Tottori sand dunes and sand museum
| The Good | The Not-So Good |
| Unique feature in Japan | Worth the trip there? |
| Sand museum is world famous | Just one picture |
Main photo source here (mstk east).
Tottori is a fairly in-frequented prefecture in the west of Japan, famous mostly for it’s sand dunes and sand museum. The prefecture was ranked 44 out of 45 in a survey of recognition by foreign tourists. Although it also tops the list of the “places foreigners should definitely visit” in 2019.
Access to Tottori Sand Dunes
Access to Tottori is by plane, train or bus. You can fly direct from a variety of Japanese cities however considering the limited activities around, unless you are a hardcore Japan adventurer tackling the more remote countryside experience, you will probably be traveling from Osaka or Hiroshima.
There is fairly comprehensive, if slightly incomprehensible, information on the official Sand Museum homepage. There is an express train called the Super Hakoto, that will take you directly from Osaka to Tottori City. There is a nice introduction to you route here, and it takes about 2:40. The JR pass is valid however you have to pay a slight fee on top, but it is worth it considering a regular train will take 4 hours.
From Hiroshima is possible but you have to come back to Okayama on the Shinkansen and then get the Super Inaba express train. More information about the train is here, and a schedule here (using Google Translate. When Japan couldn’t find a single site in English with the full timetable – how are you supposed to plan a trip without a full timetable?).
There are buses from Osaka Umeda bus terminal and Osaka Namba bus terminal, to Tottori. A schedule for Umeda can be found here. There is some exceptionally poor information in English on the official Tottori City homepage (ignore the special discount – it expired in March 2020). The buses run throughout the day and take about 2h.50m. The official homepage is here in Japanese. There doesn’t seem to be a decently list of the buses in English, however Jorudan will give you the options if you adjust the time.
For Osaka Namba station, the bus in Jorudan is called “Ocat{Highway Express Bus}” and departs from Namba Station. There is a description of the bus journey here, but don’t trust the timetable information as the article is a couple of years ago.
What is there to do in Tottori?
The sand dunes and sand museum are the main attractions. More information can be found here, including details on camel rides and sand boarding. The Sand Museum official site is here.
Here is the Google Maps embed of the area, including the guy with the camera’s shadow in the bottom of each image. Bare in mind that most of the tourist images will make the area look like a mini Sahara desert in Japan, but the reality will be more footprints, cityscape, and tourists. It is probably a great place to take the kids due to the numerous activities.
Tottori sand museum
More information can be found here, or on the official site.
