Hi, the Higashiyama Walking Course is a great option. It is walking distance from major attractions and hotels downtown and rings the eastern hillside. It visits a variety of temples and begins (or ends, depending on the direction you walk it) in a secluded, wooded public park on a hilltop where the foundations of an early fort can be found. Nearby are wonderful antique shops. I both walked it with my family, which took about 1.5 -2 hours, than ran most of it the next morning.

Hi.. i went in mid Oct and started the walk at 3pm.. as it was late autumn, sun sets around 4-4.30pm.. so I planned to start the walk from the Park (to make use of the daylight) and end of at the town (so even if it's dark it's still ok to walk around and have dinner there!).. I went with 2 young kids and we just wanted to talk our time to enjoy the walk at leisure... you may like to do likewise if you are worried about the daylight... Another suggestion is to go to the Folk Museum (Hida-no-sato).. it's at the other side of the village... just google for info and directions. we had a good time there.. i would suggest do this as priority over the walk if you would like to see gassho houses and enjoy visiting the interior of each of them... it's beautiful there.. and you should cater around 2 hours there. there's also a craft centre and shops opposite... another suggestion : next morning, do visit the Miyagawa morning market along the river... (the one at the Takayama Jinya is smaller). it's open from 6.30am... Takayama is nice! enjoy your trip!

You can join the trail at any point at the rear of the old town. To walk the entire trail to up the castle ruins is around 4-5 kms of country terrain making up of small roads, foot path and pavements. Since it is a circuit, you could go directly to the castle ruins if you so wish. What you need is a Takayama map which is part of the Takayama guide, easily available at most hotels for free. You will come across other tourists walking along the same trail. Not sure if in winter, the trail would be easy to walk as it would have snowed.