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One-day-Tour for Two Castle Towns; Inuyama and GIfu

Aichi Private Tour - Inuyama Castle stands on a small mount beside the Kiso River. Which is not only a beautiful setting but also protected the castle during the war.

Inuyama Castle stands on a small mount beside the Kiso River. Which is not only a beautiful setting but also protected the castle during the war.

Aichi Private Tour - On the top floor, everyone enjoys panoramic view, while walking along the outdoor balcony. You could imagine what the castle lord was thinking about when looking down on the town in those days.

On the top floor, everyone enjoys panoramic view, while walking along the outdoor balcony. You could imagine what the castle lord was thinking about when looking down on the town in those days.

Aichi Private Tour - Inside the castle tower, visitors can walk around and see some valuable antiques, maps and documents. Going up and down very steep and narrow steps, you might feel how samurai soldiers were struggling to prepare for fighting in the warring era

Inside the castle tower, visitors can walk around and see some valuable antiques, maps and documents. Going up and down very steep and narrow steps, you might feel how samurai soldiers were struggling to prepare for fighting in the warring era

Aichi Private Tour - Tea-house 'Joan' is highly renowned as one of the best three tea ceremony houses in japan, and designated as a national treasure. It was built by Oda Urakusai who was a younger brother of Oda Nobunaga, a great warlord in Japan.

Tea-house 'Joan' is highly renowned as one of the best three tea ceremony houses in japan, and designated as a national treasure. It was built by Oda Urakusai who was a younger brother of Oda Nobunaga, a great warlord in Japan.

Aichi Private Tour - Three tea houses are located in a beatiful Japanese garden with many trees and seasonal flowers. The atmosphere might take you back to the medieval days.

Three tea houses are located in a beatiful Japanese garden with many trees and seasonal flowers. The atmosphere might take you back to the medieval days.

Gifu Castle stands on the top of Mt. Kinka, providing stunning views of Gifu City and the surrounding areas.

Many squirrels are welcoming visitors at the Squirrel Village near the castle.

Aichi Private Tour - The Nagara River hosts many midsummer events, including fireworks. The scenery consisting of fire-flowers and the castle on the mountain will provide you with lifelong memory.

The Nagara River hosts many midsummer events, including fireworks. The scenery consisting of fire-flowers and the castle on the mountain will provide you with lifelong memory.

Shobo-ji temple houses one of the three Great Buddha statues of Japan. It stands 13.7m tall and is made of lots of paper sutras.

Kawara-machi is a photogenic traditional street-town.

Nagaragawa River Ukai Museum. You can learn anything about cormorant fishing 'Ukai'.

Handcrafted Japanese paper lanterns are a Gifu specialty.

One-day-Tour for Two Castle Towns; Inuyama and GIfu

Day Trip

Joined 2015

Tetsuji Y.

4.92 / 5

(61 reviews)

Identity Verified

Interview-Based Quality Checks

Aichi

Japanese (Native), English

8 hours

Private tour (only you and Tetsuji Y.)

Up to 6 people

Visiting two distinctive castle towns make you more familiar with the soul of Japan. One is Inuyama where visitors can see and touch two national treasures, Inuyama Castle and tea-house Joan. The other one is Gifu where a modernized castle stands on the mountain and a golden Great Buddha-statue make visitors sigh in admiration.

Itinerary

This itinerary can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Send me a message with your requests!

08:00 AM

Meeting Point

At JR Gifu station , At Meitetsu Inuyama Yuen station or At Nagoya station

08:00 AM

JR Gifu station

09:30 AM

Inuyama castle

Inuyama Castle which is said to be the oldest castle in Japan. You can touch and feel the authentic wooden Japanese castle, climbing steep and narrow steps toward the upper floor. On each floor, you will see some antiques, maps and documents to learn stories about the castle. From the top, you will have a panoramic view while strolling along the outside balcony.

10:30 AM

Tea-house 'Joan' with matcha tasting

A national treasure 'Ttea-house Joan’ is located in a beautiful Japanese garden near the castle, You find a simple aesthetic value based on Zen Buddhism in it. You can also drink matcha-tea in an adjacent tea-house in the same garden. Once, matcha-tea tasting gave samurai a moment of relief between battles. You might feeling there.

12:00 PM

Lunch

01:00 PM

Gifu castle

After lunch, you move to Gifu city and go up to Gifu Castle standing on Mt Kinka (329m) by ropeway, where you have a nice view and enjoy seeing many antiques, pictures and documents. You can also enjoy feeding squirrels near the ropeway terminal if you want.

02:30 PM

Shoboji-temple (Great Buddah statue)

In Shoboji temple, you see a golden Great Buddha statue which is one of the three most famous Buddha-statues in Japan.

03:10 PM

Nagaragawa Ukai MUseum

In the Nagaragawa Ukai Museum, you learn everything about cormorant fishing. You can also visit one of the fishing master's cafe 'U-no-Iori U' where you can see and come close to cormorants while drinking coffee.

04:00 PM

Kawaramachi street

Strolling around the old wooden building street, you enjoy dropping in unique souvenir shops, cafe and fancy restaurants.

05:00 PM

JR Gifu station

Ending Point

At JR Gifu station

Want to personalize this tour?

This tour can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Click below to send me a message with your requests.

Inclusions & Exclusions

What‘s included

guide fee

What‘s not included

transportation fee for you and guide, It totally costs about 3000yen/person)

entrance fee for you, It totally costs about 2200yen/person)

lunch fee for you and guide

Tour Important Information

Important message from the supplier

I can guide in Kyoto in case you support transportation fee.

Cancellation Policy

Free cancellation - 8 days prior to meeting time
50% Refund - 3 to 7 days prior to meeting time
No Refund - Within 2 day(s) prior to meeting time

Joined 2015

Tetsuji Y.

4.92 / 5

(61 reviews)

Identity Verified

Interview-Based Quality Checks

About Tour Guide Tetsuji Y.

Hello everyone. I am Tetsuji. I worked as a public servant in the local government for 35 years. I belonged to the department of Redevelopment, Town-Landscaping, Preserving historical areas and Architectural Guidance. (I have a national 1st-class architect license.) I devoted myself to revitalizing the city by making plans and improving infrastructure for citizens.

Gifu is located in central Japan near Nagoya. As just being the crossroads of the West and the East, there are many unique attractions that are hard to discover in hectic big cities like Tokyo or Kyoto. I had a hand in restoring and preserving some of them throughout my career and want to introduce them to tourists from abroad. That’s why I became a guide-interpreter in Gifu.

I also enjoyed traveling around the world. My favorite part of each trip was walking around the city and talking with local residents. Traveling has taught me lots of things during my lifetime. Now, I would like to help others have similar experience in Japan. Shall we enjoy fantastic journey in Gifu?

Reviews

Devon S.

5 / 5

Apr 9, 2026

One-day-tour of Shirakawa-go

Apr 9, 2026

Shirakawago

5 hours

“Mostly Excellent ”

Overall Tetsuji san was an excellent guide. He showed up punctually and was very knowledgeable of the area. He was able to answer our questions and showed us around in a very efficient manner. We went to the observatory, 2 different gassho houses, shrine, and the river. We also enjoyed the restaurant he reserved for lunch. His English was not native level, but more than competent for 4 Americans. We didn't have any issues communicating. He was also very personable. The only drawback was that he wanted to take us to a cafe, but it was too busy so we skipped it. This led to the tour ending about an hour early. This caused half the group to walk around some more by themselves for about 45 mins, while the other half waited at the bus stop.

Tetsuji Y.

Thank you very much for nice review including detailed evaluation. I only regrettably feel sad that I didn't help you to enjoy relaxing in a cafe sipping tea of coffee. However, I am glad to know that you are mostly satisfied with my tour. If you have a chance to visit central Japan again, I would like to guide you to other attractive tourist destinations.

Clinton C.

5 / 5

Mar 22, 2026

One-day-tour of Shirakawa-go

Mar 22, 2026

Shirakawago

6 hours 30 mins

“Knowledgeable and friendly guide for Shirakawa-go”

Tetsuji organized a day trip to Shirakawa-go for my multigenerational family group, including arranging for a driver to pick us up from our hotel in Takayama. He is very friendly and speaks English well. He was very knowledgeable about the history and cultural practices of the traditional village, and we enjoyed spending the day with him and learning more about Japanese life from his perspective.

Tetsuji Y.

I appreciate your nice review for me. All of your words become my motivation for next job and lead me having chances to meet new guests. I also hope you come back to Japan and share a wonderful time with me again. Please best my regards to your all family members.

Liying K.

5 / 5

Jan 15, 2026

One-day-tour of Shinhodaka-ropeway & Hirayu Onsen hot spa

Jan 15, 2026

Gifu

8 hours

Customized

“Two and a half days tour in takayama, shirakawago, shinhotaka ropeway and hirayu onsen”

We went as a group of four and Tetsuji-san guided us over 2.5 days. He was very informative and shared many interesting stories surrounding the history and culture of the city and gifu prefecture, and brought us to locations we typically wouldn't have discovered by ourselves. We were under prepared for the thick snow that covered shirakawago and he ensured we bought snow boots prior to the day trip. The restaurants he brought us to were excellent as well, with dishes unique to the region. The pacing of the tour was just nice for us as well with 2 seniors in the group. In all, an extremely enjoyable trip to takayama, shirakawago, shinhotaka ropeway and hirayu onsen! Thanks Tetsuji-san!

Tetsuji Y.

I honestly am relieved to hear that you are well satisfied with my tour. I have been concerned about the changeable weather for three days. On the third day, although we didn't go up to the peak of the high mountain because of strong wind, you seemed to have enjoyed with hot spa and nice lunch. I also enjoyed myself bathing outdoor with your father. Actually, this is the first time for me to communicate with guests in the bathtubs. I hope to see you again someday.