Takayama Customized Half-Day Tour with Licensed Local Guide

4.9 (95 reviews) 4–6 hours Free cancellation Private tour

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95 reviews

4.9

Takayama Customized Half-Day Tour with Licensed Local Guide — Photos: the activity supplier, via Viator

Takayama Customized Half-Day Tour with Licensed Local Guide, photo 2 — Photos: the activity supplier, via Viator

About this activity

This value-packed trip with a government-licensed and experienced multilingual tour guide is a fantastic and efficient way to explore Takayama!

Takayama features an atmospheric townscape, with Meiji-era inns and hillside shrines in a riverside setting. In addition, many museums, galleries and temples make their home in the city's 17th century layout. Be sure to come see the Takayama Festival, held once in spring and once in autumn, but be prepared for the crowds as the festivals attract hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

Let us know what you would like to experience and we will customize a four-hour tour that's best for you!

Note*1: Please select your must-see spots from a list in the tour information to create your customized itinerary.

Note*2: National Government Licensed Guide Interpreter certification is issued by the Japanese government requires a good knowledge and understanding of Japanese culture and history.

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At a glance

Duration: 4–6 hours
Confirmation: Instant confirmation
Ticket: Mobile or paper ticket accepted
Group: Your group only
People per booking: 1–10
Guide: Japanese, English
Operated by: Japan Guide Agency

Ages: Infants (0–5 years) · Children (6–11 years) · Adults (12–99 years)

What is included

Included

Included: Customizable itinerary (4h: 2–3 sites, 6h: 3–4 sites)
Included: Meet up with guide on foot within designated area of Takayama
Included: Licensed Local English Speaking Guide

Not included

Not included: Transportation fees, Entrance fees, Lunch, and Other personal expenses
Not included: Private transportation
Not included: You cannot combine multiple tour groups.
Not included: Guide Entry fees are only covered for sights listed under What to Expect.

Itinerary

Sanmachi Suji

15 min

Sanmachi Street is a popular sightseeing area in Hida-Takayama. As an old town, the area has houses and stores from the Edo period (1603 - 1868). The area is lined with shops carrying local specialties such as Japanese sake, senbei (rice crackers), barbecue yakiniku Hida beef, and croquettes. The area has a lively atmosphere with people shopping and eating.

Sanmachi Street is a five-minute walk from JR Takayama Station. Be sure to stop by when you visit Takayama.
Takayama Jinya

15 min Admission not included

Because of its valuable timber resources, the Hida Region around Takayama was put under direct control of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1692. The Takayama Jinya (高山陣屋) served as the local government office headed by the officials dispatched from Edo (present day Tokyo).

The building complex was in official use until 1969, and is now open to the public as a museum. It includes various nicely maintained tatami mat rooms that once served as offices, conference rooms, guest rooms and residential space. There is also an interesting interrogation room.

Beside the main building stands a large storehouse built in the 1600s. Known as the biggest traditional rice storehouse in Japan, it now functions as a museum, showcasing belongings and official documents of past feudal lords, old maps of the Hida Region and historic town plans.

Admission

440 yen
Hida Takayama Art and Festa Forest

15 min Admission not included

■Hida Takayama Art and Festa Forest

Matsuri no Mori (Festival Forest Museum) offers a glimpse into the vibrant world of Takayama’s famous festivals. The museum features full-sized replica floats (yatai), richly decorated with gold leaf and lacquer, as well as mechanical karakuri dolls that perform traditional dances in a dramatic underground hall.

In addition to the festival exhibits, visitors can explore a nature museum with a global insect collection and meet cute animals like squirrels and rabbits. There is also a peaceful tea house and a small art gallery on-site(10min walk from Matsuri no Mori).

Blending culture, nature, and local charm, Matsuri no Mori is an enjoyable stop for visitors of all ages.
Higashiyama Walking Course

30 min

The Higashiyama Walking Course (東山遊歩道, Higashiyama Yūhodō) is a pleasant walking route through Takayama's temple town (Teramachi), the city's rural "suburbs" and Shiroyama Park, a wooded hill and former site of Takayama Castle.

Along the 3.5 kilometer long course, you will pass more than a dozen common temples and shrines, the ruins of Takayama's former castle and ordinary scenes of a rural Japanese town. While the Higashiyama Walking Course is by no means a stunning sightseeing experience, it offers a pleasant way to spend one or two hours and get to know Takayama's calmer side.
Takayama Festival Floats Exhibition Hall

30 min Admission not included

Takayama Festival Floats Exhibition Hall(高山祭屋台会館).

The Takayama Festival, held in spring (April 14 and 15) and autumn (October 9 and 10), is ranked as one of Japan's three most beautiful festivals (the other two are Kyoto's Gion Matsuri and the Chichibu Matsuri).

Four of the autumn festival's eleven floats (yatai) are exhibited at the Takayama Matsuri Yatai Kaikan (高山祭屋台会館), a hall next to Sakurayama Hachiman Shrine. The elaborately decorated floats are several hundred years old and beautiful examples of Takayama's legendary craftsmanship.

Adjacent to the Matsuri Yatai Kaikan lies the Nikkokan, a spacious hall containing impressive models of the different precincts of Toshogu Shrine in Nikko, one of the most ornate and celebrated shrines in the country. The miniature models are beautifully intricate and are accompanied by short explanations in Japanese and English. Photos are permitted inside both halls.
Hida-Takayama Miyagawa Morning Market

30 min

Two morning markets (朝市, Asaichi) are held in Takayama on a daily basis from around 7:00 (8:00 in winter) to noon: the Miyagawa Market along the Miyagawa River in the old town, and the Jinya-mae Market in front of the Takayama Jinya.

The stands sell local crafts, snacks and farm products such as vegetables, pickles and flowers. There is typically a pleasant atmosphere around the markets, as tourists and locals alike saunter from stall to stall purchasing goods and food and talking.
Hida Kokubun-ji Temple

30 min

Hida Kokubunji Temple, about a five-minute walk from JR Takayama Station, is a well-known Buddhist temple in Takayama. Its iconic three-storied pagoda was constructed in 1820. A Buddhist statue thought to have been made in the Heian period is enshrined in the main building. Be sure to take notice of the huge gingko tree on the grounds. It is over 1,260 years of age.
Sakurayama Hachimangu Shrine

20 min

Sakurayama Hachimangu Shrine in Takayama is the venue for the Takayama Festival in the autumn. Next to the shrine is the Takayama Festival Floats Exhibition Hall, or Yatai Kaikan, where four of the actual floats used in the festival are on display. The shrine is 15 minutes by Machinami Bus (clockwise) or a 20 minute walk from JR Takayama Station.
Kusakabe Folk Museum

10 min Admission not included

The Kusakabe Folk Museum is a historic private residence that was opened to the public. The building was constructed during the Meiji period in Edo architectural style. It is due to its splendid architectural technique, the entire building is designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan. The museum is thirteen minutes by Machinami Bus (counterclockwise) or a fifteen-minute walk from JR Takayama Station.
Yoshijima Heritage House

10 min Admission not included

Yoshijima Heritage House was built in Meiji 41 (1908). Because it has been a Sake brewery since olden times, a huge sakabayashi (sign of a shop dealing in sake, made of Japanese ceder leaves) is hung under the eaves. In contrast to the masculine style of the Kusakabe house, it can be said that this Yoshijima house is a structure possessing subtlety and feminine beauty.
Takayama Showakan

10 min Admission not included

Takayama Showa-kan Museum, The retro streets of 1950 are reconstructed inside the museum, and the lifestyle and culture of that time period are nostalgically revived. There is Midget Alley, a barbershop, a photo studio and a general store. Many nostalgic items are on display, and visitors can see and feel the good old days.
Hida Takayama Retro Museum

10 min Admission not included

There is old good atmosphere with a set of Showa movies at Hida Takayama retro museum. You can actually “See it”,“Snap it” and “Play it” a figure, magazine, poster, toy, game, showa retro pachinko, etc. It is an experience-type of museum that you can feel the life and culture of Showa.
Hida Minzoka Mura Folk Village (Hida no Sato)

15 min Admission not included

Hida Folk Village (飛騨の里, Hida no Sato) is an open air museum exhibiting over 30 traditional houses from the Hida region, the mountainous district of Gifu Prefecture around Takayama. The houses were built during the Edo Period (1603 - 1867) and were relocated from their original locations to create the museum in 1971.

In a village-like atmosphere, the museum features buildings such as the former village head's house, logging huts, storehouses and a number of gassho-zukuri farmhouses. These massive farmhouses are named after their steep thatched roofs which resemble a pair of hands joined in prayer ("gassho"). They were moved here from nearby Shirakawago, where gassho-zukuri houses are the reason for the region's World Heritage status.

Admission

700 yen (parking: 300 yen)

Meeting point and pickup

The operator picks every participant up from their accommodation or the points below.

Pickup points

Hilton Takayama Resort
Yamagiri
Ryokan Godo
Hida Hotel Plaza
Honjin Hiranoya Kachoan
Country Hotel Takayama
Muhyokan
Hotel Kuretakeso Takayama Ekimae
Ryokan Kaminaka
Iroriyado Hidaya
Oyado Hotaru
Takayama Ouan

and 56 more pickup points

This private tour is a walking day tour. A private vehicle is not included. Public transportation or local taxis maybe used to transfer between sites. Exact transportation costs can be discussed with the guide after a reservation is finalized. Please have Japanese Yen on hand for your transportation costs. If you wish to arrange for a private vehicle, please contact us directly. All Private vehicles must be booked 5 days in advance. Maximum number of passengers: 7.