fog rolling over them.... sigh...

shirakawa go village

We got to see the view from a hill of the shirakawa go village. It was as postcard perfect as you can get. Designated as a UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE, it has preserved the way it builds its thatched roof houses.

It was quite interesting to see how the people of the village lived. Mostly by agriculture and lately through tourism (they built a road through the mountain, which made the village more accessible.)

rainbow trout feely swimming in the canal

I honestly was blown away by the beauty of the village. MUST SEE definitely. We then did a hike up some waterfalls... it was humid and yes, hot.

hike up to there!

sweaty!!!

July is not the best time to hike up a mountain! I think it was an experience but not the best one we had.


We then proceeded to Hida Furukawa. My kids know this from watching a famous anime hida no sato ( YOUR NAME). We quickly toured the town, the old village and the festival float exhibition (held every April)

We went to the canal where the koi were swimming... some were as big as my forearm!

one of the floats used in the festival

We really enjoyed the outing. We wished we had more time in Hida (it was already late in the afternoon).. maybe should have skipped the waterfalls.....