Guides
Guides for exploring Aichi by car
Ideas and practical tips we share with our guests — from your first rental car to a road trip into the Japanese Alps.
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ItineraryA 4-day Nagoya & Aichi road trip, day by dayAichi's big sights are scattered: Ghibli Park in the wooded hills, LEGOLAND on the waterfront, two castles in two different cities. That is exactly why a car and one quiet base work so well. Here is a full four days with three nights at Hanaike Retreat — timings, drives, parking, food, and the swaps we'd make for rain, small children or grandparents.For: Travellers exploring Nagoya and Aichi by car
Family travelGhibli Park and LEGOLAND Japan with kids: an age-by-age guideGhibli Park isn't a ride park. It is five walk-in film worlds spread across a big, leafy park. LEGOLAND Japan is the opposite: compact, colourful and built for 2-to-12-year-olds. Here is what each age actually enjoys at both, which tickets to buy, how to handle strollers and naps, and a plan that leaves energy for tomorrow.For: Families with babies and young children
Driving guideDriving in Japan as a visitor: a practical Aichi guideAichi is one of the easiest places in Japan to start driving: wide roads, good expressways and plenty of parking outside the city. This guide follows the order you'll meet things in — the paperwork, the rental desk, the toll gate, the first stop sign, the petrol pump and the last narrow lane to your door.For: Visitors driving in Japan for the first time, and the friends and family helping them
Road tripTakayama, Shirakawa-go and Gero Onsen by car: a Dragon Route road tripAichi sits at the start of the Dragon Route (Shoryudo), the tourism trail that winds north from central Japan through the mountains of Gifu to the Hokuriku coast. By car, three of its highlights — a hot-spring town, an old merchant town and a thatched-roof World Heritage village — fit neatly into two unhurried days.For: Travellers planning a road trip through central Japan
CultureStaying at a village headman's estate near Nagoya: what it's really likeHanaike Retreat is a renovated guesthouse on the grounds of a village headman's house more than 100 years old, where the same family still lives. Here is an honest picture of a stay, from the moment you park to your last morning coffee.For: Travelers drawn to Japanese culture and history
Local foodEat like a local: café 'morning', Nagoya food and a miso breweryOrder a coffee and breakfast arrives with it. A clay pot of udon still bubbling at the table. Wooden vats crowned with mountains of river stones. This is how to eat your way around Aichi from the house — no food-tour booking required.For: Food lovers who want to eat like a local near where they stay
AutumnKorankei by car: autumn leaves, timed to miss the crowdsAbout 4,000 maples, two rivers and a red bridge in the hills of Toyota — and a famous traffic jam on November weekends. Here is how to see Korankei at its best: when to come, where to park, what to walk, what to eat, and when to head home.For: Autumn travellers who want Japan's maple season without the Kyoto crowds
Day tripA day at Ise Grand Shrine, by carJapan's most sacred shrine sits in a forest of giant cedars, about 1 hour 50 minutes from Hanaike. Visit in the traditional order, learn the few gestures that matter, park in the right place, then wander the old pilgrim street for lunch before driving home.For: Culture travellers who want to visit Japan's most sacred shrine by car
Last dayOne more hour in Japan: a pottery walk in TokonameCheck out, drive towards the airport, and spend your last hours in Japan on the hillside lanes of one of its oldest pottery towns. Tokoname sits right next to Chubu Centrair, and its short walking course takes about an hour. Here is how to see it, where to park, what to eat, and how to fit it in before your flight.For: Culture travellers with a few hours before or after a flight at Chubu CentrairReady to plan your stay?
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