Hakusan Shirakawa-go White Road, the best driving spot

Hakusan Shirakawa-go White Road is a toll road connecting Ishikawa Prefecture and Gifu Prefecture from June to November. It stretches a total of 33.3km, at a height of 1,450m. As the road winds through the vast Hakusan National Park, stunning scenery of valleys and waterfalls appear one after the other. There are also some great trekking courses and hot springs to be found along the way.

Drive through the stunning mountainous road

Hakusan Shirakawa-go White Road, formerly called Hakusan Super Rindo until 2014, is a toll road which connects Hakusan City in Ishikawa Prefecture and Shirakawa Village in Gifu Prefecture. This road is the only route that you can drive directly between Ishikawa and Gifu Prefecture. As the road winds through the vast Hakusan National Park - located along the border between Ishikawa and Gifu Prefectures - lavish forests, valleys and waterfalls can be seen in a stunning procession. You’ll also uncover there is plenty of activities to explore, such as trekking courses and even hot springs! Unfortunately, because this area has quite a lot of snow in winter, it opens only from early June to mid-November. A special note: motorbikes are not allowed to drive on Hakusan Shirakawa-go White Road. Pedestrians cannot access the road either, except on special occasions when walking events are held.

Summer is a lovely season to visit White Road, with an abundance of lush greenery and clean, fresh air. However, hands down, the best season to visit the route is autumn, where vivid orange and red paint the mountain. The entire road offers you a spectacular “koyo” (autumn foliage) sight, but the views of Jadani-Ohashi (Great Jadani Bridge) are particularly breathtaking. It’s the only bridge on Hakusan Shirakawa-go White Road, and offers you one of the most impressive sights.

Hot springs by a magnificent waterfall

Hakusan Shirakawa-go White Road is full of great spots to enjoy the remarkable scenery. Starting from the entrance in Ishikawa Prefecture, the first sights to behold are stunning waterfalls - seven in total. Every one of them has a different kind of atmosphere and beauty. If you don’t have enough time to see every waterfall, at least stop by Ubagadaki and Fukubeno Otaki.

Ubagadaki (Ubaga Waterfall), the fifth in line from the Ishikawa entrance, was chosen as one of the “Top 100 Japanese Waterfalls” in 1990. Its name “Uba” means “old woman” in Japanese. The name comes from the fact that the falling water along the rocks create thousands of white thin lines, thus giving the illusion of long, dishevelled white hair of an old woman. If you want to enjoy this view from a unique location, try Oyataninoyu, a riverside outdoor hot spring at the base of Ubagadaki. It provides a wonderful view to Ubagadaki across the river. If you feel too shy to take a bath in the open-air, why don’t you try a footbath nearby instead? It’s a perfect spot to relax and take a rest from the drive!

The other must-see waterfall is Fukubeno Otaki (Great Fukube Waterfall). It appears around the midpoint of White Road and is the last and largest waterfall out of the seven on the way. It’s also said to be one of the best scenic spots on White Road for its very dynamic view of an 86m drop. It cascades next to the road with the waterfall basin right in front of the parking lot where people sometimes get a big splash! Surprisingly, this great waterfall was undiscovered until Hakusan Shirakawa-go White Road was built.

For the trekking lovers

The Ishikawa Prefecture side has great waterfall spots, but how about the Gifu Prefecture side?

This side focuses more on mountainous scenery. If you love trekking, stop by Sanpou Iwadake Parking and make your way to the summit of Mount Sanpou-Iwadake. It takes about 50 min to reach the top. Once you have reached the top, you can capture an extensive view of the surrounding mountain, including Hakusan, Tateyama, Hodakadake, and Norikuradake. Walking up the trekking road you’ll find some alpine plants and a beech virgin forest. Since this is the highest altitude area, you can see the early autumn foliage on White Road. One of the mountains you can view from Sanpou Iwadate, is Hakusan (Mt. Haku), this mountain is considered one of the three spiritual mountains, along with Fujisan and Tateyama. Hakusan National Park has a vast area of 47,700ha containing this magnificent mountain.

Although there are plenty of sites, once you get on Hakusan Shirakawa-go White Road, there’s only one spot you can eat and shop, Rennyo-Chaya in Shirakawa-go Observatory Parking near the Gifu entrance.

Another stop off point is called Chugu Rest House, but it’s outside of the toll-road in Ishikawa Prefecture. They provide amazing meals using seasonal fresh mountain vegetables, mushrooms and river fish. If you're lucky, you might be able to see wild monkeys welcoming you!

How to visit?

The easiest way to travel there from Tokyo is to first go to Kanazawa city. You can get there by either the Hokuriku bullet train from Tokyo station (approx. 2 hours) or airplane from Haneda airport (approx. 1 hour). From Kanazawa, it takes about 1.5 hours to reach the entrance of Hakusan Shirakawa-go White Road.

Address: Chugu, Hakusan-City, Ishikawa Prefecture 920-2324
Tel: 81(0)76-256-7341(Hakusan Rindo Ishikawa administrative office)