Okayama: A Perfect Base for Day Trips

Okayama is the capital city of Okayama Prefecture in Western Japan. Known for its historic castle and the beautiful Korakuen gardens, it’s also famous for its peaches and Momotaro, the “Peach Boy” who is a folklore hero for the town. The city sits along the Asahi River and offers scenic views of the Seto Inland Sea.

We spent four nights in Okayama on our 21 day trip of Japan, which was the equal longest (along with Kyoto) that we stayed in any one place. Despite this we didn’t see a huge amount of the city! Instead we used it as a base for day trips to Hiroshima, Miyajima, Naoshima, Himeji Castle and the Kibiji bike trail. This was a really efficient way of doing things and a strategy I’d highly recommend. We managed to visit many places while keeping the same hotel room as a base, with no need to move our luggage all the time. 

Okayama is on the Shinkansen line, between Hiroshima, Osaka and Kyoto, making it convenient to get to and from other major cities. To make things even easier for ourselves we chose to stay at the Hotel Granvia Okayama, which is attached to the station.