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Beautiful landscape with gassho buildings that are UNESCO heritage. There are quite a few museums open for tourists to get a deeper understanding of inhabitants who lived in these buildings many years ago. Many Souvenir shops and eateries... But most close by 5pm or 6pm. Limited dinner choices at night.

Shirakawa is a really gorgeous, serene village that we absolutely loved visiting. It almost felt unreal. Even though most of the restaurants and cafes were closed when we went (due to the season), it was lovely to just walk around and enjoy the sights.

Was a very nice locations to visit. The feeling you have from just walking around is lovely. A short trip is more than enough to get enough enjoyment out of it. Two or three days is sublime if you get up early to beat the rush.

Our hotel is a beautifully maintained traditional Ryokan which offered us excellent and delicious Japanese breakfasts and dinners. It's on the verge of Shirakawago within walking distance to the village. We had a most enjoyable stay although it rained a lot!

It is a beautiful place nestled in a forested valley and the history, design and construction of the gassho houses is really interesting. We were also lucky enough to get to see the annual test of the fire fighting system. The bus trip from Takayama by bus was a comfortable, scenic trip but there are a lot of tunnels including one over 10km long! There is some very good food available if you are prepared to queue, plus a number of small businesses selling freshly cooked Japanese snacks. Unfortunately the World Heritage Site is clogged with day visitors - think Bruges or Český Krumlov - and I expect numbers will need to be controlled sometime in the near future. Many people are from Japan, with foreign tourists adding to the volume. As a visitor you need to remain aware that the site is home to lots of people with many operating working farms, so be respectful and don’t enter private areas even if it offers the Instagram photo you have always wanted to take.

The place is beautiful and peaceful. The village is unique and well deserves to be in the Unesco world heritage list. It is surrounded by beautiful mountains, and I understand there is also a waterfall which we didn't get to see, but must be nice. I wish we could have stayed longer. The view from the observatory is breathtaking. Upon arrival at the visitor center and bus terminal, helpful guides and some refreshments can be found, and trips to other destinations can be efficiently booked and managed. The place has a luggage deposit and a rest area, so the village may be visited upon arrival. There is a shuttle between the visitor center and the observatory leaving from a stop nearby, a 2 minute walk from the bus terminal. We visited end of august and it was way too hot. There are rare, insufficient shaded areas. Water is flowing everywhere but we were told by locals not to drink it. Most places request cash-only, especially the Heritage-run stores. Every facility in the village opens after 11 and is closed around 2 pm, except souvenir shops which close around 4/4.30 pm, before and after that, there is nothing to do and nowhere to go. We stayed at the perfect guest house, and had a super-kind host who took care of all our needs.