In this series, we would like to get your opinions and tips regarding still popular, but not first choice destinations in Japan, including advice about sights to see, accommodation, restaurants and eateries, onsen experiences, public transport, hikes and other activities in the area.
First, we go with [Takayama](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5900.html) – a popular destination with two seasonal festivals that opens whole Hida and [Okuhida](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5940.html) region, including everyone’s favourite hiking places like [Kamikochi](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6040.html) or rural Japan locations like [Shirakawa-Go](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5950.html).
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2 comments
Hiking Yakedake on the 10th of September with my wife, really looking forward to it! Fingers crossed for good weather. Any hints or tips for the area would be great!
I’ll be visiting Takayama in November and I found this [free audio guide](https://www.hidatakayama-audioguide.jp/en/city-center/) that I’ll be using as I walk around.
Speaking of festivals, Takayama also has a [sake festival](https://www.hida-nombe.jp/en/) every year where you can hop around the different sake breweries (of which there are many!) and sample different types of sake. When you attend, you get a little booklet where you can collect different stamps from the sake breweries and keep it as a little momento of your trip.
There are also two great museums dedicated to the Showa era, one called Takayama Retro Museum and one called Takayama Showa-kan Museum. I actually emailed them both to ask what the difference was (they look *very* similar) and the only museum to reply was the [Takayama Showa-kan Museum](https://showakan.jp/takayama/) who informed me they are run by different companies, but the Showa-kan has a bigger selection of retro sweets and toys for sale. They didn’t need to say anything else – they had me at “sweets”!