Japan: Honshu: Chūgoku: Tottori-ken: Tottori Sand Dunes

Daikon
Matsue

Worth visiting!

A review of this place: Sand

Ah, the Tottori Sand Dunes. Locals kept saying: “Don’t bother going there, it’s just a lot of sand!”, and you know what, they were not far off the mark!
However, the dunes are so extremely high and large that it’s really worth the trip. That and the chance to see elderly Japanese women paying premium cash to ride on a camel! Wooh!
If you feel like doing something crazy you can try riding said camels, or go paragliding or sandboarding (kind of like snowboarding without the snow). Good clean fun for all the family!

Comments:

PattyTrish
Las Cruces

Wow

That looks like a hike. And with sand, it can be a struggle to climb! I was surprised, here in America, to have seen and then climbed our Great Sand Dunes in Colorado. No camels in sight, there, though! In my ignorance, and probably because of old movies, I thought sand dunes like these were limited to Arabia…

http://www.nps.gov/grsa/

Daikon
Matsue

Yeah, was quite a climb!
Worth doing though – according to scientists the dunes will disappear over the next couple of decades.

Btw the dunes at Tottori inspired Kobo Abe when he wrote The Woman in the Dunes (which still remains on my books-to-read-in-the-near-future list).

kalavinka
Los Angeles

wow

I didn’t realize Japan had any sand dunes, let alone ones these big (and with camels!) I need to add this to my list of places to see. I climbed up a sand dune in New Zealand, then rode a body board down the hill. omoshirokatta kedo tsukareru!

Daikon
Matsue

Yeah, it’s worth seeing, but I’d recommend renting a car if you’re going to visit the San-in area of Japan. Especially in Shimane there are so many very special places tourists don’t generally see, just because train services are quite limited there.
I didn’t try any sandboarding or paragliding in at the Tottori dunes, but you could have a real blast here! Going up and down one of these massive dunes was more than enough excitement for me ;)
Btw visit in winter and you can also go skiing or snowboarding in Tottori province at mount Daisen near Yonago, where they have the best ski center in western Japan!


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