13 Days in Central Japan

We are a family of four, all grown ups. I am thinking of covering the following places in a leisurely manner with minimal changes in accommodation. Ideally we would like to stay in a place for at least two nights to soak in the town. Would appreciate anyone's thoughts and advice on rearranging the below itinerary to make full use of the public transportation passes available.

Here is my tentative itinerary and main places I hope to cover :

11 Mar 2020 : Arrive Chubu Centrair International Airport at 8.40 am
11-13 Mar 2020 : 3 nights in Nagoya to explore Nagoya
14-16 Mar 2020 : 3 nights in Takayama to explore Takayama and make day trip to Shirakawago
17-18 Mar 2020 : 2 nights in Hirayu Hotspring Region, Okuhida
19 Mar 2020 : 1 night in Shinhotaka Hotspring Region, Okuhida (just to have a different feel, but still within the Okuhida hot spring area)
20-22 2020 : 3 nights in Kanazawa and explore Kanazawa, Toyoma, Kurobe Gorge, Wajima, Suzu
23 Mar 2020 Overnight at Airport Hotel for early morning flight on 24 Mar

If you have other suggestions on what i should not missed, i am happy to hear.

Thank you!

Overall I like your plan. I would maybe consider deleting one day from Nagoya and adding it to Kanazawa. You have a lot of ground you want to cover there. But it obviously depends on what you want to do in Nagoya.

For Kurobe have you checked when it opens? (Gets closed in winter !)

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

Yeah as suspected Kurobe gorge is still closed in March: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7575.html

But that�fs no problem you have enough other things to see.

In the Takayama part I would skip Shirakawago and go directly to Ainokura. Check the road conditions though. I�fd rent a car for a day. Shirakawago is very touristic (apparently, I only went to Gokayama and Ainokura).

Hi LikeBike,

Thank you very much for going the extra step to help confirm that Kurobe Gorge is closed, and for your suggestion to swap Shirakawago with Ainokura. Will read up on Ainokura. I will also relook at the number of days allocated to Nagoya and Kanazawa.

May I know the reason for your suggestion to push Nagoya to the end of the trip? Is it because of public transportation?

Also, would you know if it will be easy to drive in Okuhida in mid March? If we have driven to ski resorts in Hokkaido in December, do you think Okuhida will be easier to drive in March than Hokkaido ski resorts in December?

Thanks again for whatever inputs you can provide. Much appreciated.

Hi LikeBike,

Please ignore my question about pushing Nagoya to the end of the itinerary. I got mixed up. Apologies.

Thanks and Rgds!

Hi LikeBike,

Please ignore my question about pushing Nagoya to the end of the itinerary. I got mixed up. Apologies.

Thanks and Rgds!

Also, would you know if it will be easy to drive in Okuhida in mid March? If we have driven to ski resorts in Hokkaido in December, do you think Okuhida will be easier to drive in March than Hokkaido ski resorts in December?
Actually I was in Okuhida only once, in October. So I don't know about driving conditions. But let me put it this way, there is a bus from Takayama to Hirayu onsen and onwards, which as far as I can find on the internet runs all year long. So if a big bus manages to get up there day in day out, you should be fine with a car as well. I would consider renting one with winter tyres though. Just plan more time than Google maps suggests.

The bus definitely runs in Winter. My visit to Hirayu onsen was in February 2010 and I went via bus. I did a Japanese group tour to get to either Gokayama or Ainokura and Shirakawa Go because at the time the bus schedules weren't always timed well and English was a lot less available. I personally preferred Hida no Sato village in Takayama proper to any of the other villages I went to. I thought the buildings were presented in the most comprehensive and most interesting way and oddly it felt a lot less touristy. (And I went there in 2017 and tourism definitely increased between 2010 and 2017.)

I've only rented a car in Summer though so can't speak for driving conditions. I know for me personally, I wouldn't want to do the route without snow tires just to be safe because of possible snow while driving, though in general I've been pretty blase about snow tires where I use to live and hence barely made it home during a snow storm this past March when my car had issues making it up a hill.

Hi rkold,

Thank you very much for sharing your experiences. It is much appreciated!