A visit to Shirakawa-go and Takayama from Kyoto or Osaka is surprisingly feasible as a day trip by using a tour that starts from little-known Gifu-Hashima Station on the Shinkansen line. If you are interested, please contact us from here.
Is it possible to visit Takayama and Shirakawa-go from Kyoto or Osaka in a single day? If you ask an AI, you’ll probably get a response like, “It’s not impossible, but it would be very tight.”
Common routes to Takayama and Shirakawago
The commonly known routes for visiting Shirakawa-go and Takayama are as follows:
- Using Public Transportation
- Take the Shinkansen to Nagoya, then a limited express train to Takayama. From Takayama, you take a bus to Shirakawa-go. This route is time-consuming due to the train journey from Nagoya to Takayama.
- Alternatively, take the Limited Express Thunderbird to Maizuru, transfer to the Shinkansen for Kanazawa, and then take a bus from Kanazawa to Shirakawa-go and Takayama. This involves transfers, and it can be difficult to secure bus seats to Shirakawa-go and Takayama.
- Using a Tour
- Bus tours from Kyoto/Osaka are available, but travel by car on the expressways takes a long time.
- Tours from Kanazawa require a long train journey to get to Kanazawa and involve transfers.
- Tours from Nagoya often depart very early in the morning, making it difficult to get to the meeting point on time.
Neither of these options is impossible, but they are inefficient and time-consuming. When considering these options, it’s easy to see why an AI would say a day trip is not easy and that a 1-night, 2-day trip is a better idea.
An Alternative for a Takayama/Shirakawa-go Day Trip
The route we recommend is to use the Shinkansen from Osaka or Kyoto to Gifu-Hashima Station. Gifu-Hashima is a lesser-known small station, but it’s closer than Nagoya—just 30 minutes from Kyoto by Shinkansen. Furthermore, this station is located near an expressway entrance, allowing for a one-way drive to Takayama in just two hours.
From Gifu-Hashima Station, a guide will drive a minivan for small groups. For larger groups, a microbus or a full-size bus can be arranged. The cost for a minivan with a guide from Gifu-Hashima Station is about 90,000 yen. A bus will be a bit more expensive.
With this route, you can leave Kyoto Station at 8:00 AM and be back at Kyoto Station by 8:00 PM. We highly recommend considering this option.
please contact us from here
for a guided tour from Gifu Hashima Station