I had lived in Fukuoka but never really explored Shimane using JR. Last time, road trip with friends to Izumo and it was way too short.
Day 1 – land Fukuoka. Stay in Fukuoka (last leg of a week is in Fukuoka)
Day 2 – travel to Tsuwano (Taikodani Inari shrine) by 3hr JR train ride from Hakata via Yamaguchi. Overnight in Tsuwano.
If not possible, Hiroshima it is and bus it from Hiroshima (but I’ve been to Hiroshima…)
Day 3 – From Tsuwano, train to Izumo (3hrs). Check in at the ryokan. Izumo Taisha and Shimane Prefectural Ancient museum. Wander around the shrines in the area.
Day 4 – go around the shrines in Izumo. E.g. Hinosaki shrine, Inasa shrine, Umi shrine etc, and Okuizumo to see the place of Yamata no Orochi (related to Hiikawa aka Hii River)
Day 5 – check out of ryokan — stay at Matsue (visit Hearn’s museum which is about an Irish-Greek author known for his Kaidan compilation, Matsue Castle , Yaegaki shrine, Miho shrine, Kumano Taisha)
Day 6 – Matsue to Okayama (visit Kibitsu shrine in Okayama) . Okayama overnight.
Day 7 – leave Okayama ….
next 10 days is visiting friends and relatives in Kansai and Chubu plus back to Kyushu.
Got one free day to play with.
Any feedback welcome.
by sarpofun