The short trip to Iida Line’s most scenic and hidden stations is coming to fainal minutes.
After Shiteguri Station, we boarded the limited express Inaji 2 and headed for Hiraoka Station, where we would change trains and head back to Toyohashi.
Hiraoka Station itself is not a scenic or hidden gem, but just before it you can enjoy this beautiful view from the train window.
The interior lighting is reflected in the photo, but please forgive me for the view.
I’ve enjoyed the emerald-colored Tenryu River created by Hiraoka Dam over the course of two days, but now it’s time to say goodbye.
Hiraoka is a station where express trains stop, located in the center of Tenryu Village.
It’s an unmanned station, but because the Tenryu Village-run Ryusenkaku hotel is attached to the station, it doesn’t feel unmanned during the hours the hotel opens.
Actually, if I could have stayed here instead of in Iida, I could have planned a slightly easier itinerary for my photo walk, but because it was the high season in autumn, I couldn’t get a reservation and had to give up in tears and stay in the city of Iida.
The station exit is the Ryuusenkaku front desk and shop, so it looks like this.
If you go further out, you’ll find the hotel is positioned as if it were a grand station building.
So, we’ll be taking the limited express train from this unique Hiraoka Station and heading south to finish our journey on the Iida Line… but we’ll be making one more stop along the way.
Next time, we’ll be taking a look at the Toyokawa Inari Shrine in a special edition of our Iida Line photo walk.
