Coming from a Hida Furukawa day tour, we decided to go back to our hotel—Mercure Hida Takayama—to freshen up before continuing to the famous Takayama Old Street. And while BG was busy inside the toilet and Kid A on the TV, I decided to pass the time watching the trains at the back of the hotel—our balcony directly overlooks the tracks.
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| SUNSET FROM OUR BALCONY IN MERCURE HIDA TAKAYAMA |
I quickly forgot about the trains as I parted the drapes, the sun was lighting the town of Takayama and the nearby mountains with its majestic rays. I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped the most beautiful sunset we’ve had in Japan yet.
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ABOUT MERCURE HIDA TAKAYAMA
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| MERCURE HIDA TAKAYAMA’S FACADE |
Mercure is a global hotel brand with properties all over the world. We have actually stayed at Malaysia’s Mercure Langkawi Pantai Cenang, Indonesia’s Mercure Jakarta Sabang, Singapore’s Mercure Tyrwhitt, and dined at Thailand’s Mercure Phuket Deevana.
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| LOBBY SITTING AREA AROUND A CENTRAL FIREPLACE |
Mercure Hida Takayama is a four-star hotel that echoes what we’ve come to expect from the Mercure chain—a premier location, tastefully decorated interiors, top-notch facilities, and excellent food.
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CHECKING IN
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| DISCARDED TAKAYAMA FURNITURE TRANSFORMED INTO WALL ART |
Mercure Hida Takayama impresses instantly; from the bamboo-laden garden outside the hotel, the massive Takayama deconstructed furniture wall installation in the lobby, the cozy sitting area with its fireplace, to the museum-like concierge area. Transitioning from each zone definitely made an impression on us.
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| CONCIERGE AND RECEPTION AREA |
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THE ROOMS
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| HALLWAY LEADING TO THE HOTEL ROOMS |
They have a total of 161 rooms, divided into six room types—Superior Double, Privilege Double, Superior Twin, Privilege Twin, Superior Triple, and Privilege Triple.
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| A TYPICAL MERCURE HIDA TAKAYAMA ROOM |
The doubles and twins can room two persons, and the triple rooms can accommodate up to three persons. Superior and Privilege rooms have the same layout and floor areas; the only difference is that the Privilege rooms are much better decorated and have complimentary drinks at the ground-floor Hobar Bar.
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WHERE WE STAYED
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| ARTSY ROOM NUMBER DESIGN |
We stayed for five days at Mercure Hida Takayama’s Privilege Twin Room. We were actually three in the room—me, BG, and Kid A—I guess, they do allow toddlers to stay in the rooms for free.
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| OUR ROOM FOR FIVE DAYS IN TAKAYAMA |
The room is spaced just right, you can freely move about without bumping into the walls and furniture—this is actually expected with hotels in Japan. There’s no closet space, but they do have a suitcase table where you can unfold your suitcase permanently, and above that, a sort of open closet where you can hang some of your clothes. Should you have another suitcase, the area near the door can also act as a permanently opened suitcase area.
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| COMPLIMENTARY SNACKS WITH SAKE OR RICE WINE |
Even with limited space, I like how they were able to maximize it. There’s actually a mini sitting area with a table, a mini-fridge, an electronic safe, and a really nice tea and coffee-making facility with a Melitta Prime Aqua water heater and coffee pod machine.
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| COFFEE AND TEA-MAKING FACILITY |
Their 49-inch flatscreen smart TV has Netflix and YouTube. It is in Japanese though—you have to find your way through the settings to have it in English—and it defaults back to Japanese when you turn it off and back on again. There is, of course, free and fast WiFi.
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| KID A, ENJOYING MERCURE TAKAYAMA’S COMFY BED |
The beds are super comfy, it was quite a challenge to wake up early each morning for my daily morning walk; their bed just draws you in for more sleep.
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| COZY TOILET AND BATH |
The en suite toilet and bath is accessed through a wooden sliding door that opens to a central washbasin area. On its left is the enclosed shower, and on the right, the water closet—a Japanese automatic toilet, of course.
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| ROOM BALCONY OVERLOOKING THE TRAIN TRACKS, WE PUT OUT THE CHAIR FROM THE ROOM |
My favorite part of the room is the balcony, which opens out to the train tracks below, the town, and the mountains beyond. I just wish they had a lounge chair and table for it—it is the perfect place for a morning coffee in Takayama.
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ROOFTOP ONSEN
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| INDOOR ROOFTOP ONSEN |
Mercure Hida Takayama has no gym and swimming pool, but it does have a Japanese onsen or hot spring, at its top floor; I’ll take an onsen easily over a gym on any given day, thank you very much.
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| THE OUTDOOR ONSEN AREA |
They have a public onsen—males and females separated, of course. Both have an indoor and outdoor bath—the latter overlooking the city—quite perfect during the evenings. These are all free of charge for guests staying at the hotel.
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| MERCURE’S PRIVATE ONSEN |
They also have a private onsen, for a more private experience, priced at JPY 4,000—good for an hour.
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| A LOVELY EVENING AT MERCURE HIDA TAKAYAMA’S ONSEN |
But since we’re quite the demure couple, BG and I opted for the private onsen. Kids aren’t allowed inside, so we left Kid A with our good friend, MM. We had a lovely hour of onsen time, indeed.
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FOOD
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| THE HOBAR RESTAURANT AND BAR |
One of the things I really like about staying on a Mercure property is their food; it has always been quite good. In Singapore, their fried chicken made its mark on us, and in Malaysia, their baked mashed potato quiche.
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| KID A ENJOYING HIS BREAKFAST |
We can usually be found at the Hobar Restaurant & Bar during the early mornings. Their breakfast buffet starts at 6:45 AM, but we usually arrive at eight—me from my daily morning walk, while BG and Kid A, fresh from the bed. MM checks in much later, as he usually works ’til the wee hours of the morning.
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| THE BUFFET AREA |
They mostly serve Japanese food with a few local favorites and some Western fare.
Some of the Japanese dishes we were able to try were their grilled mackerel, meat and tofu, stir-fried noodles, grilled chicken pickled with salted rice malt, and boiled satsuma-age. We usually pair these with salmon and perilla mixed rice or Hida rice with a slurry of Hida beef curry on the side.
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| JAPANESE DISHES AND WESTERN FARE |
They also have a variety of side dishes to complete the Japanese meal experience, like kinpira gobo, okura with sesame dressing, eggplant with awafu aemono, Sakura shrimp with sweet green pepper, Takayama nameko mushroom, and dasimaki egg.
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| OUR BREAKFAST |
Their Western fare usually run the gamut of Japanese ketchup pasta or what we all know as spaghetti, bacons, sausages, salads, fruits, pain au chocolats, and croissants.
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| A COMBINATION OF WESTERN AND JAPANESE BREAKFAST |
A few notable dishes were their meat with tofu, boiled satsuma-age, Sakura shrimp with green pepper, and surprisingly, their bacon—thin, crisply fried, and with a very full flavor.
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| DELECTABLE FOUR CHEESE PIZZA |
During our last night in Takayama, we were also able to try their five-course dinner, while Kid A had a four-cheese pizza—which was really superb, by the way.
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| GRILLED HIDA BEEF RUMP IN TRUFFLE SAUCE |
The dinner started with their salmon caviar, followed by seared mackerel with tabouleh, then an oven-baked sea bream in beurre blanc sauce. The main course was Takayama’s renowned grilled Hida beef rump in truffle sauce. I ordered a medium rare one, while BG had it well done. Surprisingly, we somehow liked the well done steak better than the medium rare.
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| HIGH COCOA TERRINE CHOCOLATE |
Their high cocoa terrine chocolate was the perfect ending for our dinner.
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LOCATION
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| TAKAYAMA MOUNTAINS AS SEEN FROM OUR ROOM |
Besides its top-notch accommodation and superb food, Mercure Hida Takayama’s location is one of its best features. Located some steps away from the Nohi Bus Station and the JR Line, it’s near enough for incoming visitors to access without needing any sort of transportation.
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| JR LINE STATION NEAR THE HOTEL |
Once settled in, the town’s top tourist spot, the Takayama Old Town, is also just minutes away by foot. If you’re not in the mood to walk, there are stops near the area for buses that ply the town.
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| THE FAMOUS TAKAYAMA OLD TOWN |
Restaurants and cafés can also be found within the area, so are convenience stores and full groceries—and we do love shopping on groceries!
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FINAL THOUGHTS
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| WE DEFINITELY ENJOYED OUR STAY AT MERCURE HIDA TAKAYAMA |
We’ve had nothing but a grand time at Mercure Hida Takayama. Our room was perfectly suited for our family’s need, the food was more than what’s expected from a typical hotel breakfast buffet, the location was right in the middle of everything, and their rooftop onsen was a cherry on top of everything.
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Mercure Hida Takayama
Address: 4 Chome-311-1 Hanasatomachi, Takayama, Gifu, Japan
Contact No: 0577-35-2702
Email: HB9G5-RE@accor.com
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GPS Location Map: 36.139113, 137.251822
