Gifu & Nagano, Japan
A week spent in more rural Japan again. We hiked the Nakasendo Trail, stayed in a Ryokan with a private onsen 🔥 & visited Matsumoto and Takayama.
Nakasendo Trail
Day 1
Travel day to Magome juku from Izu.
Day 2
Walked the Nakasendo trail through the Kiso Valley - the postal route from the Edo period which Samurai used to pass through! The autumn colors were beautiful.
Had dinner and breakfast at the minshuku which were delish 😋.
Matsumoto & Ryokan
Day 3
In the morning travelled to Matsumoto.
Had a tonkatsu for lunch and headed to the Matsumoto castle. After learning a lot about gun warfare in the Edo period (very shogun vibes) we went to the Art museum to see the permanent Yayoi Kusuma exhibition there.
In the evening we went to a sake brewery followed by yaki tori and more sake and then to a couple of bars! A very fun night!
Day 4
A bit worse for wear we hopped on a bus to a ryokan in Okuhida onsen. This was a highlight of the trip with a private onsen in the room and a massive multi-course dinner and breakfast including Hida wagyu 😋.
It was snowy when we got there and snowed more overnight which made the experience all the more cosy.
The Ryokan we stayed in was called Kutsurogiya noyuu - 10/10 experience would definitely recommend!
Takayama
Day 5
Unfortunately had to leave the next morning for financial reasons and so headed to Takayama on the bus.
When we got there we dropped bags and started the Higashiyama walking course through all of the local temples and shrines. It was absolutely freezing and so stopped a cafe run by a very sweet old man for a coffee. He took a photo of us and added it to his book of visitors.
For lunch we had Takayama ramen and explored more after, stopping at a sake brewery for some tasting.
Dinner was yakiniku with more Hida wagyu beef 🥩.
Day 6
We visited Shirakawago in the morning which was stunning and then spent the afternoon at some more sake breweries.
After dinner at an Izakaya we went to a late night Japanese archery place recommended to us by someone we met, I beat John which he was not happy about 😆. After that we ended up at a tiny karaoke bar ran by an old man and had so much fun singing with the locals. One of the best nights we've had so far!
