Shirakawa-go
白川郷36°15′ N 136°54′ EVillageGifu and Hida
Ogimachi in Shirakawa-go suits travellers who will walk the village slowly and treat it as the home of the families who still live in its thatched gassho houses. The trade-off in winter is snow and planning: February snow reaches 170 cm or more, and the light-up evenings need a reservation for every vehicle.
Photo Raita Futo from Tokyo, Japan · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0 and others, credited in the gallery
Who should base here
Stay one night in a gassho minshuku to eat by the irori hearth and walk the lanes early in the morning.
Eat in Shirakawa-go
Things to do in Shirakawa-go
Ogimachi is the main village of Shirakawa-go, and its gassho-zukuri houses carry thatched roofs pitched at 45 to 60 degrees to shed heavy snow. It became a national preservation district in 1976 and a World Heritage Site with Gokayama in Toyama in 1995. The residents agreed never to sell, rent out or tear down the houses, and the village still runs on yui, neighbours working together on jobs such as rethatching roofs.
Families live in these houses, so keep to the lanes and out of gardens and rice fields. Wada House is the largest gassho house in Ogimachi and a national Important Cultural Property; it is still a home and opens its first two floors for ¥400. Kanda House climbs to four storeys for the same price, and the open-air museum Gassho-zukuri Minkaen keeps 26 houses moved from around the village for ¥800.
Snow reaches 170 cm or more by February, and the record is 4.5 m. The 2027 light-up falls on 11, 17, 24 and 31 January, and the tourist association hands out its rooms for those nights by lottery, with applications closing on 31 October 2026. The Hakusan Shirakawa-go White Road over to Ishikawa closes from 11 November until the snow clears, which was 12 June in 2026, and it bans bicycles and motorcycles at all times.
Worth knowing
- Park at Seseragi Park and cross the suspension bridge; a car costs ¥2,000 and a motorcycle ¥500, and the car park runs 8:00 to 17:00.
- Book Nohi's reservation-only departures from Takayama ahead, above all for the autumn colour from late October to mid-November.
- Gassho minshuku guests get ¥100 off adult entry at Shirakawago no Yu, which is two minutes' walk from the bus terminal.
Quick answers about Shirakawa-goよくある質問
How do you get to Shirakawa-go from Takayama?
Take the Nohi bus from the Takayama bus centre, about 50 minutes. The fare is ¥2,800 and rises to ¥2,900 from 1 December 2026, and some departures are reservation only. No train runs to Shirakawa-go.
When is the Shirakawa-go light-up in 2027?
On 11, 17, 24 and 31 January 2027. Every vehicle needs a parking reservation on those days, and the tourist association allocated its rooms by lottery for applications made from 1 to 31 October 2026.
Can you cycle the White Road to Shirakawa-go?
No. The Hakusan Shirakawa-go White Road bans all two-wheelers, and it closes for winter from 11 November until the snow clears in June.
Is Shirakawa-go a good place to stay?
Stay one night in a gassho minshuku to eat by the irori hearth and walk the lanes early in the morning.
Within 12 km
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