I must have walked through Takayama’s Old Town dozens of times during the three months I stayed there.
Most of the time, I wasn’t going there to see anything in particular. Sometimes I was hungry, sometimes I fancied something sweet, and sometimes I just went for a walk because I had some spare time.
Quite often, I’d spend less than 20 minutes there and then carry on somewhere else.
But I never really got bored of walking through it.
If you’re visiting Takayama for the first time, I’d allow around an hour just for the Old Town, or one to one and a half hours if you want to look around the shops, get something to eat or try some sake along the way.
What Does Takayama Old Town Actually Look Like?
The first thing I liked was the atmosphere of the streets.
Dark wooden buildings line both sides of relatively narrow roads. I’d previously seen traditional machiya in Kyoto and Kanazawa’s Higashi Chaya district, so the style wasn’t completely new to me.
What impressed me was how much of Takayama’s old streets had been preserved together.
Takayama’s Sanmachi district is officially protected as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. The protected area covers about 4.4 hectares and stretches roughly 420 metres from north to south.
The streets themselves felt quite narrow. I remember thinking that four adults walking side by side would probably take up most of the width.
That actually added to the atmosphere for me. The dark wooden buildings were close on either side, and when you looked further down the street, they seemed to continue one after another.
There were also far more shops than I’d expected. Restaurants, souvenir shops and sake breweries were scattered throughout the area, so it didn’t feel like a preserved street where you simply looked at old buildings and left.
Does Takayama Old Town Get Crowded?
During the day, yes.
I saw plenty of people taking photos, looking around the shops and eating Hida beef sushi as they walked. I was usually one of the people walking around with a mitarashi dango instead.
Hida beef sushi was one of the foods I often saw around Takayama’s Old Town.
People also come over from the Miyagawa Morning Market, so around the middle of the day the streets could get pretty busy.
That said, I never found it difficult to walk around.
I’ve experienced much heavier crowds around places such as Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto. Takayama was busy, but in my experience there was still enough room to walk normally and stop when I wanted to.
Something I found interesting was that even with quite a few tourists around, the Old Town still felt relatively calm to me.
I think a lot of that came from the surroundings. The dark wooden buildings, narrow streets and lack of large modern buildings in the immediate view gave the area a quieter feeling than the number of people might suggest.
I Preferred the Old Town Later in the Day
By late afternoon, the number of visitors usually started dropping.
Many of the shops were already closed or closing by the evening when I was there, so there was also less reason for most tourists to hang around.
By around 8 pm in winter, I remember the streets being very quiet.
I actually preferred them like that.
There wasn’t much shopping or eating to do by then, but I wasn’t looking for that. I liked walking through the same streets without many people around.
If you’re visiting mainly for the shops and food, daytime obviously makes more sense. But if you’re staying overnight in Takayama, I’d suggest walking through the Old Town once more in the evening just to see the difference.
I Liked It Even More After Snow
I stayed in Takayama during winter, and some of my favourite walks through the Old Town were after it had snowed.
The dark wooden buildings looked particularly good against the white snow. On clear enough days, I could also see snow-covered mountains further ahead, which made the view feel very Takayama to me.
Personally, I think Takayama looks better in winter.
Of course, that’s just my preference. Snow isn’t necessarily convenient when you’re travelling, and I didn’t experience heavy snow every day during my stay.
But purely in terms of how the town looked, I preferred it with snow.
I’d already walked the same streets many times, but after fresh snow they looked noticeably different again.
Why Didn’t I Get Bored of Walking the Same Streets?
This was something I noticed after I’d been in Takayama for a while.
The streets were obviously the same every time I went there, but what caught my attention wasn’t.
If I was hungry, I’d notice restaurants I’d walked past without thinking about before.
If I fancied some sake, I suddenly paid more attention to the breweries.
If I wanted something sweet, I’d look at completely different shops.
Sometimes I’d realise there was a side street or shop I’d somehow ignored despite having walked past it many times.
So I don’t think I kept going back because there was always something new opening or changing.
I was simply paying attention to different things each time.
That’s probably the main reason I could walk through the same area dozens of times without feeling that I’d completely finished with it.
I Was Surprised by the Number of Sake Breweries
Before staying in Takayama, I hadn’t realised how visible sake brewing would be around the Old Town.
There are several breweries among the traditional buildings, and I started noticing them more as I kept walking around.
Funasaka Sake Brewery was one of them.
At some point I also tried Hida no Dobu, a cloudy local sake.
I didn’t originally go to the Old Town specifically to visit breweries. It was more that I kept seeing them, became curious and eventually tried some of the sake.
If you drink, stopping at a brewery for a tasting is also an easy way to spend a bit longer in the area rather than simply walking from one end to the other.
What Did I Eat in the Old Town?
My food stops here were actually pretty simple.
I had mitarashi dango and dorayaki while wandering around the old streets.
I quite liked having something small to eat while walking rather than making every visit into a proper meal. Because I went there so often, sometimes I’d just buy something, walk around for a bit and then head somewhere else.
There are plenty of restaurants and little food shops around, though, so a first-time visitor who stops for lunch and looks around the shops will naturally spend longer there than I usually did.
How Long Do You Need in Takayama Old Town?
If you mainly want to see the streets and walk around, I’d say about one hour is enough for most first-time visitors.
You can walk through much faster than that. As I mentioned, some of my own walks were less than 20 minutes.
But I’d already been there many times.
For a first visit, an hour gives you time to walk around without rushing.
If you’re stopping at souvenir shops, getting something to eat or trying sake, I’d allow around one to one and a half hours.
If you then continue towards the temples and shrines around Higashiyama, you could easily turn it into a walk of around two hours or more.
[Internal link: Shrines & Temples in Takayama]
You don’t really need a detailed itinerary for the Old Town itself. It’s compact enough that you can walk around and decide where to stop as you go.
Is Takayama Old Town Worth Visiting?
Yes, especially if it’s your first time in Takayama.
But you don’t need to plan loads of things to do there. The Old Town isn’t particularly large, and you could easily walk around it in about an hour.
What I enjoyed was seeing what caught my attention on different visits. Sometimes I’d stop for a mitarashi dango, sometimes I’d notice a shop I’d somehow missed before, and other times I’d just walk through for 20 minutes and head somewhere else.
That’s probably why I went back so many times during my three months in Takayama. I wasn’t trying to see everything in one visit.
If you’re staying overnight, I’d also walk through again later in the evening. Most visitors will see the Old Town when it’s busy during the day, but I preferred it after the shops had started closing and the streets became quiet.
And if you’re there in winter and happen to get fresh snow, I’d definitely have another walk through in the morning.
Personally, that’s when I thought the Old Town looked its best.
For the rest of the town, I’ve put the places I’d prioritise, food and practical information together in my Takayama Travel Guide.
