It is now easier to reach Gifu prefecture from Europe with direct flights from Helsinki to Nagoya.
Visitors are rushing to Japan at the moment as the weak yen is making the normally big-budget destination more affordable.
While the Japanese are famed for their polite and welcoming nature, the concentration of crowds at famed attractions is straining some of Japan’s hotspots.
The city of Kyoto recently restricted tourist access to some alleys in Gion, its geisha district of traditional teahouses, after complaints of visitors acting like ‘paparazzi’.
Last year, the town of Fujikawaguchiko erected a screen to block its iconic view of Mount Fuji after selfie-snapping crowds blocked pavements and stopped traffic to get the perfect shot.
Ginzan Onsen, a hot spring town in the Yamagata region, is now limiting daytrippers in the winter season. Its dark wood Edo-era houses are thought to be the inspiration for Oscar-winning animator Hayao Miyazaki’s film Spirited Away and its snowy streets draw some 300,000 snap-happy visitors a year.
In response, Japan’s tourism authorities are urging tourists to diversify their itineraries and discover the country’s lesser-trod treasures.
‘Gifu offers a traditional Japanese escape off the beaten track’
Gifu, which lies in the heart of Japan’s main island Honshu, is a province of sacred mountains, UNESCO villages and some of the last remaining artisans practising historic crafts. The area is home to an onsen town of some of the country’s highest quality thermal water – but without the crowds – and traditional accommodation at ‘ryokans’ (inns).
“Made up of two areas, the mountainous north and the river-rich south, the Gifu prefecture offers a traditional Japanese escape for European travellers wanting to divert from the beaten track,” says the Department of Tourism and International Affairs of the Gifu Prefectural Government.
“The region is made up of vast Japanese history and natural beauty, offering a perfect getaway from the typical tourist routes through Tokyo, Kyoto or Osaka.”
It is also now easier to reach the province from Europe. Finnish airline Finnair has launched direct seasonal flights four times a week between March and October from Helsinki to Nagoya, a city just south of Gifu’s border with train connections to the province’s main cities.
“Located in the heart of the country, Nagoya airport aims to offer travellers easy and efficient connections to more undiscovered regions of the country, as demand for travel to Japan continues to soar,” said a spokesperson from the Central Japan International Airport Utilisation Promotion Council.
“With a reliable, efficient, and punctual operation, customers can travel with ease, assured that they’ll be skipping large airport queues, giving more time to enjoy the delights this region has to offer.”
If you want an alternative, crowd-free experience of Japan, here’s how to spend a week in Gifu, a history-rich rural idyll.
Gifu province: Discover the artisan heart of Japan
Gifu prefecture’s homonymous capital city sits to the south and is a good first night stop after flying into Nagoya’s Chubu Centrair Airport. The wide Nagara river flows through its centre and, between May and October, is the site of a 1,300-year-old fishing tradition using cormorants to catch ‘ayu’ (sweetfish).
The lavish lobby of the Miyako Hotel has a fountain with bronze cormorants perched on the edge. From my room, I can admire the silvery water of the Nagara river and the little tiered Gifu castle high on the mountain behind.
The Nagara also flows through Seki city, where it nourishes another historic tradition. With its water as well as local coal and red clay, swordsmiths in the area have forged some of the highest-quality blades in Japan for 800 years.
Very few swordsmiths still operate in Japan, but at Sanshu (also spelt Sansyu), a third-generation-owned shop, you can see a forging demonstration where workers pound folded steel with hammers – and have a go yourself.
While their swords are exquisite art objects, visitors can purchase more affordable gifts in the form of knives, scissors, nail clippers and garden shears. According to the workshop, Seki is the world’s third largest cutlery producing area after Solingen in Germany and Sheffield in England.
A little further north near Mino city in a hamlet of wooden houses, vegetable plots and water channels is Warabee Land. Here, you can observe and try out the process of making ‘washi’ paper in an outhouse.
The traditional Japanese paper is thick but semi-transparent making it ideal for screens in houses, lampshades and wallpaper – all on display in the adjacent craftsmen’s house where I have a homegrown lunch of tempura vegetables and fish, chunky tartar sauce and miso soup.
Heading into the northern mountains, the town of Hida is renowned for its prime, fat-marbled beef and medicinal herbs. Residents still go foraging on the slopes and river banks and learn about the beneficial properties of plants.
At Mori no Megumi, I take a tea-making class where I create my personal herb combination to aid with ailments including hair loss, hangovers, sensitivity to cold, and joint pain.
Visit Edo-era towns and UNESCO villages in Gifu province
Near Hida is Takayama city, which ruled the area during the Edo era from 1692 to 1868. You can visit the sprawling Jinya – the last remaining administrative headquarters from the time left in Japan – and the historic streets of the merchant town lined with nostalgic dark wood shop fronts, restaurants with serving hatches and hand-painted menus.
At Honjin Hiranoya Kachoan Hotel in Takayama, I get a taster of traditional high-end accommodation. As my shoes are whisked away from me in the lobby, the concierge bangs a welcome gong.
I am given a personal escort to my room – with classic ‘tatami’ matting, low tables and seating in a floor well – and a detailed explanation of the amenities like the big wooden bathtub and yukata, a robe used in onsen hotels that can be worn throughout the building and the town as well.
The hotel has an atmospheric little sushi bar with seating at the counter and a chef preparing dishes to order as well as a restaurant where diners are tucked away in private curtained rooms.
Dinner is an example of ‘kaiseki’ – multi-course haute cuisine once popular in aristocratic circles and now available at ‘ryokans’ or specialised restaurants. It has a prescribed order and includes multiple appetisers followed by soup, sashimi, a main meat dish, a grilled fish course and rice all presented like miniature artworks in dainty dishes.
The next day, I head deeper into the mountains to visit the village of Shirakawa-go. Here, the practice of community roof rethatching has earned it UNESCO recognition. The peaked building style is called ‘gassho-zukuri’ – meaning ‘like praying hands’ – and the houses are constructed without nails.
Gero, Japan: An onsen town without the crowds
I end my trip in Gifu province in the town of Gero. It is considered to have some of the finest hot spring water in Japan, but is rarely overcrowded. Throughout the streets, there are hand and foot baths free for public use as well as pools with changing facilities.
At the little streetside shrine, you can give thanks for the steaming water that burbles from fountains beside the altars.
On icy winter days, the thought of even removing gloves to enjoy the public water baths is not easily entertained, but Gero also has onsen hotels with more temperate facilities.
Suimeikan Hotel is a vast onsen resort spread over three buildings with traditional ‘tatami’ matted rooms divided by screens with futon beds laid out while guests are at dinner. The hot spring water is pumped to wooden baths in the rooms and there are three communal onsens, too.
Onsen are therapeutic – Gero’s water makes your skin silky smooth and can help conditions like eczema – but they are also a hygiene ritual with important rules of etiquette. In gender-separated changing rooms, you strip off completely and optionally wrap yourself in a small towel.
The onsen substitutes taking a shower, so there are sinks and mirrors with makeup remover, toothpaste and toothbrushes, hairdryers and other products provided. Inside the pool area, the walls are lined with shower heads and plastic stools where you must wash yourself thoroughly before entering the water.
Suimeikan Hotel has an outdoor pool, which is the perfect post-dinner wind-down. In the chilly night air, I scurry from the door to the steaming water and plunge in. The sky above is dark and the vapour glows under the warm yellow lights. As I turn my face upwards, snowflakes begin to dance down, fading as they meet the balmy water.
How to get to Gifu, Japan
Finnair flights from Helsinki to Nagoya’s Chubu Centrair Airport operate up to four times per week between March and October.
Return fares start at €908 for Economy Class, €1,538 for Premium Economy Class and €3,137 for Business Class.
