One of the places that we really wanted to visit during our Japan 2022 trip was Gujo Hachiman. This small riverside town is situated in the Gifu prefecture, and about 1.5 hours away from Nagoya. The rural town is visited particularly for its waterways and hilltop castle, and also for the large koi that inhabit a small waterway along an alley. We ended up dropping the place from our 2022 itinerary then though as we only had that few days to spend in Nagoya.
This 2025 trip, I was determined to try to visit this rural town, but I soon found that day trips to the town were usually coupled with visits to Takayama and also Shirakawa-Go, both of which we’d already covered in the 2022 trip. I guess that makes sense, because while I could try to get to Gujo Hachiman on my own using public transportation, it just is that much less of a hassle to just hop onto a guided tour, and visit a few other places in the area. More so when the day trip I booked through Agoda cost very little: just SGD44!
The Nagoya area had been seeing a lot of rain since Day 07 Friday, and while it’d mostly stopped after Saturday, when we got to the town yesterday Sunday, there was a slightly drizzle still.
The tour spent about an hour in this small town, which is enough to visit several bridges that cross Yoshida River, but not enough time if you want to also visit the castle or really check-out the numerous quaint shops, including those that manufacture those food replicas we see at restaurants. If you’re coming by here on your own, I reckon you would want to allocate at least 2-3 hours here.
The day trip continues onto Takayama in the next post!