Summer: 5 Days Chūgoku Itinerary
During this 5 days itinerary, we’ll bring you through the best cities of Chūgoku while enjoying the amazing festivals of Obon, one of the main festivity periods of Japan.
If you need suggestions on luggage management during the travel, how to book the hotels or flights, pocket Wi-Fi or travel health insurance, give a look to our itinerary page.
As a general recommendation, we always advise booking hotels near the main train stations through Trip.com or Expedia.com*, but if you have any other questions, feel free to contact us.
5 days in Chūgoku: travel essentials
- San’yō-San’in area 7 days Japan Rail Pass (check our guide on JR Pass & Japan Railways to know more)
- Pocket Wi-Fi (with Onigiro you’ll have a 20% discount on Ninja Wi-Fi)
- Your valid passport
- Visa (required from some countries)
- Travel health insurance (optional, to be foresight)
- Free Japan Official Travel App on your smartphone
We suggest buying the 7 days JR pass that covers San’in and San’yō areas (a.k.a. Chūgoku region), because it covers the majority of train connections making you save a lot of money. This regional Japan Rail Pass costs ~150 $, while the standard full version costs ~210 $. For kids between 6 and 11 years old the cost is halved.
For some extra suggestions on what to bring for your trip to Japan, give a look to our guide on travel essential gadgets.
12 August - Kurashiki & Okayama
8:30 ~ 12:00 Kurashiki 倉敷
From Kurashiki train station, walk southeast for 1 km until Ima-bashi Bridge to take picture of Kurashiki famous canal, thanks to which the city got the nickname “Venice of Japan”.
Kurashiki can be easily visited walking, so let’s start the exploration with the old merchant street, Hon-dōri, venturing between small streets and shops of Bikan Historical Quarter.
All the two-story buildings of this area have been preserved since Edo period, with black and white latticework patterns and ancient rooftops, typical of Kurashiki architectural style.
Once you’ve finished waling, move back to the central canal where you can ride a characteristic gondola tour of the city: the tour lasts 20 minutes, costs like 5 $ each person and you can board from here.
After the boatride, on the west side of the canal there are two interesting points of interest: the Shinkei-en Garden and Denim Street.
Denim Street is full of retailers selling denim related products as local souvenir. All these products are made in Kojima, a small city located 17 km south of Kurashiki and birthplace of Japanese denim.
If you like temples and shrines, from Kanryū-ji Temple you will also enjoy a panoramic view of the city. All Kurashiki points of interests are close to each other, so half a day is enough to visit this small town.
Since it’s almost lunch time, get back to Kurashiki station and head to Okayama city using the JR Hakubi or JR San’yō lines for a good lunch.
12:00 ~ 21:00 Okayama 岡山
Facing Seto Inland Sea, Okayama has fresh seafood every day that you can taste with both Bara-zushi, scattered sashimi and vegetables over rice, or Hinase Kakioko, a special okonomiyaki with oysters.
Okayama is also house of a tasty dish called Demi-Katsudon, a fried pork cutlet with demi-glace sauce. This is slightly heavy for lunch though!
Lastly, since Okayama’s mascot is Momotarō, a boy born from a peach that fights demons and eats a lot of Kibi-dango, this sticky rice dumplings snack is very common in the city.
With the stomach filled, reach your hotel for check-in before heading to Okayama’s main point of interest, Kōraku-en Garden. Take your time to rest a little if you need it!
This garden is one of the top 3 gardens of Japan, the “Nihon Sanmei-en” gardens in Japanese: at the entrance, buy a combined ticket for the garden and the castle, so you can also get a panoramic view of Kōraku-en from the castle’s highest floor.
The garden visit takes about 2 hours, with food stalls settled inside in August ready for the summer night openings. Once you have done with the garden, head to the “Black Crow” castle through the Tsukimi-bashi Bridge, from which you can take beautiful pictures of the castle.
Visit the castle until the top floor to take some panoramic pictures of the area while learning Japanese castles’ story. When the sun starts going down, illumination lights up both around the castle and inside the garden.
Move back for a night visit of the garden, a completely new experience thanks to all these lights. For dinner, enjoy the food stalls and eat in this garden among local people.
13 August - Hiroshima & Yanai
9:00 ~ 15:00 Hiroshima 広島
From Okayama station, take the Tōkaidō-San’yō Shinkansen line to Hiroshima station (1 h). Try to get to Hiroshima before 9:00 a.m. because there are many things to see in this city.
Start walking west for 1.5 km toward Hiroshima-jō Castle, passing in front of the beautiful Shukkei-en Garden, whose visit is scheduled for the afternoon. To save energies and time you can take a taxi or a bus.
After a short castle visit, move south for 1 km to reach the Peace Memorial Dome and see the sadly iconic monument, symbol of this city. Walking through the nearby park you will arrive at the Peace Memorial Museum, whose visit will be emotionally challenging with all stories related to WWII.
For lunch, there is a specialty that you can taste only here, the Hiroshima-yaki: it’s a layered version of okonomiyaki, full of cabbage and delicious ingredients that you will remember forever.
The city is full of restaurants to try this dish and everyone has its own version. The most famous destination to try Hiroshima-yaki is Okonomimura, a building with tens of different restaurants. Since this building is very famous also among locals, you should get there between 12:00 and 12:30 or you might encounter some queue.
After lunch, you can take a taxi to Shukkei-en Garden to save some time. The garden has a beautiful central pond with a stone bridge and different panoramic viewpoints. Among the many trees, there is a big ginkgo that is one of the few trees that survived the atomic bombing.
If the weather is too hot and you are getting tired, you can skip the Shukkei-en heading straight to Hiroshima station where you have to take the JR San’yō line to Yanai station to enjoy your first summer festival of this travel in Japan.
15:00 ~ 21:00 Yanai 柳井
Yanai is a small and quiet city that, as well as many Japanese cities, fires up during Obon festivities. The Yanai Kingyo Chōchin Matsuri extends on different days, check a past festival schedule for more.
Today, the festival should start at 16:30 with some small events, but the biggest ones take place from 18:00 so you have time to do the hotel check-in.
Before the main event, you can have a pleasant walk around the White Walls district, with tens of small local shops and hundreds of goldfish lanterns pending from the walls.
One of Yanai’s local products is the double fermentation soy sauce called kanro shōyu, invented around 1800: in this area you can find shops like Shigeeda and Sagawa that still produce this unique souvenir.
From 18:00 to 20:45 you can enjoy the main event, the Kingyo Nebuta, with processions of festive goldfish-shaped floats illuminated and pushed by the locals as the sun begins to set. In addition, from 19:00 the streets of the city light up with hundreds of small handmade goldfish lanterns.
To call the day, if the weather is good at 20:45 there should be the Furusato Hanabi, a big fireworks show along the river. The best spot to see the fireworks is Osanpo-kōen Park, signed on our interactive map and on the event schedule pdf.
Check this documentary for a preview of this small yet amazing Japanese festival. For dinner, try different foods at festival food stalls, like yakisoba, korokke and takoyaki.
14 August - Iwakuni & Fukuyama
9:30 ~ 13:30 Iwakuni 岩国
Today we visit the small town of Iwakuni, famous for the wonderful Kintai-kyō Bridge. Despite a typhoon that destroyed the bridge in 1950, the locals rebuilt it with the same shape but with more resistant materials.
From Yanai station, take JR San’yō line to Iwakuni station and then JR Gantoku line to Kawanishi station (1 h). From here, walk 1 km north along the river to reach the Kintai-kyō Bridge.
Take pictures from both sides of this unique style bridge before moving towards Iwakuni-jō Castle, up on the hill. To get up there use the ropeway and then keep walking up for 300 meters.
This road is challenging during summer, but up from the castle you can take panoramic pictures of the city. After the visit, get back to Iwakuni station using the same route, or taking a taxi if you are tired.
On the way back, have lunch with a local specialty, the Iwakuni-zushi, a pressed sushi made by layering rice, lotus roots, shiitake mushrooms and thin threads of fried eggs into large, square-shaped wooden molds.
13:30 ~ 21:00 Fukuyama 福山
Back on tracks, use JR San’yō line to reach Hiroshima station, and then change with JR Tōkaidō-San’yō Shinkansen line until Fukuyama station (2 h).
Make the check-in at your hotel, rest a bit and get ready to sweat in the next Japanese festival! Fukuyama Natsu Matsuri takes place on August 14, with dance exhibitions, and August 15, with a huge fireworks display.
Different dance styles, like the Iroha-maru Yosakoi and Niagari-odori dances, take place on different locations around the city center, south of train station, from 15:30 to 20:00, check them out on a past event program.
Check the official website for more details on this festival. About dinner, festive food stalls will fill your stomach with delicious food as always!
15 August - Tottori
10:00 ~ 21:00 Tottori 鳥取
Now leave San’yō coast for the northern San’in coast. From Fukuyama station take Tōkaidō-San’yō Shinkansen line until Okayama station and then the JR Super Inaba line to reach Tottori station. Japan Rail Pass does not completely cover JR Super Inaba line: you’ll need to pay an extra fee for this train because, even if is a JR train, it uses a private railway section.
This train connection takes 2,5 hours, so try to get to Tottori around 10:00 since there are many things to do. Drop your luggage either at your hotel or at a nearby locker, and then take the bus from Tottori station to Tottori Sakyū dunes to visit both the sand museum and the sand dunes.
Since temperatures are rising, probably you should first visit the sand dunes and then the sand museum to avoid midday sun. The visit of both should take about 2 hours.
After the visit, get back to Tottori station with the same bus and head to the nearby Tourist Information Center to reserve a taxi tour of the area. Our favorite tour is the one with Ame-daki Falls and the Uradome coast, both water activities to cool you down in this hot summer.
Once back at the station, enjoy Tottori Shan-Shan Matsuri, with dances between 19:00 to 20:00. Check this downloadable festival program of a past edition to know more.
Try to take a seat at 20:00 so you can see a 1-hour fireworks show lights up the night. Check our interactive map or the event schedule to find the best place to see the show.
To know everything about Tottori city, you can read our guide that includes the best things to do, local food, festivals and much more…
16 August - Matsue, Izumo & Yasugi
10:00 ~ 12:00 Matsue 松江
On this last day, you’ll visit the cities of Matsue, Izumo and Yasugi. From Tottori station take JR San’in line to reach Matsue station (2 h) and then a taxi to visit Matsue-jō Castle.
This medieval castle, watching over the city, maintains its original wooden form: standing on the shores of Shinji-ko Lake, this is one of Japan’s Great Lake Castles, along with Takashima, Azuchi and Zeze castles.
Since is almost lunchtime, in both Matsue and Izumo you can try the following local delicacies: Izumo soba, with sauce poured on top, and Shijimi soup, with clams from the nearby lake.
12:00 ~ 16:00 Izumo 出雲
Head to Matsue-Shinjiko-Onsen station and take the private train line for Izumo. Japan Rail Pass does not cover this connection, but this is the fastest connection possible because it will bring you in front of the famous Izumo-taisha Grand Shrine.
Exit at Izumotaisha-Mae station, the end of the line, and walk north to visit one of the oldest Shinto shrines of Japan, Izumo-taisha Grand shrine, believed to be even older than Ise-jingū Grand Shrine.
The main characteristic of these shrine buildings is the taisha-zukuri, the oldest architectural style in Japan and designed as National Treasure from 1952. If you have time, another point of interest of the area is the Toyotama Inochi-sha Shrine, a small shrine over a rock island in front of Izumo coast.
After the visit, you will need to reach Izumoshi station to move to Yasugi, the last city of this itinerary, but this train station is far from your actual position, so we suggest to take a taxi to Izumotaisha-Mae Station. Then, take the private railway to Kawato Station and there change for the private line to Dentetsu-Izumoshi Station, not included in the JR Pass.
Get off at Dentetsu-Izumoshi Station and take the San’in line at nearby Izumoshi station to finally reach Yasugi station (40 mins). If you don’t mind to spend some more money, you might want to take a taxi from Izumo-taisha Grand Shrine that will bring you directly to Izumoshi station.
16:00 ~ 21:00 Yasugi 安来
Expect to be looked at it in Yasugi, because small cities are not used to foreign tourism and everyone will be curious and happy to see you around!
In addition, brave locals will try their best to speak in English with you, challenging themselves to be at your service: appreciate the effort and do not forget to tell them that their English is good!
The local festival is called Tsuki-no-Wa Matsuri, and runs from 14 to 17 of August according to this past festival program. Today, small events are held at 18:00 inside the small city central plaza.
Head to your hotel to drop the luggage and take some rest before enjoying the last evening festival of this itinerary in Chūgoku. Even if this is a small city, food stalls are tastier than ever! For more info about this event, you can watch this video with an overview of a past event or read more on the official website.
* as an affiliate of Trip.com, Expedia.com, Jrpass.com and Ninjawifi.com, we receive a small fee when you buy something on these websites using our links, obviously without any additional cost to you.
Share this blog post on your favorite social network