Tohoku road trip guide

6 comments

1. 1. Note that while in certain areas, having a car at your disposal might be advantageous due to infrequent services – in others, especially with regards to day trips out of Sendai – it might take actually longer to get from point A to point B, eg. Yamadera, Matsushima Bay, or even Hiraizumi/Geibikei Gorge might be more sensible to visible by public transport.
   2. There are of course plenty of places, where having a car would be a great advantage – visiting Dewa Sanzan, area around Mt. Bandai and Aizu-Wakamatsu, Shimokita Peninsula or Sanriku Coast would be best done as a road trip.
   3. Also note that many hiking routes open fairly late in Tohoku, as late as mid-May or even in some cases early June,
   4. I would probably recommend staying two days around Aizu-Wakamatsu (for the city and hiking), around two or three days around Sendai, and around two days somewhere more rural (eg. Hachimantai, Ginzan Onsen)

2. I just went on a 7-day trip in Tohoku 2 weeks ago and here are some of the places I went to, see if any catches your eyes.

   * Risshakuji Temple in Yamagata
   * Nyuto Onsen in Akita
   * Osore-zan Bodai-ji Temple in Aomori
   * Tono in Iwate

3. Considering there is six prefectures in Tohoku and you have only a week, you will just spend a day by prefecture, so you will miss most of what is available. You can realistically spend a week in each prefecture and there would still be things to see. This will only be a highlight of Tohoku. You will not “explore Miyagi and Yamagata from Sendai” you will go to one place in Miyagi and one place in Yamagata from Sendai.

   As someone said before, it might also not make sense for all the parts of the trip to do it by car when the train can be quite effective and one more thing is that if you take and drop the car in a different location, there is extra fee for it (and more expensive the further you go), so you could check to rent the car for one or two days when needed for more difficult to access area and do the rest by train. Depending on the final itinerary, you might want to consider a rail pass.

   For sure the popular or well known place include Yamadera, Matsushima, Iraizumi (and if you do the 3, I would consider checking the[tohoku 4 temple pilgrimage](https://en.japantravel.com/yamagata/tohoku-s-four-temple-pilgrimage/18180), and get the stamps), Kakunodate.

4. A week is pretty short for the entirety of Tohoku, especially if you want to both hike, do urban fun and “see as much as possible”. The later is kind of at direct odds with the two former.

   If you want to see as much as possible, I’d suggest popping down key locations on a map and then just roadtrip it along the way. Don’t try to cover everything – just chose 1 spot you absolutely want to pop by per day that takes you further towards your final goal (Aomori?). This will be your general direction guideline, then just chose everything else as it comes to you along the way or as you find browsing google maps for nearby locations.

   Chose to stick either primary to the west or east coast, and make pace at 100-200km per day, depending on how much you’ve spent of the day exploring. Accommodations you can book on the day if you’re not picky and travel out-of-season, or you can car-camp at the rest stops (or even roadside if deep enough in the countryside). This is, IMO, a much more efficient option than picking a base and doing short stints in & out. Keep a small bag with toiletries & daily change of clothes you take with you when camping up, and use the car as your “home base” for all your stuff instead.

   Alternatively, make your way to some place that can offer both hiking and scenery, and stay there for a few days. Then pop by some city for your shenanigans, but really, if your goal is the explore Tohoku then I wouldn’t pop in City Fun very high on the priority list.

   Some stuff out of memory:

   * The Bandai lakes area/national park in general. You could spend days just here. If just popping through, make sure to do it by the “Bandai skyline”, nice mountain drive. In fact any road with the name “skyline” in it usually worth checking out.

   * The Sanriku coast in general (north/south of Sendai). A lot has changed with new ugly seawalls being put up all over the place in the last decade, but there’s still a decent amount of scenic spots. The towns aren’t quite the same, but I found visiting them was interesting in a “recovering from disaster” -perspective.

   * Matsushima bay – One of the three “famous views”. A photogenic sunrise/set when viewed from the right spot (be aware of the sun’s position). Much like its sibling Amanohashidate, I wouldn’t exactly plan my trip around catching this, but pop by if you’re in the region with good timing.

   * Loop the Shimokita peninsula at the top of Honshu. Pop by Yagen Valley for some quiet onsen times. Can also hike in the region if you like. A good, compact experience for a few days.

   * The Towada-Hachimantai area is also beutiful and worth a visit if you’re in the region. You also have the “tomb of Christ” thing on the way there :D. Also some fun smaller roads you can take on your way in if you feel like venturing outside the regular highway.

5. Definitely plan to include a stop/stay in Aizuwakamatsu or Bandai Lakes area. It’s gorgeous in the mountains in summer and so much cooler than the Kanto region. We did these as two separate trips but you could easily combine as Aizu is at the base of Mt. Bandai/Bandai Lakes area.

   – [Fukushima: Urabandai Lake Summer Weekend ](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/mfffje/summer_weekend_in_urabandai_lake_district_in/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
   – [Fukushima: Samurai History and Painted Candle Illumination in Aizuwakamatsu (mid-Feb) ](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/metuf4/samurai_history_in_aizuwakamatsu_in_fukushima/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)

   We missed getting to visit [Ouchijuku Village ](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7710.html) and take the [Tadami Line Sightseeing Train ](https://www.japan-guide.com/blog/raina/161011.html) but you could easily add these in.

   For 7 days I’d recommend focusing on just one or two nearby prefectures. By distance alone it might not look like it’ll take too long driving but lots of the most scenic areas are along rural, narrow, twisty roads. If you stay in one base city/town for two nights before moving to the next spot you’ll really get to see and enjoy more of the great scenery and food this region has to offer. You could easily spend the whole week on just [Fukushima ](https://fukushima.travel)and that’s been one of our favorite prefectures to visit during the time we’ve been living in Japan. There’s so much to see from the mountains to inland towns to the coastal areas.

   We also did a train trip up to Aomori and Akita in the spring to see the last of the cherry blossoms using the 5-day JR East Pass. This wasn’t a road trip though.

   – [Aomori/Akita: Cherry Blossoms and Samurai History using the 5-day JR East Tohoku Pass ](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/nahtfk/chasing_cherry_blossoms_in_aomori_and_samurai/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)

   Happy Planning!

6. Hi!

   Akita is my hometown.
   I highly recommand the summer trip to Tohoku! Tohoku region has many great summer festival in the beginning of August.

   https://www.tohokukanko.jp/en/features/detail_17.html

   Tohoku is cooler than Kanto so you can spend comfortable summer time there!