Arrive in central Takayama, a former castle town in the Hida highlands of Gifu Prefecture, known for its well-preserved old town streets and deeply rooted local food and drink culture. Meet your guide and get a brief orientation to the evening’s route — three separate drinking spots spread across the walkable bar districts surrounding the city center, each with its own character and local following.

Follow your guide on foot from the first venue to the second and then the third, with each stop offering a different setting within Takayama’s nightlife areas. Order drinks and food at each bar, paying separately on the spot for anything you consume.

Enjoy a pace that allows you to settle in at each location, talk with your guide, and move on when the group is ready to continue to the next spot. By the end of the three-bar route, visit a cross-section of Takayama’s local bar scene — the kind of places that appear on Tabelog and draw regulars rather than passing tourists.

Close out the evening having moved through three distinct corners of the city’s drinking culture, with a clearer sense of where locals actually go when the day ends in Hida-Takayama.