Chugoku, Japan · Sea / Beach
Japan's only large sand dunes, complete with camel rides.
Train — Train from Okayama or Osaka, somewhat more limited than other cities in the region
🥾 Active nature
Climbing the Horse's Back before the shops open: the wind has remade the sand ripples overnight and there is not a single footprint between you and the sea. Writing or drawing in the sand is forbidden.
Japan's only large system of coastal sand dunes.
Tottori is Japan's biggest matsuba crab port and the season runs November to March. A whole port-tagged crab is expensive and worth booking ahead.
On 14 August thousands dance down the main avenue with bell-covered umbrellas, holding the world record for umbrella dancing. It runs 13 to 15, with fireworks on the last day.
The steady winds off the Sea of Japan and the soft sand make the dunes one of the safest places in Japan for a first flight. Half a day with an instructor.
Few Japanese prefectural capitals have thermal water surfacing five minutes from the station. Four neighbourhood bathhouses at 550 yen, some opening at six in the morning, and cold milk on the way out.
One of the finest pond gardens in western Japan, from the 17th century, viewed sitting down with a matcha and a sweet from the temple room. Almost always empty.
Karoichi market sells what came in that morning and there is sushi right on the quay; next door, the Kanikkokan is a free aquarium devoted entirely to crabs.
A hall wedged into a rock ledge, reached by climbing over roots and chains, an hour from the city. This is not recreational hiking but an ascetic route with recorded deaths: climbing alone is forbidden, footwear is inspected, it closes in rain or snow and the last entry to the mountain is at three. It costs 400 yen for the temple plus 800 for the climb.
Riding the 30-degree slope on a board, beginner lesson included. From around age ten; there are sleds for younger children.
Water clear enough to see the bottom several metres down, with arches, sea caves and coves reachable only by paddle. It is in Iwami-cho, half an hour from the dunes.
Tottori bills itself as the prefecture with the cleanest night sky in Japan, and the dunes, unlit and facing the sea, are the natural viewing point. Bring a red torch and warm clothes.
Next to the folk craft museum, the Takumi shop sells the ceramics and woodwork the museum exhibits, and the restaurant alongside has served Tottori beef on those same pieces since 1962.
For sixteen nights between late November and early December the dunes fill with lights. In 2026 it ran from 21 November to 6 December, from six to nine in the evening, with free entry.
Nineteen hectares beside the dunes with a play castle, a pirate ship, a monorail three metres up, a pool with a slide and pottery and carpentry workshops.
The only airport in the world dedicated to Detective Conan, with life-size figures, lockers with riddles, items signed by Gosho Aoyama and exclusive merchandise. Free entry, fifteen minutes from the centre, and you can visit without flying.
Tottori's drinking district, small and free of tourists, with fish izakaya, local sake counters and an atmosphere already going by ten.
A forty-metre drop ranked among Japan's hundred best waterfalls, inland within Tottori city, reached by a short forest path, with spring water you can bottle.
Japan's only centre dedicated to desertification, with the Arid Dome greenhouse where crops for dry regions are tested. Visits only with an accredited guide, and you must call ahead.
It grew out of the governor's quip that Tottori had no Starbucks but did have sunaba, sand pits. Today it is a local chain with coffee roasted using dune sand and pear ice cream.
A clifftop path through pines linking white-sand coves above the Uradome coast, inside the UNESCO Global Geopark. Little shade in summer.
A large boat for cliffs and caves, or a small craft that slips through narrow passages with an underwater viewing box on board. It is in Iwami-cho and runs only from March to November, 1,800 yen.
Bikes with 10-centimetre tyres that actually roll over sand, on a two-hour route through dune, beach and pine wood. Ages thirteen to sixty, minimum height 150 centimetres and maximum weight 95 kilos.
A seaside shrine linked to the myth of the White Hare of Inaba, popular among couples.
Chikuwa mixed with tofu is a local Edo-period invention, and the pickled shallots are grown in the dune sand itself. Both turn up in any izakaya in the centre.
Inshu paper has been made here for more than a thousand years. You can make an A4 sheet for 600 yen or an A3 for 800, with dried flowers set into it, in one-hour sessions by reservation.
A wooded valley on the edge of the centre with a shrine from 1650 designated an Important Cultural Property, cherry blossom in April and fireflies in June.
Asia's only segway tour over sand dunes, with guided access to sectors closed to free walking. More curious than thrilling.
The organisers rent umbrellas and yukata to anyone who wants to join a group rather than watch. Sign up well ahead, because registration closes in spring.
Monumental sand sculptures with a different theme each year, located next to the dunes.
An intact Edo-period street plan with moat, wooden houses and young cafes installed in them, plus an onsen the local women call women's water for what it does to the skin.
Opened in March 2026 while the Jinpukaku remains under restoration, it explains the castle and the works, and leads through to the Horyuin garden. Castle stamps and goshuin are now sold here.
The former grounds of Tottori Castle, now a park famous for its cherry blossoms.
In mid-November the port celebrates the opening of the crab season with free crab soup for the first to arrive and market-floor prices. About thirty-five minutes by bus from the station.
Reopened in May 2025 after its art collection was split off, it now covers the nature, history and folklore of the Inaba region with some three thousand pieces. Only 180 yen, closed Mondays.
Two small spa villages less than half an hour from the city, with family-run inns, dinner of the day's catch and nothing to do but bathe. Hamamura has the sea and a foot bath in the station itself.
Devoted to Japanese children's songs and tin toys, with rooms where you can play and handle things. It works as well with children as with adults nostalgic for Showa design.
Thirty thousand pieces gathered over sixty years by a Tottori doctor, including one of the largest collections of armour and swords in private hands in Japan. There is a cafe with views.
A spa village of eight inns documented since the year 962, beside Lake Koyama, with water at around fifty degrees, a Finnish sauna and even a bath for dogs.
A classic tourist activity on the dunes, suitable for the whole family.
A free ashiyu right in the centre to rest your feet after the dunes, with locals chatting alongside. It tends to be the moment the city makes sense.
Devoted to the Manyoshu poetry anthology and to the poet governor of Inaba, with court costumes to try on and be photographed in. It is in Kokufu, the old provincial capital.
A Meiji-era Western-style mansion built as a residence for the crown prince.
A mountain temple above the city, tied to the cult of Jizo and to an ascetics' cave, with stone stairways among cedars and views over the Sea of Japan. No tourism at all.
A museum dedicated to the mingei folk-craft movement, with ceramics, textiles, and handcrafted items from the region.
Coves and cliffs with crystal-clear waters, explorable by boat or kayak.
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