Getting from Nagoya to Shirakawa-go and Takayama: highway bus or Limited Express Hida, day trip or overnight, and a route via Kanazawa

From Nagoya to Shirakawa-go, the highway bus from the Meitetsu Bus Center takes about 2 hours 30 minutes; the Shirakawa-go Tourist Association puts the total at about 2 hours 50 minutes including the walks. To Takayama, the JR Limited Express Hida takes about 2 hours 20 minutes from Nagoya Station. The highway bus from Takayama to Shirakawa-go takes about 50 minutes, so going Nagoya–Takayama–Shirakawa-go takes about 3 hours 25 minutes. There is no railway to Shirakawa-go, so you go by bus. As each way is over 2 hours, a night in Takayama or Shirakawa-go lets you walk in the quiet morning and evening too. This article explains, step by step, how to get there from Nagoya and how to plan a day trip or an overnight visit.

How do you get from Nagoya to Shirakawa-go?

How do you get to Takayama?

Takayama Station is about 2 hours 20 minutes from Nagoya Station on the JR Limited Express Hida. Takayama is a town with preserved old streets: in the Michelin Green Guide, Takayama has three stars, and the old Sanmachi streets, Takayama Jinya, the Takayama Festival Floats Exhibition Hall and Hida Folk Village two stars each. According to Takayama City, it had 978,312 overnight stays by foreign guests in 2025, with Taiwan the largest share at 12.2%, followed by the United States at 6.0% and Spain at 5.4%.

Day trip or overnight?

Both are possible as day trips from Nagoya, but at over 2 hours each way, your time there is short. As a guide, do one of Shirakawa-go or Takayama as a day trip, and stay a night to see both. If you are staying several nights in Nagoya, keep your Nagoya room and spend just one night in Takayama or Shirakawa-go so you can travel without your big luggage. On a day trip, fix your return bus or train time in advance so you can explore without watching the clock.

• Shirakawa-go only, day trip: highway bus from the Meitetsu Bus Center and back (about 2 hours 50 minutes each way)
• Takayama only, day trip: Limited Express Hida there and back (about 2 hours 20 minutes each way)
• Both over 2 days and 1 night: day 1, Limited Express Hida to Takayama and stay the night; day 2, highway bus to Shirakawa-go (about 50 minutes), then highway bus back to Nagoya
• Out via Kanazawa: highway bus from Shirakawa-go to Kanazawa (about 1 hour 20 minutes); from Kanazawa to Nagoya takes as little as 2 hours 9 minutes on the Limited Express Shirasagi and Hokuriku Shinkansen, changing at Tsuruga (JR West)

What should you see in Takayama?

Takayama's Michelin Green Guide sights are the old Sanmachi streets, Takayama Jinya, the Takayama Festival Floats Exhibition Hall and Hida Folk Village, all with two stars (Takayama itself has three). To see several in a day, staying a night and starting early gives you more time, and only overnight guests get to walk the streets in the morning and evening.

Can you go the other way round, or come in from another town?

Yes. You can take the highway bus from Nagoya to Shirakawa-go first, then the highway bus to Takayama (the service from Takayama takes about 50 minutes), and return to Nagoya on the Limited Express Hida. According to the Shirakawa-go Tourist Association, there are also highway buses to Shirakawa-go from Kanazawa Station and Toyama Station, each about 1 hour 20 minutes. You can travel the Hokuriku region first and enter Nagoya via Shirakawa-go and Takayama, or the reverse.

Do you need to book the bus?

The Shirakawa-go Tourist Association's site links to booking pages for Gifu Bus, Nohi Bus and others. Whether a reservation is needed can differ by company and service, so check each bus company's site as soon as your dates are set. If you have a particular service in mind, securing a seat in advance gives peace of mind, and checking the return service at the same time makes it easier to plan your time in the village.

What is Shirakawa-go like?

Shirakawa-go is a village in Gifu known for its gassho-zukuri thatched farmhouses. The historic villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama were inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1995; in the Michelin Green Guide, Shirakawa-go's Ogimachi has two stars, and so does the view from the Shiroyama Observatory. According to the Shirakawa-go Tourist Association, the village is about 1 minute's walk from the Shirakawago Bus Terminal. In a City of Nagoya survey, 21.2% of foreign visitors to Nagoya also stopped in Takayama, Gifu; staying in Nagoya and heading on to central Japan's mountain towns is a route some travellers already take.

If you stay a night, Takayama or Shirakawa-go?

Takayama has a Limited Express Hida station, making travel to and from Nagoya easy, and its old streets, Jinya and other sights are close together. Shirakawa-go has no railway and is reached by bus; the thatched village itself is the attraction. To see both over 2 days and 1 night from Nagoya, take the Limited Express Hida to Takayama on day 1 (about 2 hours 20 minutes) and stay there, take the highway bus to Shirakawa-go on the morning of day 2 (about 50 minutes), then the highway bus back to Nagoya (about 2 hours 30 minutes) — the order with the fewest changes.

What should drivers know?

According to the Shirakawa-go Tourist Association, Seseragi Park Parking is open 8:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30) and costs 2,000 yen for ordinary cars, with about a 2-minute walk across the suspension bridge to the village. On light-up event days, all vehicles need a parking reservation. In autumn, more large vehicles can reduce the spaces for ordinary cars. Without a car, the highway bus or the Limited Express Hida from Nagoya is convenient, and since nobody has to drive, everyone can enjoy the views on the way.

Which countries' travellers visit most?

In the Japan Tourism Agency's 2025 survey, 3.3% of all foreign visitors went to Gifu, but the figure was 24.5% for visitors from Spain, 14.4% from Italy and 8.7% from France. Some countries have small sample sizes, so treat these as a guide, but the region is popular with European travellers. Across all foreign visitors it is far less visited than Tokyo, Osaka or Kyoto, so it suits anyone who wants to see rural Japan, and it fits easily into a second or later trip for those wanting a Japan different from Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.

Where in Nagoya is convenient to stay?

Highway buses leave from the Meitetsu Bus Center, about 5 minutes' walk from Nagoya Station, and the Limited Express Hida from Nagoya Station, so a stay with easy access to the station is convenient. Central Nagoya has private stays in Nakamura Ward, west of Nagoya Station. House and Residence are 7 and 2 minutes' walk from Nakamura Koen Station, 4 stops (about 7 minutes, 240 yen) from Nagoya Station on the Higashiyama subway line. Stays is 4 minutes' walk from Taiko-dori Station, 1 stop from Nagoya Station on the Sakura-dori Line. All have a kitchen and a washing machine (or washer-dryer), plus a 10% long-stay discount.

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• Small towns to visit from Nagoya →
• How to travel Japan without the crowds →

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