Japanese Alps - driving - Takayama - late Oct

Hi all,

Been browsing these forums for the past few months, gathering such useful info for my honeymoon in Japan in October.

We finally (seem) to have decided on a rough itinerary.

Arriving on 21st Oct in Nagoya and wanting to head to Takayama that day. After a couple of nights there we want to rent a car for a few days and explore the surrounding areas.

The reasons for getting a car are to take in the scenery and stop in some charming places for food and accommodation.

So I imagine from Takayama heading east and north, from the map it doesn't look hard to constantly be finding onsen villages in the Nagano / Gifu / Toyama border area. Is this right? Any recommendations?

At the moment we're looking at:

Okuhida, Furukawa, Gujo Hachiman, Kiso Valley and any others that we come across on the way. I'd like to also drive and see the Shirakawago villages.

Probably we will have the car for 2 nights / 3 days. But are open to 3 nights / 4 days.

Need to drop the car back off in Takayama then are heading to Tokyo.

RE practicalities of the trip

I am inquiring with tocoo about renting a car in Takayama. Is this easy to arrange on arrival if I can't sort it out in advance?
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Weather-wise, there shouldn't be any problems on the roads right? Should be great Autumn weather, right?!

We very much appreciate your replies, this website has already been such a big help to us.

Jamie

When we checked with ToCoo a couple of years back they didn't have any car rental connection in Takayama whereas Toyota rent-a-car has 2 outlets in town.

https://rent.toyota.co.jp/shop/result.aspx?pref=%E5%B2%90%E9%98%9C%E7%...

Yeah they just emailed me back with the bad news.

The problem with toyota is that I don't speak a word of Japanese. Looks like there's no way of sorting a car reservation without language ability. They don't provide an email contact,only a phone number on the website.

Is turning up in Takayama and walking into the Toyota shop likely to leave us disappointed?

Walk-ins are possible, but not recommended. Some of the outlets operate on a pretty tight inventory and in the worst case they won't be able to accommodate you.

It's best to just give them a call. Not sure if you're aware, but the phone number on Toyota's English page is for their English help line. I've made reservations by phone several times and its super easy. The agent's I've talked to spoke perfect English.

https://rent.toyota.co.jp/en/

Ah ok thanks I'll give them a call.

Just like what "yllwsrf" said, perfect English is used over the phone when booking through Toyota-rent-a-car. Online reservation seems also possible through the following webpage but we find talking over the phone easier.

http://www.rentacar-jp.com/lang_en

OK thanks again, I'll get in touch with them to arrange it.

RE the next stage of the holiday. I've done the calculations and it looks like buying a JR card is very marginally cheaper than buying individual tickets.

In the space of 7 days we are going:

Takayama to Tokyo
Around Tokyo city centre
To Fuji Q Highlands (though this not included in JR lines)
Tokyo to Kyoto
Around Kyoto

Like I said, the costs come out about 1000 yen cheaper with a JR pass. Does having the pass offer any more convenience than just turning up at a station and buying tickets when you want to travel?

As far as I can tell, it doesn't but i'd love to be proved wrong...

We were in the Takayama region at the end of October last year. Weather was great (the odd rain shower, but nothing problematic), and the autumn leaves were well underway, although they probably got even better as the autumn went on. Roads were clear, and in good condition (although we were travelling by bus, not driving ourselves).

Enjoyed some lovely onsen ryokan peace in the Okuhida region, loved Takayama itself, and was amazed at Shirakawa (especially staying overnight when the day visitors had left).

That's great to hear. How many nights did you have in the region?

Perfectly doable to get to Okuhida valley and for a day and night then back up to around Shirakawago the following day to stay the night in a village there?

How about the shirahone onsen and the other onsen towns around there? They stand out in my guide book but not come across them much in my research on this site.

Also, in places like the Okuhida region and Kiso valley, is it possible to not book accommodation in advance. Instead get there, take a look around and find a place?

Are there enough places to stay in such places to be able to do this or is it totally recommended to book well in advance?

Thanks