Shirakawago is one of the highlight of the 8 days Avia spring tour to Japan. To be honest, it is also of the luring reason of why I joined this tour. I’ve been seeing photos of Shirakawago in Instagram and since then, I have made mental note to include Shirakawago in must-go-list when I revisit Japan. Thanks goodness the chance came.

 I visited Shirakawago sometime in end March so the snow on the ground is not as thick as what you call winter wonderland. This is good for me because I am not a fan of thick snow. But at the same time, my brother who has never seen snow before could finally have a chance to see and touch the snow. I heard there is not much thing to do in Shirakawago when summer comes so spring is probably the latest chance you can visit Shirakawago before it closes and reopens toward the coming of winter.

The houses at Shirakawago are mostly used as stores and exhibition for tourism purpose. In winter, the snow piling on top of the houses roof is thick and occasionally the snow may topple to the ground. They are heavy and can cause injury so be careful when you are walking around Shirakawago in winter.

The problem with the tour is, the limited time that I got to explore Shirakawago. Walking around, taking picture, buying the famous Hida beef and Cremia ice cream, and climbing to the top of the vantage point takes time. But we have to do all within 40 minutes. I don’t think anyone else in the tour bothered to try to climb up to the vantage point (understandable cause they are mostly in their 60s) but there’s no way I’m gonna missing out the beautiful aerial view of Shirakawago from the top of the hill. The climb to the top is kinda tiring despite I’m still in my early 30s (and my brother in his not-so-late 20s). We wonder if our lifestyle need to have some healthier touches. But in my defense, I’m never good at climbing since school days. So I suppose this got nothing to do with age, right?

Do you know it feels so good to eat ice cream when the weather is cool? Thanks to Cremia opening one outlet here (I notice they like to open outlets at some unimaginable places, like the top of the mountain), I could do that at Shirakawago. This Cremia ice cream is really good. It’s milky and soft and yet not really considered soft-served. Hmm, I can’t really describe food well except for nice or not nice, so I suppose it’s better if you try it for yourself. Hehe.