Tango Hanto, 4 days

Tango Hanto, 4 days, 3 nights

A steaming hot bath on the beach while watching a magnificent sunset? Explore the countryside by bicycle while enjoy cycling past old fishing villages? A stay at the rustic Japanese countryside, while catching up on your jet lag and getting ready for your Japan tour? All is possible on the Tango Hanto Peninsula by the Sea of Japan, 3 hours north of Kyoto. 

The bridge to heaven

Amanohashidate is about 2 hours by train from Kyoto. This 3,5 km long pine covered sandbar, connecting two opposing sides of Miyazu Bay, is one of Japan’s Three Scenic Views. The sandbar is covered with about 7000 pine trees and some pretty beaches, where from May to September it’s possible to swim sand(for Japanese only in July and August). If you go up to the observatories by cable car, you’ll be able to get a view of the sandbar dividing the waters. There is a saying in Japan, that when you bent forward and look between your legs, you see the bridge in heaven.

This peninsula can be explored by local bus, by locally rented bicycle or by rental car. Don’t forget to visit the village Ine on the East coast. This town has a rich history as a fishing village and is regarded as one of the most picturesque villages in Japan. Ine is famous for its wooden fishing houses. In the past, Japanese where whaling here and their usable products like meat and blubber where processed locally. Today tourists visit Ine mainly to enjoy the beautiful coastline by sea kayak. Sake lovers can visit the local sake brewery. The owner of the brewery is a young lady who managed to give her own flavour to this traditional “old boy’s industry”.

Singing Sand

Good sake and tasty sea food go hand in hand. There is a quaint little restaurant on a hill in the Faunae no Sato park behind the fishing village. The views from the observation deck are great. On the West coast of the peninsula you’ll find some terrific beaches: Hei-Bama and Kotobikki-Hama. Kotobikki-Hama literally means: “Literally, “The beach that plays music”. The sand crystals of this beach actually make a singing noise when you walk across it. Watch the sunset as you soak in a natural hot water spa directly on the beach. Nearby, give yourself a “double whammy” — get under the cold waterfall at the edge of the beach, then go dive into the warm sea.

Each destination gives you a chance to drive through the different landscapes typical of the area: narrow valleys, scenic vistas of mountain and sea, villages in a crook of mountainside, rock formations, etc. On this beautiful peninsula with its narrow valleys, scenic views of mountains, beaches and paddy fields, you can stay either in a hotel or a minshuku in the town Amanohishidate, or in an authentic rustic farmhouse in a hamlet in the middle of rice paddies in the Kurumidani Valley.