Leaving the city of Kyoto and heading north into the Japanese Alps for the city of Takayama was a much needed break from the fast pace of city life.

Takayama has a population of just under one hundred thousand, but it feels like much less. It was cool, less humid and just what the doctor ordered. It’s most well known as a gateway to the nearby mountain national park, fall foliage, and spring and fall festivals featuring elaborate, multi-tiered floats. Our hostel made us feel right at home as well. We stayed at one of their group’s locations in Kyoto, and enjoyed it so much we sought the J-Hoppers Takayamalocation. J-Hoppers has a number of hostels and hybrid hostels in Japan. Their staff is friendly and helpful, prices are reasonable, and they are impeccably clean and comfortable.

The city is easily walkable with very well-laid-out walking trails on the edge of town near the mountain foothills. There are lots of temples in this former cable town, as well as museums, galleries and exhibits. They are also famous for local grass raised beef called “Hida Gyu” (Hida being the region and Gyu being beef).

Our first night we decided to search out this local specialty. Leaving the two main tourist streets we looked at menus and photos at several restaurants before finally deciding. We splurged a bit and ordered Hida-Gyu Sukiyaki and Hida-Gyu Kalbi. The former is served in a iron pot over a flame with meat, veggies and some noodles cooking together in a meaty broth. The latter was sliced beef with an amazing local miso paste served on a magnolia leaf again cooking on a flame, but on an iron skillet. Both were outstanding!

The following morning we set out for the riverside morning market. This was a place where locals could pick up fresh produce, a cup of local coffee or some handmade crafts. We strolled our way through buying some slices of apple to eat while browsing, as well as some sesame candies.

A visit to the festival float museum was very informative, and the floats were amazing. It would be awesome to see them in action. The next stop was the walking course which wound through several temple sites, gravesites of famous people from the area, as well as a few choice lookouts down to the city. The Hida region is known for elaborate wood carving using the abundant local cedar, and this was spectacularly showcased by all the temples we saw. The special architectural technique of gassho-zukuri can be seen in some homes and reconstructions, especially in a couple of folk villages that gather such houses together for preservation and tourism. These sharply sloped roofs help keep the heavy winter snows from building up on the rooftops.

After working up an appetite during our walk we head down into the San-machi area with its old historic homes and sake breweries. You can spot the sake merchants by the big Sakabayashi (round balls of cedar twigs) hangin from the eaves. As we walked through, we sampled most of the local versions of grilled foods on sticks and a little sake too.

Using our JR rail pass, we jumped on a north-bound train to the quaint town of Hida Furukawa, a former castle town that had been suggested to us as a nice place to visit. When we arrived we picked up a map at the tourist information kiosk attached to the station. Even in a small town, Japan seems to have this system perfected, providing very useful details and signage for visitors.

At the heart of the town were the Seto River and White Wall Clay Storehouse Quarter. The canal that divided the town was made using moat water from Masushima Castle 400 year ago. It was used for washing vegetables and other daily chores, but now stocks koi (carp). The town had set up honor system bread dispensaries to feed these fish. We dropped a ¥100 coin in the box and took our bag of bread and obliged the swimming fish to jockey for their tidbits.

We both fell in love with this part of the country, and agreed we could have spent much more time hiking among the cedars, exploring mountain trails and breathing the fresh air. It’s good to leave something for next time, and we can feel the mountains calling us back already.

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