Heydelin: The Lovely Shirakawa-go

Japan has lots and lots of World Heritage sites and Shirakawa-go is one of my favorites. It is a small, traditional village showcasing a building style known as gasshō-zukuri. If you are from the Philippines, these can be compared as Japan’s bahay kubo. This place looks the best (for me) during winter when it looks like a Christmas Village. Though I visited Shirakawa-go during spring, it still looks awesome with flowers blooming everywhere.

I booked a tour from J Hoppers Takayama for 13,100 yen which includes bus from and to Kyoto/Osaka, half day tour to Shirakawa-go and overnight stay. Might be expensive but trust me, it would be more expensive going there on your own (booking trains, hostels and tours separately)! Sometimes it is better to book a tour and this one is a great deal!

The tour bus will be in Takayama and be sure to be there on time! It would take some time going to Shirakawa-go and havig a tour guide on a bus helps!

Before going to the actual site, we stopped over a lookout point. There is a souvenir shop here, too.

Your eyes will be filled with scenic views, like mountains, rice fields, flowers, etc.

Cross this cute bridge to see the world heritage site Shirakawa-go

There is a museum in Shirakawa-go where you can taste Doburoku – an unrefined sake which is offered to the mountain Gods for good harvest. You can only taste this sake here as it is illegal to make it anywhere in Japan but in Shirakawa-go. I must say that this sake is a bit strong and not my favorite sake in the world.

There are also temples inside the site:

There are several houses in the site where you can enter (some are free some have fees). Some houses offer refreshment (tea). The house has 3 to 4 floors. The ground floor is used as kitchen and lounge. The smoke in the kitchen is used to kill insects that might live in the roof.

On the photos below, you can see the equipments/clothes they use back in the days: