Gero · Easy to reach
Gero is considered one of the three great onsen towns of Japan, and it sits on the train line to Takayama. Suimeikan is the largest in the town, from ¥37,800 per person including two meals. You can stop for a day-use bath on the way to Takayama without staying overnight at all.
Gero · Free
Along the Hida River in Gero there are free public foot baths. The open pool on the riverbank, Funsenchi, used to be a bath, but since 1 December 2021 only foot dipping is allowed. It is a way to try onsen water with no price and no commitment. A small towel is sold at any convenience store.
Takayama · Hida beef
A family restaurant in an old wooden house in Takayama that specializes in the local cuisine of the Hida region. The dish to order is hoba miso: Hida beef with miso, green onion and shiitake mushrooms, grilled in front of the diner on a magnolia leaf. A Hida beef set with hoba miso is about ¥2,400. Open 11:00 to 14:00 and 17:00 to 20:00, and closed on Tuesdays, which means an early dinner. It is worth reserving a table ahead, the place fills up.
In Takayama, owned by a local butcher, so the meat is fresh and the price is good. Certified A5 Hida beef, as teppanyaki or as yakiniku.
Takayama · Morning market
Takayama's second morning market, in the square in front of the historic Jinya government house. Smaller and quieter than the market on the river: homemade pickles, sweets and seasonal produce, and most of the sellers are older local women. 7:00 to 12:00, and in winter from December to March it starts at 8:00. The good time is between 8:00 and 9:00, before the groups arrive.
Market · Takayama
You start at the market along the river, which according to the market union began in the mid-Edo period.
The rural station and the taxi stand from the scene where Taki searches for Mitsuha. Ten minutes by train from Takayama, and it fits into a day there.
Photo: Asturio Cantabrio / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Central Takayama · Free
Three streets of dark wooden houses from the Edo period, a national preservation district since 1979, with craft shops and sake breweries that you identify by the ball of cedar branches above the door. Free. Some breweries offer free tastings (Funasaka) and some charge, and most end tastings at about 16:00.
Price checked October 2026
Photo: Maarten Heerlien from Voorschoten, The Netherlands / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Central Takayama · Free
A morning market on the riverbank, which according to the market union began in the mid-Edo period: farm women with vegetables, pickles and fruit, sarubobo dolls and mochi. Free, every day. April to November 07:00 to 12:00, and from December to March from 08:00. The best of it is before 10:00.
Price checked October 2026
Photo: bryan... from Taipei, Taiwan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Central Takayama · Historic building
The office from which the shogun's officials ran the Hida province from 1692, and the only one of about sixty such offices whose main buildings survive: tatami rooms, a rice storehouse and the courtroom. ¥500 since April 2026, and free up to high school. April to October 08:45 to 17:00, and in winter until 16:30.
Price checked November 2026
Photo: Alexkom000 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
More cities in the region
