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San'in and Setouchi in 15 days: itinerary and hotels

Fifteen days on the forgotten coast of the Sea of Japan, from the seven baths of Kinosaki to the dunes of Tottori and the land of the gods at Izumo, then Hiroshima, Miyajima and the six bridges of the Shimanami Kaidō.

Compiled by Kylian, updated on Sep 5, 2026

The floating torii of Miyajima at sunset
  • 15 days
  • 46 places
  • 15 nights
  • fast pace
Start
Nara
End
Imabari
Main transport
Rental car, essential in the San'in where local trains run infrequently; tram in Hiroshima
Recommended season
April to June and October to November; May, June and October are the best months on the San'in coast, the Inland Sea is good all year; snow crab from November to March

What you get

  • The complete itinerary: 15 days sequenced Morning / Afternoon / Evening / Hotel
  • The card of every hotel, with the address and a direct booking link
  • Quota tickets, fixed-date tickets and surcharges flagged in advance
  • The country quick guide: weather, transport, formalities, budget
  • A PDF file of 36 pages

What the price does not include

  • Flights
  • Hotel nights
  • Tickets and admission fees
  • Travel insurance
  • On-the-ground assistance during your trip

The itinerary preview

The free day in full, with its hotel card. This is the sample.

Day 1

Kinosaki, the town of seven baths

Morning

The road from Nara to Kinosaki

Three and a half hours of driving to the north-west, from the Nara plain to the coast of the Sea of Japan, crossing the Tamba mountains.

Afternoon

The seven public baths

Kinosaki has been a healing town for thirteen centuries: the spring is said to have been discovered in 720 by a monk after a thousand days of prayer. The town, completely destroyed by the 1925 earthquake, was rebuilt identically in wood. The local principle is unique in Japan: the ryokan have small baths, and it is the seven sotoyu of the village that serve as the town's shared bathhouse. Ichi no Yu occupies a building shaped like a kabuki theater and has a cave bath cut into the rock. Gosho no Yu imitates the imperial palace of Kyoto. Kō no Yu, the oldest, is the one linked to the stork said to have revealed the spring.

Cable car and Onsen-ji

The cable car climbs Mount Daishi for the view over the bay. Halfway up, Onsen-ji, founded in 738, is the temple that protects the springs: pilgrims once had to stop there before they were allowed to bathe, and custom still has it done today.

Evening

Tour of the seven baths in a yukata

After dinner, the canal lights up with lanterns and the whole village is out and about: the clack of geta on the cobbles carries from one bridge to the next well into the night. Two or three sotoyu in the evening are enough, finishing at the Kō no Yu, which stays open the latest.

Good to know

The ryokan provides a yukata, geta and the pass giving free access to the seven baths. Each bathhouse has its own closing day, different from the others: check the list on arrival. Tattoos are turned away at several of the seven.

Hotel · Night 1

Kawaguchiya Kinosaki Riverside Hotel

On the canal, in the center of the village and so a few minutes' walk from most of the seven baths. Japanese-style rooms, thermal baths on site, seafood from the bay: snow crab in winter, Kinosaki's absolute speciality. Yukata and bath pass provided. Free shuttle from Kinosaki Onsen station.

Address
· 880-1 Yushima, Kinosaki-chō, Toyooka, Hyōgo 669-6101
Website
· kawaguchiya.co.jp (new tab)
Check-in
3:00 PM · Check-out 10:00 AM
Book this hotel (new tab) affiliate link

Buy this itinerary

€39 incl. tax

that is €2.60 per day of travel

Billed in euros. If your card is in another currency, your bank converts at its own rate.

  • Secure payment through Stripe, bank card, Apple Pay and Google Pay
  • Available immediately in your customer account: online reading with clickable booking links, downloadable PDF for offline use
  • Method: what is checked, and when

A hotel in the itinerary closed or impossible to find, a place to visit permanently closed?

Within 12 months of purchase, email contact@etaperia.com

Itinerary corrected within 7 days, or refunded in full. Terms in article 12 of the terms of sale, on top of the legal warranty (new tab)

€39 incl. tax · 15 days

Buy

A question before buying? Email Kylian, reply within 2 business days.

The day-by-day rundown

15 stops, 720 km as the crow flies

  1. Day 1 Kinosaki, the town of seven baths Kinosaki, the town of seven baths Free
  2. Day 2 Basalt, soba and the bridge of heaven Genbudō Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  3. Day 3 The village where the houses stand with their feet in the water Chion-ji, View Land and Nariai-ji Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  4. Day 4 The Tottori dunes Tottori dunes Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  5. Day 5 Matsue, the black castle and Japan's finest garden Matsue Castle Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  6. Day 6 Izumo, where the gods gather Izumo Taisha Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  7. Day 7 The silver mine, then Hagi Iwami Ginzan Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  8. Day 8 The torii above the sea and the blue island Nagamachi, the reverberatory furnace and Tōkō-ji Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  9. Day 9 The Akiyoshi karst and the Kanmon Strait Akiyoshidō and the Akiyoshidai plateau Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  10. Day 10 Iwakuni's wooden bridge, then Hiroshima Kintai-kyō Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  11. Day 11 The Peace Memorial Genbaku Dome Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  12. Day 12 Miyajima, the shrine island Itsukushima-jinja Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  13. Day 13 Fukuyama and the port of Tomonoura Fukuyama Castle and museums Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  14. Day 14 Onomichi, the town of stairways Senkō-ji and its cable car Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  15. Day 15 The Shimanami Kaidō, six bridges and seven islands The Shimanami Kaidō, six bridges and seven islands Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF

1 day is free to read above. The other 14 unlock when you buy. Buy the itinerary, €39

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Country quick guide and logistics

The essentials of the country, scannable in ten seconds.

Weather and when to go

  • The San'in coast is gray and rainy for much of the year, with snow in winter at Kinosaki and Tottori: May, June and October are the best months.
  • The Inland Sea, by contrast, is one of the sunniest regions in Japan, sheltered on both sides by mountains.
  • Kinosaki's snow crab is in season from November to March, and the ryokan are then booked out months ahead.

Transport and permits

  • The Sea of Japan coast is the least populated region of Honshū: pleasant roads, light traffic, but gas stations are scarce and close early, and cell coverage is thin in the mountains between Izumo and Hagi. A car is essential, since local trains run infrequently.
  • In Hiroshima, by contrast, the tram covers everything.
  • Two visits depend on the tide: the Miyajima torii, ideally seen at both states within the same day, and the Kurushima whirlpools, more spectacular on the ebb tide.

Formalities and safety

  • Valid passport, no visa for a tourist stay of 90 days maximum. This stage belongs to the second stay of the Japanese route, the eighty-six-day one. A Japan-compliant driving permit for the car.
  • The Hiroshima memorial museum is a hard visit, especially the first room: leave room in the rest of the day, and do not follow it straight away with another demanding site. The ceremony on August 6 draws tens of thousands of people.
  • Each of Kinosaki's seven baths has its own closing day, different from the others, and tattoos are turned away at several of them.

Budget and meals

  • Japanese yen. Cash is essential throughout the San'in: many small establishments, temples and rural parking lots do not take cards, and ATMs are rare outside the towns.
  • Indicative meal budget: ¥900 to ¥1,500 at midday, ¥2,000 to ¥3,500 in the evening. Fugu in Shimonoseki and crab in Kinosaki fall outside these ranges.
  • Left to you: the seven-bath pass outside the ryokan, the funiculars and cable cars, the Adachi Museum, Akiyoshidō, the Ine boat, the ferry and visitor tax for Miyajima, and the Shimanami tolls.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly do I receive?

Your Étaperia itinerary, available immediately in your customer account after payment: readable online with clickable booking links, and downloadable as a PDF for the trip. Every day is sequenced Morning / Afternoon / Evening and says where you spend the night, with the address and booking link for each place to stay. Timed-entry tickets are flagged in advance.

How is this better than what an AI gives me?

A generative AI composes a plausible list in seconds, without saying what was checked or when. At Étaperia, every itinerary is compiled day by day, with the booking constraints spotted before it is too late to get them. The Method page says what is checked, against which source and on what date.

Can I adapt it to my dates and my pace?

Yes. The days are self-contained blocks: you can shift the departure, stretch a stage or skip a day without breaking what follows. Only timed-entry tickets require adjusting the dates accordingly, and they are all flagged.

What if a hotel or a place in the itinerary has closed?

Email contact@etaperia.com within 12 months of your purchase. If a hotel in the itinerary is closed or can no longer be found, or a place to visit has closed permanently, the itinerary is corrected in your customer account within 7 days, or you are refunded in full. A hotel fully booked on your dates, a seasonal closure or a change in opening hours or prices is not covered. This guarantee comes on top of the legal warranty of conformity; details in article 12 of the terms and conditions of sale.

Module, classic or complete itinerary: which one should I choose?

A classic is a short trip built to stand on its own, designed for a first visit to the country. A module covers one region in depth. The complete itinerary crosses the whole country, and buying it also unlocks each of its modules in your customer account.

Can I get a refund if the itinerary doesn't suit me?

No. It is digital content delivered right away, and you waive your right of withdrawal at checkout. To judge before you pay, every product page gives one full day for free and the list of every stop. After purchase, the guarantee applies: a closed hotel or a permanently closed place is corrected within 7 days, otherwise you get a refund.

Who is selling you this itinerary

  • Consumer mediator: ANM Consommation
  • Payment handled by Stripe: Étaperia never sees your card number
  • Publisher, not a travel agency: you book flights, hotels and tickets yourself

In the same country

This module is one leg of the full itinerary: Japan itinerary: 86 days across Kyoto, Shikoku and Kyūshū, hotels and bookings

For a first trip to the country, see instead: Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto in 12 days: a first trip to Japan, no car needed

The complete itinerary

The classic itineraries

Or take it one module at a time

To read before you go

Our articles about Japan

All the blog articles