Traveling to Shimane and Tottori, first time

8 comments

1. I went last year in the area ([see my itinerary](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/chi72l/fukuoka_to_kobe_exploring_the_sanin_region/)).

   in 4 days, I would argue that you can only visit the highlight. I think it depend on whay you want to see.

   You have already decided one day for Izumo and one for Tottori, so for the other days, you can do Matsue itself with the castle and Adachi museum of art was recommended to me for it’s garden. It was not the best for my itinerary so I decided to go to a different garden.

   For place to stay, i think it depend on the way you plan to go in the region. For example if you decide to fly in Matsue, then it’s possible to stay in the area and go to Tottori as a day trip. I personally did both as I was moving along an itinerary. For Matsue I actually decided to go to Tamatsukuri onsen. It’s cool for the onsen, but the downside is that it’s a bit far from the station (2 km) but there is bus (schedule might be inconvenient). I would probably just pick a place that work best with the area you want to visit and the way you get to the area.

   I do not think that things really close for obon. For transport, it might be busier, so you can make seat reservation on the express train from Matsue to Tottori.

   I only spent 4 days in the area, but there is really enough to fill much more than that.

2. This will depend what you actually want to see in those prefectures: Matsue is a good base for seeing Matsue, Izumo and Adachi Museum of Art, but it’s too far out to visit Tsuwano and frankly also to visit Iwami Ginzan mine.

   Yonago might make sense if you want to want to include Daisen-Oki National Park.

   Kinosaki Onsen is most popular destination for Tottori visit, but realistically it is too far out to be a base for visiting Sand Dunes.

   If you intend to visit Sand Dunes, I would go for two nights in Matsue and visiting Tottori city on your way to Kinosaki Onsen.

3. Since you will be coming from Eastern Japan, consider taking the Sunrise Izumo sleeper train departing from Tokyo station, which goes all the way to Izumoshi. You will arrive at 10 am and can conveniently visit Izumo Taisha during the day.

   Unless you will rent a car at Izumoshi, going further west will not make sense when you have limited time and need to travel to Tottori. In any case, you can choose to stay overnight in Izumoshi, Matsue, Yonago, or even Tamatsukuri Onsen. What you plan to do on the following day in the larger Matsue area will drive where you will stay on the first night. Personally, I like Japanese castle and art so I would stay at Matsue so I can visit Matsue castle and the Adachi Museum of Art.

   For the second night, I would stay in Kurayoshi, a lesser known historical town in Tottori prefecture. And for the third night, you could stay in the nearby Misasa Onsen, or travel to Tottori and stay there overnight.

   Even though it takes only half a day to visit the Sand Dunes and the Sand Museum, but you can easily spend a full day or longer if you want to visit the coastline east of the Sand Dunes.

   Enjoy your trip and hope my info has been helpful to your planning.

4. Tottori has reeeally good fish markets. I’m a food person so that’s my priority. Other than that I was really surprised how big tottori is so maybe try not to overplan destinations. Mount Daisen is gorgeous too. Some ppl say it’s prettier than Fuji.

5. I’m doing the same thing right now! I am at the adachi art museum in shimane right now. Very has a very beautiful garden. I would also recommend ginyama in shimane. It’s an old silver mine from the Edo period and the village around it is very beautiful.

6. Hello! Current Tottori resident here:

   Transportation should be fine, but know that we have had a decent increase of Covid cases over the last few weeks. Places may not be open or have reduced hours. That said, if you still want to come out to the Tottori City area, I recommend the looking into the Uradome Coast. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and easy to social distance.

   Safe travels

7. We stayed in both Tottori and Izumo last year. I think the best we could do for the hotel in Tottori was the Green Rich Hotel I think. It was newer but a standard business hotel with some nice lobby decor. Nakagawa Shuzo is recommended as Nakagawa-san brews 3 or 4 different varieties with gohyakumon rice with does have a distinctive body and flavor from the yamadanishiki that is more common.

   Izumo has a Dormy Inn that had softer beds than the Dormy Inns up north. There is a train I think that runs from Izumo Taisha to Matsue. Great sake in Matsue. I’d have to dig through bottles and pics but I’m pretty sure one was Riyaku and I forget the name of the brewery downtown but it’s awesome. I think we bought 6 bottles and in retrospect I wish we would have bought 12.

   I think we ate a ton of shichimi(sp?) clams in Matsue. Some cool festival when we were there so we didn’t get to see much other than the festival and a couple breweries.

   Kuroyoshi was okay. More of a half day kinda thing but again another great shuzo there. I want to say Takada Shuzo. One man brewing show. The guy is a machine and turns out an amazing junmai that is great hot or cold.

   Personally I would stay at the Dormy Inn in Izumo b cause of the soft bed and proximity to the station.

   Have fun! Some of us are sitting at home in the USA watching NHK wistfully while the rest of the Americans are making sure we don’t get to come this year!

8. “the* Shimane, which just broke a few hours ago all records and beyond when it comes to covid clusters ? Just… Be careful.