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Kamikōchi’s signature dish is iwana (river trout) grilled over an irori. Some trail huts serve it (along with the usual noodles and curry rice), but Kamonji-goya (95-2418; dishes ¥600-2000; 8.30am-4pm) is worth seeking out. The iwana set is ¥1500, or there’s oden (fish-cake stew), soba and koru-sake (dried iwana in sake) served in a lovely ceramic bowl. It’s near Myōjin-bashi, just outside the entrance to Myōjin-ike.

There’s a shop at the bus station with cheap trail snacks or, at the other end of the spectrum, Kamikōchi Gosenjaku Hotel (95-2111) has pricey restaurants with French food and fancy cakes like Camembert torte with apples (¥630 per slice).

Getting Around

Private vehicles are prohibited between Naka-no-yu and Kamikōchi; access is only by bus or taxi, and then only as far as the Kamikōchi bus station. Those with private cars can use car parks en route to Naka-no-yu in the hamlet of Sawando for ¥500 per day; shuttle buses (¥1800 return) run a few times per hour.

Buses run via Naka-no-yu and Taishō-ike to the bus station. Hiking trails commence at Kappa-bashi, which is a short walk from the bus station.

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SHIRAHONE ONSEN

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Intimate, dramatic and straddling a deep gorge, this onsen resort town is easily the park’s most beautiful. During the autumn-foliage season, and especially in the snow, it is just this side of heaven. All around the gorge are traditional inns (some more traditional than others) with open-air baths. Shirahone Onsen could also be a base for trips into Kamikōchi.

Shirahone means ‘white bone’, and it is said that bathing in the milky-blue hydrogen-sulphide waters here for three days ensures three years without a cold; the waters have a wonderful silky feel. The riverside kōshū rotemburo (; public outdoor bath; admission ¥500; 8.30am-5pm Apr-Oct), deep within the gorge, is separated by gender; the entrance is by the bus stop. Diagonally opposite, the tourist information office (; 93-3251; 9am-5pm, irregular closures) maintains a list of inns that have opened their baths (admission from ¥600) to the public that day.

Budget travellers may wish to dip and move on; nightly rates start at ¥9000 with two meals. Advance reservations are highly recommended.

Tsuruya Ryokan (; 93-2331; fax 93-2029; www.tsuruya-ryokan.jp, in Japanese; r per person with 2 meals from ¥10,650) has both contemporary and traditional touches and great indoor and outdoor baths. Each of its 28 rooms has lovely views of the gorge; rooms with private toilet and sink are available for an extra charge.

Awanoyu Ryokan (; 93-2101; www.awanoyu-ryokan.com; r per person incl 2 meals from ¥25,150) may be what you have in mind when you think onsen ryokan. Up the hill from most of Shirahone, it’s been an inn since 1912 (the current building dates from 1940). It has private facilities in each room as well as single-sex common baths. There’s also kon-yoku (mixed bathing), but not to worry: the waters are so milky that you can’t see below the surface.

Note: many visitors find the bus ride up along the narrow cliffside roads from the Sawando junction either a thrill ride or a reason to take their happy pills.

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HIRAYU ONSEN

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This onsen village is a hub for bus transport on the Takayama side of the park and makes a convenient base for excursions elsewhere. There’s a pleasant, low-to-the-ground cluster of onsen lodgings, about half of which open for day-bathers; even the bus station has a rooftop rotemburo (admission ¥600; 8.30am-5pm). The information office (89-3030; 9.30am-5.30pm), opposite the bus station, has leaflets and maps and can book accommodation. No English is spoken.

Ryosō Tsuyukusa (; 89-2620; fax 89-3581; r per person with 2 meals ¥7500) is a recently redone eight-room mum ’n’ dad minshuku with decent tatami rooms and a cosy mountain-view rotemburo of hinoki cypress. Go downhill from the bus station and left at the first narrow street. It’s on the left before the road curves.