Best of Japan nature, can we do it?

Hello everyone,

My husband and I are coming to Japan by the end of June for 7 nights. We'll fly in/out from Fukuoka (Island) and have our car rental from/to same place. We are both nature lover, but no long trekking (maybe 1-2 hours the most). We would love to see Shikoku Island along with Hiroshima (my husband is from 3 Miles Island area). We've done lots of researches and here what we come up with, even though we are not 100% sure about the driving distance

June 27: Arrive in Fukuoka at 10:30am - Drive to Hiroshima
June 28: Hiroshima Tour - Drive to Matsuyama - Visit Matsuyama Castle - Possibility to stay in a small town nearby Matsuyama, any suggestion?
June 29: Matsuyama - Iya Valley - Visit Iya Valley/Oboke/Koboke
June 30: Iya Valley - Gamoda Cape - Minami(Sea Turtle Museum/Nesting Area)- Muroto Cape
July 1: Muroto Cape - Ashizuri Cape
July 2: Ashizuri Cape - Uchiko - Yawatahama
July 3: Yawatahama - Ferry Beppu - Drive back to Fukuoka
July 4: Fly Fukuoka - Taipei(extended vacation begins!)

We appreciate any suggestion, contribution to our journey in Japan. In return, ask us any question if you plan to visit South East Asia, where we live and work.

Thank you all,

Quynh and James

Any particular reason you use Fukuoka as your port of entry and departure for your Shikoku trip!? Can you change your flight plan to fly in and out directly from Shikoku!?

Fukuoka to Hiroshima will be a long drive, about 4 hrs at the distance of 290 km. We have driven in Kyushu and Shikoku but on different trips and will definitely break up any long distance driving to fully enjoy it. If you can't change your port of call, consider staying in Kyushu which has a lot to offer, especially if you drive down south.

Hello William,

Thank you very much for your suggestion. We know that Fukuoka - Hiroshima is a long drive and did think about stay somewhere in between. We've looked at option staying at Kyushu Island, but lean more toward Shikoku (which I want to see so bad!). We are not fan of big cities

Our flight to/from Fukuoka is set buy using mileage. Based on my researches that we've done, there are more large cities and highway that we have to pass by on Kyushu, though the south seems really nice. Maybe we are wrong.

Any tip for Shikoku?

Thank you again for your help.

Quynh and James

Hi Quynh and James

Both my wife and I love Japan and never grow tired of going back there again and again. Rather than boring you with words, we have posted our trip photos on the following. Take a look and see whether there are any places that interest you and I'll be happy to pass along further information.

http://picasaweb.google.com/WilliamCWP512/Shikoku# (Shikoku)

http://picasaweb.google.com/WilliamCWP512/Kyushu# (Kyushu)

Thanks Williams for sharing the photos. They look awesome!

I made up our mind spending most the time in Shikoku as our original plan

We want to spend one night at Ashizuri Cape as we love the remote location of the place. Do you have any suggestion for lodging here?

Also, ideally, we would love to have one night camping in Iya Valley if we don't have to bring our own tents. We know there is great camp group. Otherwise, do you have advice for us?

Thanks for taking your time for us.

Quynh and James

We went to Ashizuri but didn't stay the night. We did hike the trail from the white lighthouse to the Hakusan Do-mon sea cave and enjoy the coastal view.
http://www.city.tosashimizu.kochi.jp/sight/ashizuri_01.html#006

From the sea cave we went back up to the main road and noticed there were a number of minshuku/pension style dwellings like the one shown on the left-hand side of the following map
http://www.city.tosashimizu.kochi.jp/sight/map_01.html

The following is a list of accommodation available in the Ashizuri area
http://www.city.tosashimizu.kochi.jp/sight/stay_00.html

We are not into camping but we came across the following site during our research. It is a camp site in the Iya Valley with either rental bungalows or tents
http://www.miyoshinavi.jp/03asobu/detail.php?genr=102&area=2&uid=SS000...

Thank you for all information. We've sorted out the itinerary. We'll indeed let you know how our trip goes after we come back from Japan.

Quynh and James