The Hokuriku Notebook — Travel Writing from the Japan Alps

Featured route · 6 days

The Hokuriku Loop, run in reverse

Most itineraries finish in the mountains and force a long, multi-connection haul back to the capital. Running the loop the other way — out to Takayama first, ending in Kanazawa — turns the return into a single direct shinkansen of about two and a half hours, and lets the one long travel leg fall on a rested day. The onsen sits mid-trip rather than as the finale, but a Northern Alps ropeway morning on the way out more than earns its place. Read the routing →

Kanazawa

Gold leaf, gardens & coastal seafood

"Little Kyoto" with a fraction of the crowds: Kenrokuen, preserved geisha and samurai districts, and a craft tradition you can put your hands on.

Shirakawa-go

A thatched-roof valley

The gassho-zukuri farmhouses, slotted as a midday stop between Takayama and the onsen road. Go early or late to miss the coach hours.

Takayama

Hida old town & morning markets

The scenic Hida limited express lands you in old-town Takayama by evening. Mornings are for riverside markets and a circuit of small sake breweries.

Okuhida Onsen

An open-air bath under the Alps

Where the route slows down: open-air baths looking up at the ridgeline, and a ropeway for a clear-morning soak above the tree line.

City notebook · A side trip

Three days in Seoul

An easy hop across the water from the Japan legs — a relaxed first-timer’s route through Seoul’s historic heart, its markets and modern districts, and a quiet palace secret garden. Royal courtyards and hanok lanes, a market breakfast and a mountain view at dusk, grouped so you walk more and transfer less. Open the Seoul guide →

From the notebook

Why this region rewards a second trip

Once you've done Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, the Japan Alps are where the country opens back up. The Hokuriku coast and the mountain towns inland trade headline sights for texture: craft workshops you can join, riverside morning markets, sake brewed three streets from where you sleep, and onsen built into the hillsides. The notebook leans toward the logistics that actually shape a trip — which train, which night where, when a rail pass beats point-to-point tickets.

About this notebook →