Things to do in Miyazaki
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Miyazaki
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best combined golf, surf, gorge and driving weather, plus the November golf tournaments.
Warm spring, flowers at Florante, and pleasant conditions before the rainy season.
Mango season peaks roughly May to July, overlapping the June to early July rainy season.
Beach and surf high season with heat and humidity, and downtown summer festival evenings in August.
Typhoon season peaks in August and September, with possible closures and the best surf swell around storms.
Quiet sunny winter low season, good for golf, with the Aoshima Pacific Marathon in December.
What's on
- Pro baseball spring training camps February
Multiple NPB camps including headline teams in Miyazaki City, with open practices and exhibition games.
- Dunlop Phoenix Tournament mid to late November
Japan Golf Tour event at Phoenix Country Club, played there since 1974.
- JLPGA Tour Championship Ricoh Cup late November to early December
Season ending womens major at Miyazaki Country Club, held there since 2003.
- Aoshima Pacific Marathon December
Coastal marathon around Aoshima and central Miyazaki in mild winter light.
- Takachiho Yokagura season November to February
All night community kagura in rotating villages, with a nightly one hour version at Takachiho Shrine year round.
Best things to do in Miyazaki
Aoshima Shrine
A vermilion shrine in subtropical jungle on a tiny island, reached by a bridge and circled in under an hour.
Devil's Washboard
Parallel rock ridges exposed at low tide around Aoshima, best in the two hours around low water.
Udo Jingu
A bright shrine hall inside a cliff cave over the Pacific, with lucky undama stones to throw from the terrace.
Miyazaki Shrine
The city shrine to Emperor Jimmu, a cool and calm forest walk in the middle of Miyazaki City.
Heiwadai Park
A hilltop park with city to sea views, the Peace Tower, and about 400 replica haniwa figures in the woods.
Florante Miyazaki
A small, well kept flower park near Seagaia, best in spring and during seasonal events and illuminations.
Sun Messe Nichinan
Seven replica moai above the Pacific, enjoyable as a coast day stop in sunshine and skippable otherwise.
Takachiho Shrine
A cedar shaded shrine whose nightly one hour Yokagura performance retells the Amaterasu myth.
Where to stay in Miyazaki
Phoenix Seagaia Resort
golf and resort trips
A self contained pine forest resort with the tower hotel, both headline courses, onsen and Florante.
Central Miyazaki
eating, drinking and hub trips
Tachibana-dori and the station hold the best restaurants, bars and buses for Aoshima, Udo and Takachiho.
Aoshima
surf and beach trips
The small strip facing Aoshima island, with surf shops and the beach at the door and quiet early evenings.
Best restaurants in Miyazaki
Yakiniku, Teppan-yaki Steak Tachibana-dori Miyachiku APAS
Only Miyazaki beef, as A5 teppanyaki courses or binchotan yakiniku, with lunch steak sets the value move.
Miyazaki Beef Yakiniku Restaurant Hajime
A tiny 12 seat yakiniku room working through cut after cut of Miyazaki beef in set courses.
Gunkei Honten Kakura
Charcoal grilled jidori and proper hiyajiru cold soup, the one sitting that covers the Miyazaki canon.
Tsukada Nojo Miyazaki Main Shop
A lively farm izakaya built on Miyazaki jitokko, the reliable group dinner with shochu in the centre.
Maruman Honten
Locals grill for fierce charcoal jidori momoyaki, a whole thigh chopped on the iron plate with yuzu kosho.
Ogura Segashira
The claimed tartar sauce originator of chicken nanban, a big portion family lunch worth queuing before 11am.
Naochan
The other original chicken nanban in Nobeoka since 1964, vinegar dipped with no tartar sauce at all.
Sankakuchaya Toyokichi Udon Honten
Miyazaki beloved kamaage udon, thick noodles in hot fish broth, the cheap local breakfast institution.
Outdoor things to do in Miyazaki
Phoenix Country Club
Japan championship golf in the Seagaia pines, home of the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament since 1974.
Tom Watson Golf Course
The relaxed Seagaia second course through the pines, with cart play and floodlit night golf in season.
Miyazaki Country Club
The prefecture oldest seaside course, home since 2003 to the JLPGA Tour Championship Ricoh Cup.
Kisakihama Beach
Miyazaki most famous surf beach, a long beach break by the Kaeda river mouth that hosted the World Surfing Games.
Aoshima Beach
Softer waves by Aoshima island with surf schools and rentals, the place for a first lesson in Miyazaki.
Takachiho Gorge
A basalt gorge best seen from a rowboat under the 17 metre Manai Falls, booked online two weeks ahead.
Horikiri Pass
The classic viewpoint over the Devil's Washboard and the Pacific on the palm lined Nichinan coast drive.
Cape Toi
A grassy southern cape with a 1929 lighthouse and semi wild Misaki horses roaming the roads and pastures.
Best hotels in Miyazaki
Phoenix Seagaia Ocean Tower
The former Sheraton Grande tower, Miyazaki flagship resort stay with onsen, pools and both golf courses on site.
ANA Holiday Inn Resort Miyazaki
A beachfront resort facing Aoshima island, a step below Seagaia in price for a surf and beach base.
Hotel JAL City Miyazaki
The dependable downtown hotel, a short walk from Tachibana-dori restaurants and top rated in the city.
Dormy Inn Miyazaki Natural Hot Spring
Compact central rooms with an excellent natural hot spring bath and free late night noodles.
Aoshima Guesthouse Hooju
A small sociable guesthouse minutes from Aoshima station and beach, the budget base for a surf first trip.
Is Miyazaki expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | ¥11,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | ¥19,000 a person |
| Splurge | ¥45,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Phoenix Country Club: weeks ahead
- Tom Watson Golf Course: weeks ahead
- Miyazaki Country Club: weeks ahead
- Takachiho Gorge: weeks ahead
- Phoenix Seagaia Ocean Tower: weeks ahead
- Yakiniku, Teppan-yaki Steak Tachibana-dori Miyachiku APAS: weeks ahead
- Miyazaki Beef Yakiniku Restaurant Hajime: weeks ahead
- Gunkei Honten Kakura: a few days ahead
- Takachiho Gorge boats open online two weeks ahead and suspend after heavy rain.
- Phoenix and Miyazaki Country Club need advance arrangement, and November tournaments restrict visitor play.
- Hajime and Miyachiku teppanyaki need reservations, and February baseball camps fill hotels early.
Is Miyazaki safe?
- Surf and swim only at established beaches, and respect typhoon swell, rip and jellyfish warnings.
- Chicken tataki is a regulated local tradition at reputable jidori shops, and grilled versions are superb if you prefer.
- Check live volcanic gas, high water and typhoon closures before coast, gorge and Kirishima plans.
Miyazaki travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Sun Messe Nichinan as a standalone trip, with a 75 minute bus each way for the moai alone.
- Aoshima at midday in holiday season, when the bridge and shrine grove bottleneck.
- Boxed Taiyo no Tamago mangoes at gift prices, when a cafe parfait in season costs far less.
- Any itinerary built around the Seagaia Ocean Dome, which closed in 2007.
Getting around Miyazaki: public transport and more
- Rent a car for Udo, Takachiho, Cape Toi and golf, and bring an International Driving Permit.
- Without a car, use the Visit Miyazaki Bus Pass and build days around roughly hourly buses to Aoshima and Udo.
- Miyazaki Station to Tachibana-dori is a flat 15 minute walk, and Aoshima is about 30 minutes by train or bus.
Who Miyazaki suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Miyazaki your trip
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