Takayama & the Japanese Alps

Takayama is a merchant town high in the mountains of Hida, with dark timber houses, sake breweries marked by cedar balls hung over the door, and a morning market by the river.

Beyond it, the Northern Alps rise to three thousand metres. We take you up into valleys of open-air baths and walking paths, where the night sky is very dark and very full.

The pace is slower here. Dinner is early, the streets empty by seven, and you will sleep better than you have in years.