Prior to our departure, we
had purchased our 5-Day TAKAYAMA-HOKURIKU TOURIST PASS PASS which allowed us to
travel from Nagoya to Gero / Takayama / Shirakawa-go / Kanazawa / Kyoto /
Osaka! We
decided to skip both Kyoto and Osaka in order to spend more time on the
places that we hadn’t been to before, such as Gero, Takayama, Shirakawa-go and
Kanazawa.
We said goodbye to Nagoya for the time being, and headed to our next destination, Gero. We checked out of the hotel in the morning, and we made our way to the JR station. We picked up some onigiri(s) and a kawaii Tori Bento before boarding the JR Limited Express. The journey was around 1.5+hours. Gero Onsen is one of the three most renowned onsens in Japan. It is known as a ‘spring for beauty’.
Upon reaching Gero Station, we waited for our complimentary hotel shuttle to pick us up to our accommodation. We booked a night stay at Suihouen. Baby booked a ryokan stay under my name as part of my birthday celebration.
Suihouen offers traditional
Japanese-style accommodation with a historic charm.
As our half-board ryokan stay was
only for a night, so we decided to forgo all outdoor activities, and enjoyed
the ryokan facilities instead.
The Ryokan was so kind to prepare
us some Japanese desserts. They tasted pretty good, and I loved it! How I wish that I could have gotten an additional serving!
The WiFi in the room was
tremendously good, and the room was well equipped with all the necessities and essentials.
The private onsen in the room was a lovely treat.
Upon checking in, we informed the staff to fix our time-slot for our dinner! We enjoyed our Onsen in our room after we had settled down our luggage. It was a wonderful feeling, to enjoy the onsen conveniently in our room before heading for dinner.
Our stay included a
Japanese-style dinner, and each dish was artfully prepared. We had our dinner
at the private room.
While we were having our dinner,
our Futon beds were prepared by the staff.
The next day, a Japanese-styled breakfast was served at the same private room where we had our dinner last night.
We rested for a while after our sumptuous breakfast, and we made our way to check out at 10am. As the hotel shuttle was set at 11am, we decided to walk over to The Gassho Village of Gero Onsen (下呂温泉合掌村).
Gero Onsen Gassho-mura is an outdoor museum featuring a collection of traditional Gassho-style thatched farmhouses
Upon entering the village, we experience how the villagers here lived in antiquity.
We walked back to our ryokan to
pick up our luggage and took the shuttle back to Gero Station. A big thank you
to Suihouen for the wonderful
stay and kind hospitality.
Thanks for the refreshment tea, Suihouen!
Stay tuned to our next destination - Takayama / Hida-Takayama, which is called ‘Little Kyoto', as the town is well known for preserving the original Japanese landscape.