We’ve featured a lot of bus tours in our previous articles, but for this particular one, we’re excited to introduce a very unique chance to visit multiple UNESCO World Heritage sites along a single bus route!

The Toyama prefecture in the northern part of central Japan is known for its preserved historical cities, towns, and villages. While the region can be a little less convenient to navigate by rail, the area has an extensive highway bus network that can take you to and from other hubs like Gifu and Ishikawa.

For this trip, we’re exploring the World Heritage bus, and we’ll take you through some of the most historically significant destinations between throughout Toyama and its neighboring prefectures!

Shirakawa-go

Depending on where your trip begins, Shirakawa-go can be your starting point or final stop along the World Heritage bus route. As one of the most famous destinations in the Gifu area, the Shirakawa-go bus terminal will be one of your best chances to transfer to and from some of the bigger cities in the Tokai region with buses leaving for Nagoya and Gifu station hourly.

We’ve already visited Shirakawa village last winter, but it’s also one of those places that’s great to visit year around!

It’s located in a valley nestled within the Gifu mountains. The area can get quite warm during the summer months especially as you walk through the village and along the various trails that branch off of the main road, but weary travelers can cool down a bit and enjoy an assortment of regional cuisine and traditional art and activities inside the dozens of thatched houses.

These mammoth homes have been a fixture of the region for hundreds of years and can be appreciated by entering inside individually or viewed from the outside and even atop a hillside. Regardless of where you decide to snap a pick, snacks and shopping options are never far.

I decided to try a couple of appetizing morsels that definitely kept me on my feet and on the go because there was still a lot more ground to cover later in the day!

Suganuma & Ainokura

The next few stops along our trip on the World Heritage bus route bring us to the smaller settlements of Suganuma and Ainokura. Despite their sizes there are still plenty of things to do, eat, and see!

These two towns are located in more remote parts of the World Heritage route so intrepid travelers are able to have a quieter as well as more intimate experience with traditional indigenous Japanese culture.

With the smaller crowds and quaint communities, we were able to see and experience quite a bit in a short amount of time at each village. There’s a washi (Japanese paper) museum where visitors are able to see and even make their own sheets of paper on site! It’s quick and easy and only takes about 10 minutes or so from start to finish.

Just like Shirakawa-go, there are places to purchase souvenirs as well as shops to enjoy the healthy regional dishes including buckwheat dumplings, vegetable tempura, or an assortment of different noodle dishes.

A popular ingredient and staple of this area is the variety of wild mushrooms that grow in and around the lush forests along the World Heritage route. They’re often sun dried, packaged, and sold as souvenirs to take home for cooking or served in a number of ways including fried tempura-style or added on top of fresh soba.

I was also happy to come across a charming coffee shop that serves a special kind of dango (dumpling) made out of soba. From the inside, you can find a wonderfully serene and peaceful view of Suganuma.

Overall if you have a day or two to explore, I would highly suggest taking this one of a kind route!