Kansai, Japan · Sea / Beach, Town / small city
One of Japan's three most celebrated views (Nihon Sankei): a 3.6km sandbar covered in pines separating Miyazu Bay from the open sea, best seen 'upside down' (bending over and looking between your legs) from the Kasamatsu viewpoint.
Train — Direct 'Hashidate' limited express from Kyoto (2h09min, no transfers); also reachable via JR to Fukuchiyama plus the Kyoto Tango Railway. Covered by the Kansai WIDE Pass (which includes free use of the Kyoto Tango Railway).
A 3.6km stretch of sand covered by more than 8,000 pine trees between two bays, walkable or bikeable on rented bicycles.
Half an hour away: some 230 houses lined up over the water in a bay with almost no tide, the boat garage on the ground floor and the home above. One of the most photogenic villages in Japan.
A chairlift or cable car up to a viewpoint where, bending over and looking between your legs ('matanozoki'), the sandbar looks like a bridge to the sky.
From November to March, male snow crabs are auctioned with tags port by port and served as a full set menu in the ryokan: the great winter draw of this coast.
The viewpoint on the south side, reached by monorail or chairlift, ferris wheel included; from here the sand spit looks like a flying dragon.
The fishermen themselves work as boat taxis and show the village from the water, with gulls and kites following the wake.
A temple dedicated to Monju, the bodhisattva of wisdom, at the southern entrance to Amanohashidate; popular with students before exams.
A street of merchant houses beside a canal, in the district that weaves the silk crepe used for kimono all over Japan.
Three kilometres between almost 8,000 pines and two seas, in a quarter of an hour, with bike rental beside the station.
It is held to be the place where the goddess Amaterasu was worshipped before she was moved to Ise, and it keeps architectural details found nowhere else but the Grand Shrine.
A brewery from 1754 facing the sea, run by one of the few female toji in the country, who makes a pink sake from an old red rice variety.
Stop 28 on the Saigoku pilgrimage, hanging on the slope above the bay, with a viewpoint even higher than the one at Kasamatsu.
The sheltered bay yields winter oysters and giant rock oysters in summer, as well as the sea bream the district is known for.
Several funaya are rented out as accommodation: you sleep with the water knocking just below the floor.
On 16 August 10,000 paper lanterns are set loose in the bay alongside bonfires shaped like written characters: one of the three great toro nagashi in the country.
Waters discovered in 1999 next to the station, with a public bath and a free foot bath at the edge of the pine grove.
Twelve minutes by boat from one end of the bay to the other, a good way to avoid repeating the walk on the way back.
Miyazu is a working fishing port: fish and shellfish from the bay served at restaurants near the station.
Inner precinct hidden in the forest, with a sacred rock and a spring rated among the best waters in Japan.
The Kuromatsu, Akamatsu and Aomatsu trains, designed by Eiji Mitooka, run along the coast with wooden interiors and food service on board.
In summer you can swim literally inside the sandbar, with calm water on both sides and shade from the pines.
Family looms open to visitors where you see the extreme twisting of the thread that gives this fabric its characteristic rough feel.
An hour away, in Kyotango: the sand squeaks underfoot, and it only keeps doing so because the village keeps it scrupulously clean.
Four tea houses opposite the temple have been selling the same mochi since the Edo period; tradition says it gives wisdom to whoever eats it.
A long-established 100-kilometre race along the coast of the peninsula, with generous cut-off times.
Vineyard and tasting room with views of Amanohashidate, with cheese and barbecue; unusual in this part of Japan.
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