Hello everyone, we are planning a trip to Japan for the last two weeks of April and looking for advice regarding the Chubu region.
We are planning to spend 5 days in the area to visit the usual touristic places (Takayama, Shirakawa, Matsumoto, Kanazawa), enjoy a bit of nature (possibly some hikes) and small scenery roads.
We really want to avoid changing hotel everyday, so we are looking to set our base camp in one hotel and to rent a car for the week.
Takayama looks like the natural “central location”, but I am thinking Toyama or even the north of Nagoya could be an option.
We are looking for this location prior to defining the full itinerary, because we know it will be easy to occupy these 5 days.
Is Takayama the place we are looking for? Is there a more natural city for this type of stay? Really appreciate your advice!
6 comments
Personally would prefer Kanazawa as there are more food options at night. Takayama is more peaceful and chill but shops close quite early from my previous experience!
If you’re driving, Takayama is very central and would be an ideal home base. And there’s a late night bar district for drinks and dinner when you get back from day trips. Kanazawa and Nagoya would be great if you travel by train. Nagoya is more central than Kanazawa if you want to explore Gifu while Kanazawa is better connected to Nagano.
If you have a car takayama is far better because it’s in the middle.
Kanazawa/Nagoya or Toyama are not central enough. Also there are plenty of restaurants etc in Takayama.
Look at the driving distances if you would stay in the individual places.
Also Takayama is the most beautiful out of the 4 in my opinion.
Kanazawa, Matsumoto and Nagoya are just cities.
Considering the distance between each location, feel that it is more logical to charge hotel. Ideally I would stay in Matsumoto, Takayama and Kanazawa, while Shirakawago can be a stop between Takayama and Kanazawa.
Yes you could reduce hotel charge, but to go to only one, I would cut remove Matsumoto from the trip. Toyama could be a good base as there is a direct option to go to the other 3 places and it does not even require a car as there is bus and train available.
You won’t be making a mistake if you just stay in Takayama.
Lots of great restaurants in Takayama. See our trip report for places we enjoyed while there.
– [Trip Report: Takayama](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/mg8ir9/autumn_weekend_in_takayama_gifu_prefecture/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
Downside is you have to drive across the mountain to get to Matsumoto and the Nagano side. Personally, departing from Tokyo, I’d [train to Matsumoto](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6053.html), and either spend one night there or see the castle during the day then drive up to Norikura and spend one or 2 nights there. In Norikura there’s lots of easy waterfall hikes but it takes a bit to drive here from Takayama so I’d do this side of the mountain first if you can. Norikura had some of the best waterfalls we saw during our time living in Japan so we’ll worth an overnight if you can.
– [Trip Report: along Weekend in Matsumoto and Waterfalls in Norikura](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/piyive/summer_weekend_in_matsumoto_and_waterfalls_in/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
Checkout early in the morning and [visit Kamikochi national park](https://www.kamikochi.org/) which is jaw dropping gorgeous. Easy day hike paths abound. We stayed one night inside the park at [Nishi Ito Ya Mountain Lodge](https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZWPAWjJJeVMV4Y6N9?g_st=ic) as it’s a dark sky park so we wanted to see the stars and the quiet in the morning before all the day trippers arrived.
Loved staying in the park it but if you don’t want to shift hotels, just do Kamikochi as a day trip and continue on to Takayama that evening and use that as your base to explore the other side of the mountain.
Happy Planning!