It’s been some time since I have traveled for fun so I had to dig in the archives for this post.

During our winter trip to Japan, we spent two nights in the Japanese Alps. Our first stop was Takayama. After a train ride from Kyoto we arrived to snow, which only added to the ambience. We stayed in a cozy apartment, a short walk over the bridge to the traditional old town. We dropped our luggage and wandered the quaint city streets. We tried some local foods like Hida beef sashimi and steam buns but mostly just tried to stay warm!

We took a taxi over to the Hida Folk Village. The open air museum is a model of a traditional mountain village in the Gifu prefecture during the Edo period. Some of the folk houses are between 100 and 500 years old and the peaked thatched roofs allow snow to slide off easily.

The next day, we took a bus deeper into the Alps and visited Shinhotaka Ropeway. This is a series of 2 tramways that take you up the hillside of Mount Hotaka, the 3rd tallest mountain in Japan. It was very chilly at the top! I didn’t take any photos unfortunately, as my hands were frozen.

We caught another bus from the ropeway which dropped us off at our lodging for the evening, Yamazatonoiori Soene. This is a ryokan, or traditional Japanese inn, with onsen baths heated by hot springs. A once in a lifetime experience I will never forget.

Categories: Nature, TravelTags: Japan, photography, Travel