From Kanazawa: Shirakawa-go, Gokayama and Wood Carving Village
5.0
4 Ratings
金沢市
Explore Shirakawa-go, Gokayama, and Inami's woodcarving on a day tour from Kanazawa. Experience traditional crafts, historic homes, and UNESCO sites.
Duration: 9 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Inami - Arrive at Inami to explore the main street full of wood carvers and their interesting creations throughout the townscape. This will be followed by a walk around Zuizenji Temple to see the place where all the wood carving starting.
  • Gokayama - Arrive at the first stop in Gokayama, the Ainokura Village, where you have a short amount of time to walk around and get some good pictures of the village. Your guide can show you the way to nice photo spot overlooking the the area.
  • Gokayama Washi - Once at the Japanese Paper-Making Experience, you can choose paper inserts to put in your paper before actually giving it a try. After 10 to 15 minutes of drying you’ll have a small souvenir of three postcard size pieces of paper to bring home.
  • Shirakawago - Arrive at the observation point in Shirakawa-go. We will head into the village to learn about the history and the homes themselves. During walk through the historic town, we will also enter one and discover more about the lives of the farmers and the construction itself.

After the entering a farmhouse, you will have free time to walk around and see whatever else you want. There is time to shop, enter other houses or even eat some of the various food in the village.

What's Included
  • Guided Tour at the Wood Craft Town Inami and Shirakawa-go UNESCO site
  • English speaking guide
  • Entry fee at Zuisenji Temple
  • Japanese Paper-Making Experience Fee
  • Transportation to and from Shirakawa-go and all other destinations
What's Not Included
  • Lunch
  • Accommodation
Additional Information

Deep in the mountains of Japan lies the quaint villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama, with their beautifully preserved gassho-style houses. These UNESCO World Heritage Sites, some of the buildings are over 250 years old, gives a glimpse into the ways of Japanese traditional farming communities. On the way from Kanazawa to those stunning sites, there are other historic towns such as the woodcarvers of Inami. Being far from the large cities of Tokyo and Osaka, enjoy walking through a town which continues its tradition of woodcarving to this day. On the shops, in the temples and on signs are beautiful examples of this living history. The entire region was once home to many different kinds of local crafts, such as Japanese style paper making, an activity that you can do on this tour. Enjoy a day long bus tour from Kanazawa where you can see expert wood carving, try your hand at paper making and see the UNESCO World Heritage sites Shirakawa-go and Gokayama traditional homes.

Location
Kanazawa Station
The meeting point is outside of the Shinkansen Ticket Gates, across the concourse and in front of the information center. Look for a four large sumo wrestlers under the information center sign. Be sure to look for our guide wearing the SNOW MONKEY RESORTS tag.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
5.0
(4 Ratings)
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Gary_w
May 29, 2024
Really excellent tour! - Garrett was absolutely fantastic. He had in-depth knowledge about virtually every aspect of the tour. He was also really fun to be around. Highly recommended!
Review provided by Viator
Lim
Apr 27, 2024
Captivating Gassho-zukuri Villages - Our guide Garrett is an approachable person, he is friendly and is Excellent in his work, giving clear explanation on facts of sites that we visited, sharing his knowledge on nice places to visit and eateries in Kanazawa in our conversation. We will not hesitate to recommend his services to anyone looking for day trip from Kanazawa.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Karen_d
Apr 15, 2024
Perfect - Garrett made the trip perfect. He was informative and answered all our questions, and very pleasant. He helped us discover so many things of interest, and also just plain fun. We would definitely want him again. The tour was great in every way.
Review provided by Viator
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up to 15 guests
1 Adult
June 2024
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