Takayama Full-Day Private Tour with Government Licensed Guide

This value-packed trip with a government-licensed and experienced multilingual tour guide is a fantastic and efficient way to explore Takayama!

Takayama features an atmospheric townscape, with Meiji-era inns and hillside shrines in a riverside setting. In addition, many museums, galleries and temples make their home in the city's 17th century layout. Be sure to come see the Takayama Festival, held once in spring and once in autumn, but be prepared for the crowds as the festivals attract hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

Let us know what you would like to experience and we will customize a six-hour tour that's best for you!

Note*1: Please select your must-see spots from a list in the tour information to create your customized itinerary.
Note*2: National Government Licensed Guide Interpreter certification is issued by the Japanese government requires a good knowledge and understanding of Japanese culture and history.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Sanmachi Suji, Takayama Gifu Prefecture

Sanmachi Street is a popular sightseeing area in Hida-Takayama. As an old town, the area has houses and stores from the Edo period (1603 - 1868). The area is lined with shops carrying local specialties such as Japanese sake, senbei (rice crackers), barbecue yakiniku Hida beef, and croquettes. The area has a lively atmosphere with people shopping and eating.

Sanmachi Street is a five-minute walk from JR Takayama Station. Be sure to stop by when you visit Takayama.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Hida Minzoka Mura Folk Village (Hida no Sato), 1-590 Kamiokamotomachi, Takayama 506-0055 Gifu Prefecture

Hida Folk Village (飛騨の里, Hida no Sato) is an open air museum exhibiting over 30 traditional houses from the Hida region, the mountainous district of Gifu Prefecture around Takayama. The houses were built during the Edo Period (1603 - 1867) and were relocated from their original locations to create the museum in 1971.

In a village-like atmosphere, the museum features buildings such as the former village head's house, logging huts, storehouses and a number of gassho-zukuri farmhouses. These massive farmhouses are named after their steep thatched roofs which resemble a pair of hands joined in prayer ("gassho"). They were moved here from nearby Shirakawago, where gassho-zukuri houses are the reason for the region's World Heritage status.

Admission
700 yen (parking: 300 yen)

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Takayama Jinya, 1-5 Hachikemmachi, Takayama 506-0012 Gifu Prefecture

Because of its valuable timber resources, the Hida Region around Takayama was put under direct control of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1692. The Takayama Jinya (高山陣屋) served as the local government office headed by the officials dispatched from Edo (present day Tokyo).

The building complex was in official use until 1969, and is now open to the public as a museum. It includes various nicely maintained tatami mat rooms that once served as offices, conference rooms, guest rooms and residential space. There is also an interesting interrogation room.

Beside the main building stands a large storehouse built in the 1600s. Known as the biggest traditional rice storehouse in Japan, it now functions as a museum, showcasing belongings and official documents of past feudal lords, old maps of the Hida Region and historic town plans.

Admission
440 yen

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Takayama Festival Floats Exhibition Hall, 178 Sakura-machi, Takayama 506-0858 Gifu Prefecture

Located outside of Takayama's city center, the Matsuri no Mori (まつりの森, lit. "Festival Forest") showcases the key aspects of the Takayama Festival, which takes place for two days each spring and autumn. The festival is known as one of Japan's three most beautiful, along with Kyoto's Gion Matsuri and the Chichibu Yomatsuri.

From the museum's entrance, an approximately 50 meter long hallway leads to the main exhibition space which is located underground, giving it a cave-like atmosphere. The hallway is lined on the left by eleven miniature festival floats, one third the size of those used in the autumn festival. On the right are ostentatious golden-lacquered folding screens which depict famous floats from festivals in Kyoto and other cities.

Admission
1000 yen (800 yen with online coupon)


Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Higashiyama Walking Course, Atagomachi, Takayama Gifu Prefecture

The Higashiyama Walking Course (東山遊歩道, Higashiyama Yūhodō) is a pleasant walking route through Takayama's temple town (Teramachi), the city's rural "suburbs" and Shiroyama Park, a wooded hill and former site of Takayama Castle.

Along the 3.5 kilometer long course, you will pass more than a dozen common temples and shrines, the ruins of Takayama's former castle and ordinary scenes of a rural Japanese town. The Higashiyama Walking Course offers a pleasant way to spend one or two hours and get to know Takayama's calmer side.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Takayama Festival Floats Exhibition Hall, 178 Sakura-machi, Takayama 506-0858 Gifu Prefecture

The Takayama Festival, held in spring (April 14 and 15) and autumn (October 9 and 10), is ranked as one of Japan's three most beautiful festivals (the other two are Kyoto's Gion Matsuri and the Chichibu Matsuri).

Four of the autumn festival's eleven floats (yatai) are exhibited at the Takayama Matsuri Yatai Kaikan (高山祭屋台会館), a hall next to Sakurayama Hachiman Shrine. The elaborately decorated floats are several hundred years old and beautiful examples of Takayama's legendary craftsmanship.

Adjacent to the Matsuri Yatai Kaikan lies the Nikkokan, a spacious hall containing impressive models of the different precincts of Toshogu Shrine in Nikko, one of the most ornate and celebrated shrines in the country. The miniature models are beautifully intricate and are accompanied by short explanations in Japanese and English. Photos are permitted inside both halls.

Admission
900 yen (allows entry to both halls)

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Hida-Takayama Miyagawa Morning Market, Shimosannomachi, Takayama 506-0841 Gifu Prefecture

Two morning markets (朝市, Asaichi) are held in Takayama on a daily basis from around 7:00 (8:00 in winter) to noon: the Miyagawa Market along the Miyagawa River in the old town, and the Jinya-mae Market in front of the Takayama Jinya.

The stands sell local crafts, snacks and farm products such as vegetables, pickles and flowers. There is typically a pleasant atmosphere around the markets, as tourists and locals alike saunter from stall to stall purchasing goods and food and talking.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Hida Kokubun-ji Temple, 1-83 Sowamachi, Takayama 506-0007 Gifu Prefecture

Hida Kokubunji Temple, about a five-minute walk from JR Takayama Station, is a well-known Buddhist temple in Takayama. Its iconic three-storied pagoda was constructed in 1820. A Buddhist statue thought to have been made in the Heian period is enshrined in the main building. Be sure to take notice of the huge gingko tree on the grounds. It is over 1, 260 years of age.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Sakurayama Hachimangu Shrine, 178 Sakuramachi, Takayama 506-0858 Gifu Prefecture

Sakurayama Hachimangu Shrine in Takayama is the venue for the Takayama Festival in the autumn. Next to the shrine is the Takayama Festival Floats Exhibition Hall, or Yatai Kaikan, where four of the actual floats used in the festival are on display. The shrine is 15 minutes by Machinami Bus (clockwise) or a 20 minute walk from JR Takayama Station.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Kusakabe Folk Museum, 1-52 Ojinmachi, Takayama 506-0851 Gifu Prefecture

The Kusakabe Folk Museum is a historic private residence that was opened to the public. The building was constructed during the Meiji period in Edo architectural style. It is due to its splendid architectural technique, the entire building is designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan. The museum is thirteen minutes by Machinami Bus (counterclockwise) or a fifteen-minute walk from JR Takayama Station.

Duration: 30 minutes

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For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start time of the experience.