Up the cable car and down the ancient alley # Gifu One Day Trip travel plan EP.3 : 1 Day in Gifu, Sanmachi-suji, Little Kyoto and a breathtaking view from a cable car 2,156 meters above sea level. 
Nagano : 1
Gifu, the city of ropeway that will take you to experience the breathtaking panoramic view
Picking up where we left off in the 2nd episode, we leave Toyama for Gifu. We take the long ride from the village to Sanmachi-suji (三町筋) which is an old district of Takayama city and is also known as Little Kyoto
and the highlight that you shouldn’t miss out on for this EP.3 is a cable car ride to catch all the breathtaking scenery views!
We also take you around the city for finding more tasty restaurants that all the foodies must try! but before we jump to that part, let’s come back to the first part of our journey!
There are numerous ways to reach our destination but the most certain ways are:
1. Take a bus
we can take a bus back to the main place, in order to take a Shinkansen to the Gifu main station. The “Sanmachi-suji” district is also very close to this station; a 10-12 minutes walk will get you there.
2. Rent a car
this option will let us rent a car and drive to Gifu. It takes around 1 hour and a half. This is the best option if you have a plan to board the “Shin-Hotaka Ropeway”, the only twin-deck gondola style cable car in Japan.
After making a brief plan, we will now move to the Sanmachi-suji district. The area is brimming with souvenirs and food and the streets are lined with shops decorated in the traditional style, which gives off an atmosphere of an ancient city. Perfect for a few photos shot right in the middle of the street!
If you want to see the city but are too lazy for a walk, then you can take a rickshaw that will take you around the district and then end the journey right in the middle of Samachi-suji.
Around midday, we decided to grab some lunch since the area is famous for its delicious eateries. The famous dishes include Hida steak, Shiru Miso soup Soba and sweets such as soft cream, buns and Dango. We might miss a few menus here and there but the variety should be enough for a showcase, so let’s have a look
The first and best on this list is this store. If you walk into the middle of the alley, you will realize that a lot of people are in a queue for this store. This is not surprising as the Sushi here is sooo delicious! The white flakes below is a prawn cracker and it’d be a really big shame if you missed it once you are here!
Next, we moved on to the meat roll shop. The menu contains a meat roll logo, so it’s quite hard to miss. The meat is okay but a bit too well-done, but our friend here says it matches their taste really well!
Next up is the ice cream in the shape of Sarubobo which is also known as the faceless doll. The Sarubobo is the mascot lucky charm for the Gifu prefecture and you will be able to see that a lot of stores use the Sarubobo on the packaging as an indirect reference to the Gifu city. The Sarubobo used to only exist in one color, red; however newer colors with different auspicious meanings have also begun to appear.
A bit further we ran into a soft cream store that sell delicious-looking peach-flavored ice cream made from locally sourced peach. We craved the Matcha flavor more so we decided to solve the problem by ordering both.
The Dango here is superb as the tenderness is just right and it reminds me of the song Dango Dango!
It’s soooo good, please don’t miss it!
2
Take some photos at Sakurayama Hachimangu Shrine
After stuffing ourselves full, we decided to walk a bit further to the Sakurayama Hachimangu Shrine for some photos.
The front of the shrine is so beautiful.
3
Slowly wander at Nakabashi Bridge
This area isn’t that far off from the Miyagawa river and it will take us back to the Nakabashi bridge or as known among the Thai people as “the red bridge”, a really popular check-in spot.
the red bridge is sooooo alluring, look like it was just picked out from anime~
The water is so clear you can see the fish swimming in there! Impressive!
4
Enjoy the scenic view from Shinhotaka Ropeway
After a digestive walk, we took a ride to the Shinhotaka Ropeway cable-car station. If you didn’t rent a ride then you can also take a JR train and continue the journey with a Hino bus as well. The bus will take around 1 hour to reach the cable-car.
The ticket price for a two-step round trip ticket is around 2,900 Yen for an adult.
The view is truly something to die for!
For a child, the price is around 1,450 Yen and you can buy the tickets right at the counter or you can also buy them through Klook before going as well. The view along the way is just spectacular.
Before we head out to the second leg of the cable car journey which is on a different but connected station, we squeezed in a few photos of the beautiful surroundings here.
Our trip coincided with the period when the leaves turned reddish-orange which made it really atmospheric.
Here is what we dubbed the pinnacle of our trip, a scenery viewpoint 2,156 meters above sea level with views as spectacular as those on the northern Alps. And just like a cherry on top, we were greeted by falling snow!
Once we came back down, we decided to make some snow man. He looks really cute too!
Don’t forget to snap a check-in shot with the postal box. We also bought some Churros before coming up and decided to give it some love with a photo amidst the evening chilly air of 4 degrees Celsius
5
100% Impressively end the trip
After the cable-car, we took a car back to the Takayama Ouan hotel which will be our stop for the night and prepare to head out for dinner. The hotel is near a train station so it is very convenient when we have to head back to Tokyo.
The hotel’s decoration is distinctly Japanese, as the floor of the entire hotel is covered in a Tatami mat and we are required to leave our shoes on the lower floor, walking barefoot to the lift and eventually to our room. The air of formality also pervades this hotel as a lot of Japanese guests are in a full formal suits.
After the Onsen bath, we wind off our one-day trip to Gifu with dinner at the Matsukiushi restaurant.
Look at this! I have to fight my love for Sashimi to be able to take this shot!
After the meal last night, we greeted the new day with a hearty and impressive breakfast from the hotel. The menu choices are extremely varied, what we have here is only a fraction of what is present!
And before heading back to Tokyo, we also visited the morning market along the bank of the Miyagawa river. In order to give you guys a traceable trail, we have also included a link to this market for you to follow!
Location : Shimosannomachi, Takayama, Gifu 506-0841 Japan
If you are looking for a souvenir, then check out these Sarubobo keychains and other local specialties!
Here is the final phase of our trip. After a stroll in the market, we took the JR back to Tokyo. The price is around 8,000 Yen as it includes the Express route. If you have multiple tickets, then you can drop all of them into the slot!
Though it’s not even done yet, but we’re already missing this vibe *Sob*
The view on the way back is stunning, a tapestry of nature inlaid with cityscape.
Gifu is another city that we won’t forget anytime soon and this trip to Japan has been really fulfilling and worth the effort. If you are interested in our trip itinerary, then we would like to leave you a message that this trip meant a lot to us and we would like the readers to also experience this special trip just like it. If you don’t have a plan in mind yet then check out EP.1 in Nagano and EP.2 in Toyama. Bon Voyage!
