Kanazawa to Takayama

Hi,

I'm planning on going from Kanazawa to Takayama on Monday, April 13. My goal is to leave Kanazawa in the morning, and arrive at Takayama around 12pm max, in order to be able to visit Hida no Sato in the same afternoon (and be able to assist a minimum of demonstrations, that end at 3 pm according to the website).

I have two doubts:

1. My idea was to take the bus from Kanazawa to Takayama, but after checking the timetable, the only direct bus that would make me arrive before 12pm is the one that leaves at 8:10 am from Kanazawa and arrives at 10:25 am. But that might be too early/a bit difficult for me to achieve. My second option was to take the bus that leaves Kanazawa at 9:40 am, and arrives at Shirakawa-go at 11:05 am, then take a second bus at Shirakawa-go at 11:15 am, which arrives at Takayama at 12:05 pm.

Would that 10 min slot be too short to get onboard the second bus at Shirakawa-go? Moreover, when I checked https://japanbusonline.com/, I can see the 9:40 am bus departing from Kanazawa, but I can't seem to find that 11:15 am Shirakawa-go bus. It doesn't appear on the website. Is there something I'm missing? Or maybe it's not a bus that can be reserved in advance?

2. My second question is that I'm not sure what is more interesting between visiting Shirakawa-go, and Hida no Sato at Takayama. I seemed to understand the latter was a little more interesting and less crowded? That's why my first idea was to pass on Shirakawa-go, and do Hida no Sato instead.

Thanks for your replies!

2. My second question is that I'm not sure what is more interesting between visiting Shirakawa-go, and Hida no Sato at Takayama. I seemed to understand the latter was a little more interesting and less crowded? That's why my first idea was to pass on Shirakawa-go, and do Hida no Sato instead.
A matter of opinion, but yes, the Folk Village (museum) in Takayama is more interesting than the collection of farm houses in Ogimachi/Shirakawa-go.

Hi!

I'm with @JapanCustomTours on this. I definitely preferred Hida no Sato to Shirakawa Go and I have been to both. Maybe I just got lucky, but Hida no Sato was a lot quieter as well.

I think if you want some scenic pictures from an overlook and to see how people currently live in Gassho Zukuri (hint: it's opening touristy shops, touristy restaurants and offering tourists accommodations) Shirakawa Go is better. If you're more interested in seeing how people use to live in Gassho Zukuri then Hida no Sato is more interesting.

A bit more context:
I normally visit Shirakawa-go ten times a year. It is seriously small and I cannot think of any guests (off hand) that wished we spent more time there (the tour we use provides around 90 minutes plus the hour trip each way) and that is time to pretty much do everything. I do understand some people would like to stay longer, but I really wonder what they do to fill in time. Tourist numbers - several million per year - the village uses the tourists to pay the bills, and while it is not crowded like some locations in the big cities, it is touristy.
For Hida no Sato, unfortunately I get there infrequently. A few times over the last couple of years. One of my trips with a family of five - we were half of the total numbers in the village at the time. Another visit, there might have been a dozen people. On both those occasions we were able to explore freely and try out some of the stuff they had on display. One of the groups got to experience both and their feedback was Hida no Sato was the better of the two in their opinion.
I have also visited a Hida Gassho Zakuri in Yokohama (just for contrast - a bit random located in Sankeien Garden - it was moved to avoid being submerged by a hydro-electirirty lake) and they are designed to come apart and be re-assembled. The building and items on display in that one house was actually more interesting (to me) than the ones in Shirakawa-go.

When you're in Kanazawa and Takayama, you can't miss Shirakawago. It's just one of those places you must go when visiting Japan. You will love the place and atmosphere there.

If you visit website of Nohi Bus Co., you can find a bus departing at 11:15 from Ogimachi and arriving at Takayama at 12:05 as below:

https://www.nouhibus.co.jp/highwaybus/kanazawa/

Since this bus departing at 11:15 from Ogimachi is non-reserved bus, it is shown on the time table for reserved bus on the website in English.
Regarding change buses at Ogimachi, ten minutes is enough for stopover.