Located on the well trodden path between Hiroshima and Osaka, Okayama is a great less-visited city to spend some time in, as well as a great hopping off point for visiting Shikoku or islands in the Seto Inland Sea.

Okayama

My first visit to Naoshima was a day trip, I stayed in Okayama the nearest large city. You will need to pass through Okayama anyway to reach Naoshima via Uno Port, so it can be a handy spot to stay.

To be honest, the first time I visited Okayama in 2018 it was because it was the closest accommodation I could find to get to Naoshima, I didn't know anything about it I ended up staying for three days enjoying the city and the lack of foreign tourists around. I've written before about staying overnight in a popular day trip destination - foreign visitors may come to Okayama to have a look at the castle and gardens, but few will stay beyond that.

Okayama is a main stop on the Sanyo Shinkansen line, so all Shinkansen trains including the fastest Nozomi trains stop at Okayama station.

For this trip we stayed two nights on Naoshima, and then one night in Okayama. The Mitsui Garden Hotel Okayama is right outside Okayama Station, and we were able to leave our bags there 2 days in advance of our stay and travel to the islands with minimal luggage which worked out perfectly. Just as if we had used Ta-Q-Bin, our bags were already in our room when we checked in.

Hotels are usually very reasonably priced in Okayama, and Kōrakuen Garden (one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan) and Okayama Castle are within walking distance of Okayama Station.

🍑 White peaches are a local specialty and the season is July-August, a time few travellers are likely to visit due to the hot summer. While you might miss out of the fresh peach parfaits of the summer months, there are lots of white peach omiyage available at the station like white peach juice and white peach filled biscuits. Just outside the station you can see a statue of Momotaro, a popular Japanese folklore hero who was said to be born a peach!

Kōrakuen is one of the 'Three Great Gardens of Japan'. I've visited Kenroku-en in Kanazawa too, so I have just one left to see! Built in 1687 for the family of the feudal lord of Okayama, it has been open to the public since 1884.

I've visited in both Spring and Autumn, and there's always been teams of gardeners out (some in waders in the streams!) meticulously working. Late spring is probably the best time as the grass is greener and you might get the end of the sakura, but the blue skies and warm weather of autumn made for a lovely long afternoon spend exploring the gardens.

There's a different view around every corner, and several historic tea houses in the garden. Some do more formal tea ceremonies that need to be booked well in advance, but there's some casual souvenir shops where you can get a delicious matcha soft serve ice cream too.

The black Okayama Castle provides a stunning backdrop to the immaculately landscaped gardens. While the original castle was built in 1597, this is one of the post-WW2 concrete reconstruction castles like Osaka Castle - so the inside is more like a modern museum complete with elevators and air conditioning. There was a traditional style room where you can be dressed up in samurai clothes for photographs at no additional fee which was quite fun! The night time illuminations of the castle look great in autumn, I often like to visit Japanese castle sites after dark when the crowds are gone because they are usually well lit and atmospheric and make for great photographs!

Kurashiki

If you stay in Okayama, the nearby city of Kurashiki is accessible by local train and is a must-visit contrast to the much larger Okayama.

Kurashiki is just 11 minutes by train on the Sanyo Line from Okayama. There's also Shin-Kurashiki station on the Shinkansen line but it is quite far from the city centre, and only the slowest Kodoma Shinkansen service stops here.

One oddity you will spot leaving Kurashiki Station is a European looking bell tower. This is actually a relic of Tivoli Park, a small theme park modelled after Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens.

European themed amusement parks aren’t that uncommon in Japan - the Dutch themed Huis Ten Bosch in Nagasaki prefecture claims to be Japan’s largest theme park, but Tivoli Park wasn’t successful and the park closed in 2008. If you’ve seen Spirited Away or Suzume both featured derelict theme parks but this one has been integrated into the town rather than left to ruin.

The clock tower stands in the middle of Hans Christian Andersen Square accompanied by a statue of the author which is open to the public, but most of the rest of the former amusement park is now a western style outlet shopping mall, which I didn't visit.

The historical centre with its traditional buildings and willow trees draped over the rivers create a charming serene atmosphere. I spent half a day wandering around the streets, wandering into Achi Shrine, visiting craft shops and enjoying matcha from the many coffeeshops and cafes.

The distinctive waterways of Kurashiki came about as much of the land was reclaimed from the sea. The high salt content of the soil in the area made it unsuitable for rice growing, and so cotton became the main crop. Related textile industries like weaving, dyeing and sewing popped up later. Indigo dye has been used for centuries to make rich blue cloth, and industrialisation led to the area becoming a centre for school uniform manufacturing in the late 19th century.

This area known as Kojima was later the birthplace of the denim production in Japan, after US imported jeans became popular. There are several well known Japanese jeans brands that got their start here, and some still have shops and there’s a Denim Museum. It’s quite far outside the town so I didn’t get a chance to visit, but you can find some denim shops and related goods in Kurashiki itself.

Another architectural peculiarity you might spot in this historical quarter is a large Roman inspired building. This is the entrance of the Ohara Museum of Art - the first museum of Western art in Japan and hosts an impressive collection featuring works by Picasso, Monet, Renoir, Matisee and more as well as modern Japanese artists. Just like seeing some of the works in Naoshima, I had a special feeling viewing these European masterpieces in such an unlikely setting in Japan. If you have been to some of the large museums in Paris that host similar works, you’ll know how busy they are. Here if you’re lucky - you might get the room to yourself for a moment.

Accommodation

¥ Budget: Kamp Guest House

5 mins walk from Okayama Station.

Dorms, female only dorms and Japanese style private rooms, all with shared bathrooms.

Curtains provided on bottom bunks but not top ones so you may be unlucky to get the top!

Nice common area with bar/cafe and friendly staff, backpacker guests.

Located by an old fashioned covered shopping street with some nice cafes.

¥¥ Mid: Mitsui Garden Hotel Okayama

3 mins walk from Okayama Station.

More of a business hotel vibe than other Mitsui Garden Hotels. Very small room. everything was clean but our window would not open at all and the room got too hot. The hotel did the job for our one night stopover but it could do with a revamp.

We hoped to do laundry while staying here but there was only 3 machines for the whole hotel which were in use, so we went out to a nearby coin laundry instead and so we didn’t get to try out the baths. Breakfast was included with our rate but we ended up going out to STAND1-1 for bagels and coffee instead!

Okayama & Kurashiki

Okayama

Kurashiki

Accommodation

Small traditional gifts to take home from Japan