When to travel?
The weather is warm and mild, with longer hours of sunshine. Enough snow in the mountain side to open ski resorts, too.
Best season: Mar-Nov (Jun is monsoon, Jul-Aug could be hot, typhoon in Sep)
Snow activity: end of Dec-Feb
Cherry blossoms: end of Mar-Apr
Foliage: Nov
Events / Festivals
Feb: Saidaiji eyo naked festival (西大寺会陽), Okayama
May: Korakuen garden tea picking festival (後楽園茶摘み祭), Okayama
Jul: Kameishi festival (亀石祭), Okayama
Aug: Momotaro festival Uraja (桃太郎まつりうらじゃ), Okayama
Aug: Yunogo Hot spring Yukata festival(湯の郷温泉浴衣祭), Yunogo Hot spring, 湯の郷温泉
Touristic spots
Capital city: Okayama (岡山)
The city has been designated as the 18th main city of Japan in 2009, which is only given to the cities with population of half million or more. The prefecture has Shinkansen bullet train and JR trains, as well as highways that connect main hubs in Japan, which makes the access to the prefecture so easy.
The city was flourished under the governance of Ikeda family, which offers us great sightseeing spots.
Korakuen garden (後楽園) is one of the best 3 gardens in Japan, and is the number one place in Okayama. What is amazing for foreign tourists is that Okayama castle can be enjoyed from the garden. If you are lucky, you may see people in the beautiful Japanese dress Kimono, taking pictures for their wedding.
Kurashiki (倉敷)
Kurashiki had been governed directly from the Shogunate since Edo period. The city has canals and you may enjoy riding on the boat and seeing the excellent white walls of warehouses, with thousands of willow trees at the canal side. There are many nostalgic cafes and restaurants, too.
Bizen (備前)
This is a very small city, but their pottery is famous throughout Japan. The pottery is simple and plain, but it was welcomed in the Japanese culture that respects simpleness.
Makido limestone cave (満奇洞)
This is a limestone cave of about 450 meters long. The cave was found accidentally in Edo period by a hunter, and then the cave was named by a famous woman writer Akiko Yosano (与謝野晶子), a cave full of mysteries.
Hiruzen Plateau (蒜山高原)
It is a plateau at the altitude of 500-600 meters, and it is a part of Daisen Oki National Park (大山隠岐国立公園). There produces a lot of vegetables too, but the main production is dairy farms, which tourists can enjoy upon visiting.
If you are lucky, you may be able to see the highest mountain in Chugoku area, Daisen (大山).
Yunogo Hot spring (湯郷温泉)
The most famous hot spring in Okayama. The hot spring has more than 1200 years of history, and it is said that the hot water is great in healing scars and illnesses.
