Things to do in Tottori
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Tottori
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Deep winter, peak crab and skiing, snow on the dunes, and no Sand Museum.
Crab season ends around 20 March, the coast cruise resumes and the last ski weeks run.
Blossom in early April, the new Sand Museum show from late April, and the green May window.
Rainy season greys the coast and cancels boats, the weakest month for most trips.
Beach season, rock oysters, hot dunes best early or late, and the Shan Shan Festival in mid August.
Peak Nijisseiki pear season and the Castle Festival with its period procession.
Daisen autumn colour, boats and kayaks to late October, and no crowds, a best window.
Crab season opens and the Kani Festa launches it at Karo Port in mid November.
What's on
- Tottori Shan Shan Festival mid August
Thousands of dancers with bell fringed paper umbrellas fill the station front streets.
- Tottori Kani Festa mid November
Crab season launch at Karo Port with free crab soup and Matsuba crab stalls.
- Tottori 320,000 Koku Castle Festival September
Period procession, matchlock demonstrations and dances at the Castle Ruins and downtown.
Best things to do in Tottori
Tottori Sand Dunes
Japan's largest visitable dunes meet the Sea of Japan, best at sunrise or late afternoon from the main ridge.
The Sand Museum
A permanent indoor museum for giant sand sculpture, rebuilt each year and closed from January to late April.
Tottori Castle Ruins
Stone walls climb Mt. Kyusho for the best panorama in the city, with blossom in Kyusho Park below.
Jinpukaku
A white French Renaissance mansion from 1907 at the castle foot, now a small Ikeda clan museum.
Hakuto Shrine
The White Rabbit of Inaba shrine by the sea, prayed to for skin ailments and for love.
Warabekan
A hands on museum of toys and children's songs that lands for adults as reliably as for children.
Kannon-in
A small temple visited for matcha and a sweet served before a landscaped garden, the city's quiet reset.
Mizuki Shigeru Road
A street lined with bronze yokai statues from GeGeGe no Kitaro, best paired with Sakaiminato seafood.
Where to stay in Tottori
Tottori Station area
first trips, no car trips and dune focused stays
Walk to the dune buses, the city loop bus and most city restaurants, in a functional area that goes quiet early.
Misasa Onsen
couples, onsen lovers and Mitoku hikers
A riverside radium spring town with kaiseki ryokan, a free river bath and Mt. Mitoku at its back.
Hawai Onsen
drivers touring central Tottori and a quieter onsen night
Lake Togo shore ryokan with baths over the water, minutes from Kurayoshi and Misasa.
Kaike Onsen
Daisen, Sakaiminato and the west of the prefecture
A beachfront onsen strip facing Miho Bay, 15 minutes from Yonago Station, with hotels and ryokan at every tier.
Kinosaki Onsen
splurge overnight on a San'in rail trip
Seven public baths and a willow lined canal in Hyogo, about two hours east, best as a first or last night.
Best restaurants in Tottori
Kanimatsuba
The full Matsuba crab course in Yayoi-cho near Tottori Station, from grilled crab miso to live crab sashimi, in season only.
Kaniyoshi
The crab specialist locals name first, with reservations in high demand through Matsuba season.
Takumi Kappo Ten
Tottori on one table beside the Folk Crafts Museum, wagyu shabu and San'in seafood on local craft ware.
Sakaiminato Sakana Center
Buy sashimi, crab and oysters from port stalls and eat them at market tables minutes from the boats.
Mine
Generous sashimi set lunches steps from Sakaiminato fishing port, brisk and loved by Japanese visitors.
Ramen Taikoban
The friendly station side home of gyukotsu beef bone ramen, deep and savoury at about 800 yen.
Gottsuo Ramen Tottori
A cult gyukotsu shop reported to serve about 100 bowls a day, so lunch early is the play.
Musashi-ya Shokudo
Named origin house of su-ramen, Tottori's deliberately plain heritage bowl, a piece of food history.
Outdoor things to do in Tottori
Uradome Coast
A Geopark ria coast of islets, caves and clear water, walked free between Uradome Beach and Ajiro.
Uradome Coast Island Cruise
A 40 minute boat threading the islets and sea caves of the Uradome Coast from Iwami port.
Uradome Coast sea kayaking
Paddle into sea caves and rock arches, on longer courses reaching Ryujin Cave, unreachable from land.
Tottori Sand Dunes Paraglider
Paragliding, sandboarding and camel photos at the dunes, all weather dependent and best scheduled early.
Mount Daisen
The Chugoku region's highest peak, climbed from Daisen-ji through beech forest in about three hours up.
Sanbutsu-ji Temple
A pilgrim scramble with roots and chains to the Nageiredo hall built into a cliff, a National Treasure.
Daisen White Resort
Western Japan's large ski area on Daisen's north slope, with rentals and Sea of Japan views on clear days.
Green Park Daisen Golf Club
An 18 hole parkland course in the Daisen foothills with the mountain in view and an open guest policy.
Best hotels in Tottori
Mansuirou
Misasa's flagship ryokan on the Mitoku River, with radium baths and a kaiseki dinner that is the point.
Izanro Iwasaki
Misasa's historic garden ryokan from 1920, with multiple baths and a century of writers in its guest book.
Kinosaki Onsen Nishimuraya Honkan
A 160 year old Kinosaki ryokan with garden rooms and a celebrated kaiseki dinner, the region's best night.
Bokoro
Hawai Onsen's lake ryokan, known for baths set over Lake Togo and all lake view rooms.
Tottori Green Hotel Morris
The city's best rated all rounder by the station, roomy rooms and a well regarded breakfast.
Bayside Square Kaike Hotel
A modern beachfront onsen hotel in Kaike with sea view baths and a breakfast praised for crab.
Kaike Kikunoya
A small sea edge ryokan in Kaike with source fed baths and panoramic Sea of Japan rooms.
Super Hotel Tottori Ekimae
A spotless budget chain hotel by the station with a good breakfast and a small public bath.
Is Tottori expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | ¥11,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | ¥18,000 a person |
| Splurge | ¥45,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Uradome Coast sea kayaking: a few days ahead
- Green Park Daisen Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Daisen Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Kanimatsuba: weeks ahead
- Kaniyoshi: weeks ahead
- Takumi Kappo Ten: a few days ahead
- Mansuirou: weeks ahead
- Izanro Iwasaki: weeks ahead
- The Sand Museum closes from early January to late April for its annual rebuild.
- Matsuba crab season runs early November to about 20 March, and top crab ryokan plans sell out.
- Uradome kayaks need booking at least two days ahead and run late April to late October.
- Book Mansuirou, Iwasaki and Nishimuraya Honkan weeks ahead, and golf before you arrive.
Is Tottori safe?
- No base area in Tottori needs avoiding on safety grounds, and station streets are quiet rather than dangerous.
- Swimming is prohibited at the dune beach, so swim only at lifeguarded beaches in season.
- At Mitoku, obey the footwear check, go in pairs and turn back if weather turns.
- Emergency numbers in Japan are 110 for police and 119 for fire and ambulance.
Tottori travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Do not day trip the dunes from Osaka or Kyoto, as two and a half hours each way makes a thin trip.
- The camel ride is a short posed photo run, not a desert trek, so let the ridge walk anchor the visit.
- Red snow crab sold as Matsuba is a different and cheaper crab, so check tags in season.
- Mizuki Shigeru Road and Conan town reward fans most, so pair them with seafood and onsen.
Getting around Tottori: public transport and more
- Rent a car if you can, as Uradome, Misasa, Mitoku and Daisen sit on infrequent rural buses.
- Without a car, photograph return timetables when you arrive anywhere rural, as services are not constant.
- The JR San'in Line links Tottori, Kurayoshi and Yonago, and the Super Hakuto reaches Tottori from Kobe in about 2.5 hours.
- Carry cash for rural buses, market stalls, shrines and ramen counters, even though IC cards work in the city.
Who Tottori suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Tottori your trip
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