Gokayama

We have a 2-night stay in Takayama in October - arriving from Kyoto (via Kanazawa), from where we will depart for Tokyo.

It would seem our best option is to use the 5-day Takayama Hokuriku Area Pass.

I need help with how to best arrive at Takayama from Kyoto, visit Ainokura & Shirakawago, and depart Takayama for Tokyo.

Many thanks

Will you be leaving Kyoto early? You can take a thunderbird to Kanazawa for the bus to Shirakawago, store your luggage at the station, spend the day exploring the area and take a evening bus to Takayama for the night, following day then go to Ainokura.

Or you can just change train at Kanazawa for Toyoma and change again to Takayama, longer route though.

Thanks for the response, yes we would Kyoto as early as possible in the morning.

Perhaps we would have some time to visit Kenrokuen before getting the bus to Shirakawago. Do you think Ainokura is worth a separate visit, or just another version of Shirakawago that can be skipped and use that time Takayama instead?

From Takayama is better to depart for Tokyo via Nagoya or Kanazawa (via Toyama)?

Thank. you

In that case, u should have enough time for Kenrokuen before the bus trip.

I only did a day trip to Shirakawa from Kanazawa, not sure about Ainokuna so cant comment on it.

Both routes are ok, but if there is time for a meal before your back, i will definitely go from Toyoma side, miss the white shrimp there!

Talking about food. there is this miso ramen shop called Menya Taiga you can try at Kanazawa too, it is about 7,8 mins walk away from the station, i randomly found it while searching for my hotel last year thanks to a small queue forming outside it.