Wanderlust: Shirakawa-go

This UNESCO World Heritage site has been in my bucketlist for years. It's one of those places that speaks so much of nature, and tradition in one. I've seen some vloggers post about this place in autumn, spring and winter seasons. While I am not fan of winter I know for a fact this place really looks good with snow on it. Our visit here is spring but based on pictures online we will be able to see it in snow. My hopes are not that high but when we arrived at the area, I just couldn't believe seeing it.

First things first, DIY travel to Shirakawago is not an easy task. I spent days trying to figure out what needs to be done. There is that consideration what JR pass to get to accommodate this spot since it's way off the regular itinerary we have for our usual Kansai Trip.

We took the Kansai-Hokuriko Pass for 7days, this pass goes all the way to Kanazawa or Shin Takaoka. I mentioned Shin Takaoka but we got off at Kanazawa Station and took a bus to ShirakawaGo. You can also take Shin Takaoka as your jump off point but I feel like Kanaza station is more popular.

https://www.klook.com/en-PH/activity/2771-7-day-jr-kansai-hokuriku-area-pass-jr-pass/?spm=Activity.SearchSuggest_LIST&clickId=6f4cf2ea7d

We also pre-purchased our bus tickets a month before the trip here :

https://www.nouhibus.co.jp/highwaybus/kanazawa_en/#fare

Bus schedules really ran out fast. I learned this the hard way as I was slacking buying the bus ticket from Shirakawa-go to Kanazawa that it messed up our itinerary the next day. We should have gotten the 1st bus out of Shirakawago but since they are all sold, the earliest we can get was the 10:25 AM slot. This gave us a little time to explore Kanazawa. More of this in the next day adventure. Please note that buses here prefer the actual print out and not some screenshot or file from the email so better have your tickets printed.

This is what we have from Google Map, I just screenshot it for easy reference than to type it..lol

That's 4 hours travel time from Kyoto to Shirakawago with 1 train change at Tsuruga station. You have enough time to transfer to the other platform for the Hokuriko Shinkansen. The only thing I changed from this google direction is the bus to Shirakawago. Instead of taking the 9:10 AM Bus schedule, we took the 9:40 AM schedule instead to avoid rushing and also to give some extra time in case there will be delays in the train. But there wasn't, so we still had time for early lunch in Yoshinoya, it is just across the bus stop. I really loved the Salmon meal that I ended up taking the same one when we got back to Kanazawa.

Our hotel check-in time is 3pm so after arriving Shirakawa go Bus Stop we left our overnight bags at the locker just at the back of the Bus Stop.

Wada House

View from the windows:

We loved the short hike to Observatory. It's a little steep but glad that we come here when the snow has already melted in this part. My niece who went here Last February was not able to since it was closed for safety reasons.

the dirty snow..lol but I just had to take a pic because it was my first time

Ogimachi Castle Observation Deck

our favourite cremia icecream

Gassho-Zukuri Triplets

just a spot before the 3 houses

we found this spot after the 3 houses, there is a road going down and

we just walked and walked and realized it's going to the parking area,

but glad we still explored this view is on another level.

Deai-Bashi Bridge

feeling cute..

Gassho-zukuri Minkaen- is an outdoor museum (more of like Las Casas in Bataan) built by relocation of unused Gassho-Zukuri Houses to recreate the traditional way of life. But what amazed me is the view you get from the sceneries inside this outside museum. Most pictures of people who have been to Shirakawa are mostly the 1st photo in this page.

Inside one of the houses

Zukuri house miniature

I still remember this pic, this area is surreal

just me and the view

the view is better without me..lol

funny backstory in this pic, I was asking the cleaning guys if it's ok to step on the rocks
I stepped on one rock to demonstrate my question..hahahah
he said yes!

It took us 4 whole hours to explore the area. The tour you get from Klook only gives you 2 hours to explore. This is why we prefer DIY rather than the Klook tours because we can really have a good view of the place rather than just mere taking pictures. We also had time going through the souvenir shops.

Just a tip though, if you want to spend a night here, just buy your dinner from Kanazawa. There aren't much of restaurants in the area and if they were the one we visited are closed. So just to be prepared, just buy one from Kanazawa if you don't want to end up like us who bought ours from a small grocery store which is just so-so in taste. The dinner set sold in our hotel is so expensive that you wouldn't want to splurge on that for just one meal.

We stayed at Shirakawago Onyado Yuinosho, most expensive accommodation we have in all our Japan trips. The rate is around 15k per night for 2. I can say, we splurge on this but we have no choice as that is I guess the most affordable one in the area. Anyway, the hotel is huge and it has private and public onsen. The hotel floors are tatami so if you want to walk outside your room it is best you wear socks.