Takayama and Hirayu

Hi!
We will go to Takayama for sightseeng and overnighting. We take Hida ltd. express from Nagoya early in the morning. We have 4 kids with us. We understand that there's a lot of things to do and experience in Takayama.
Our itinerary in Takayama are Old Town, Higashiyama Walking Course and maybe Hida village.
We would like to stay in onsen or ryokan with japanese dinner. As I understood the best onsen expirience is in Hirayu - Okuhida. It would be great to bath at mixed gender bath at Okuhida Garden Hotel Yakedake with all my family.
My question is - is this plan realistic or would it be too stressful? If we allow 6 hours for Takayama and go to Hirayu at 15.40 by bus - would we have enough time? Or should we stay at Ryokan in Takayama and don't mind Hyrayu?
Thanks a lot.

It is pretty tight time-wise, to go to Takayama and Hirayu and the Onsen ryokan, and give enough time to relax in the onsen with your family, especially with autumn making the daylight more precious.

We've been to Takayama several times before. We were there a couple of weeks ago, having traveled there from Kyoto via Shinkansen and Hida. We only had time to eat lunch and browse the Asaichi for an hour before taking our bus to Okuhida. But Takayama deserves more than that (and more than six hours).

We took the bus from Takayama directly to Karukaya, where our ryokan onsen (Suimeikan Karukaya) was. It was really nice to be able to go out into the outdoor onsen with my wife and two daughters. The views of the mountains and the river from the bath was so nice, even in the rain! I know that at the Yakedake Garden, you wear some smocks and the same exists at Suimeikan (fortunately ...)

I guess you need to figure out your priorities and then guess your time needs. If you spend six hours in Takayama, you won't be able to enjoy the bath with enough light to see the view. I saw the Yakedake hotel on our bus, and it looked (from the outside, at least) like just a big Onsen Hotel. Our ryokan was a very quaint, small ryokan, with just a few guests, a superb meal (and they accomodated our two vegan daughters with a fabulous dinner), and a huge mixed outdoor bath.

YMMV

Dale

Thank you Dale!
Actually we are not going to Japan now this autumn . We will go next summer in Juni. Do you know when it will be dark in Juni in Takayama?

I will check your ryokan (Suimeikan Karukaya). Is it more far to Karukaya than to Hirayu?
/Katja

In June, at the peak of summer, it should be light until at least 8 PM.

I would say that it is about 20 minutes from Karukaya to Hirayu.

Dale