Recently, I joined a bus tour from Osaka to Tottori, and it turned out to be such a fun day trip!
I had already heard about the famous Tottori Sand Dunes, but I hadn’t explored much else in the prefecture before. One thing I really liked about travelling by bus tour was that we stopped at several different places throughout the day. Some of them were places I probably would never have discovered or stopped at if I had planned the trip myself.
If you’re looking for interesting rural places in Japan that are still possible to visit from Osaka, Tottori is definitely worth considering.
Our First Adventure: A Boat Ride Along the Uradome Coast
One of our first major stops was the beautiful Uradome Coast.
We boarded a sightseeing boat that took us along the coastline, where we could see lots of unusual rocks, small islands, cliffs and caves. The scenery here has been shaped over time by the powerful waves, wind and snow of the Sea of Japan. The coastline is part of the San’in Kaigan Geopark and is particularly famous for its unusual rock formations and clear water.
The standard sightseeing cruise takes around 40 minutes and travels around the islands and rocky coastline.
Our boat ride was particularly memorable because the waves were pretty strong that day!
The boat was moving up and down quite aggressively at times, which honestly made the experience even more fun for me. It almost felt like a small amusement park ride!
Between the waves, I really enjoyed looking out at all the different rock formations around the coast. It was completely different from the scenery you normally see when travelling around Osaka.
The Uradome Coast also has beautiful white sandy beaches and clear blue water. If you’re searching for the best beach in Japan or simply somewhere quieter and more natural than the country’s major tourist destinations, this part of Tottori is definitely one to put on your list.
Fresh Kaisen Don for Lunch
After our boat trip, it was time for one of the most important parts of any trip in Japan: food!
For lunch, we had fresh kaisen don, a Japanese seafood bowl with different types of sashimi served over rice.
Alongside the kaisen don, we also had seafood that we could cook ourselves at the table on a small grill. This style of cooking is often called hamayaki, where seafood such as shellfish is grilled directly in front of you.
My First Time Seeing the Tottori Sand Dunes
Next came the place I was most excited to visit: the Tottori Sand Dunes.
Because the chairlift was included as part of our bus tour, we were able to ride it over towards the dunes without paying anything extra.
This was actually my first time visiting the Tottori Sand Dunes, and seeing them in person was really cool.
You hear about Tottori sand and the dunes quite often when people talk about the prefecture, but standing there gives you a much better idea of their scale. There is just sand stretching out in front of you, with the Sea of Japan beyond it.
Visiting the Sand Museum Tottori
Right next to the dunes is another attraction I really wanted to see: the Sand Museum Tottori.
Because we were travelling as part of the bus tour, we also received discounted admission to the museum.
The Sand Museum is dedicated to enormous sculptures created from sand, and its concept is essentially travelling around the world through sand. The museum changes its main international theme regularly, so the sculptures you see depend on when you visit.
For 2026, the theme is Spain. The exhibition runs from April 24, 2026, until January 3, 2027.
The current exhibition includes 19 works inspired by Spain, including Gaudí’s architecture, the Sagrada Família, Spanish history, bullfighting and Don Quixote.
It was amazing seeing how much detail could be created using sand.
If you’re already visiting the Tottori Sand Dunes, I would definitely recommend visiting the museum as well. They’re very close to each other, so it’s easy to experience both during the same trip.
Pear Picking in Tottori 🍐
Our day wasn’t finished yet!
Later, we stopped at a pear orchard for pear picking.
Tottori is particularly famous for Japanese pears, or nashi, including the famous Nijisseiki (20th Century) pear. There are several pear orchards close to the Tottori Sand Dunes, with different varieties available depending on the season.
At the orchard we visited, we could pick and eat as many pears as we wanted.
I thought I would be able to eat quite a few.
I managed three.
After that, I was completely full!
The pears were incredibly fresh and juicy, though, especially because we were eating them right after picking them from the tree. It was such a simple activity, but it ended up being one of the most memorable parts of the day.
Why I Enjoyed Exploring Tottori by Bus Tour
One of my favourite things about this trip wasn’t actually one specific attraction.
It was all the little stops along the way.
Throughout the day, the bus stopped at places I had never heard of before. That’s something I probably wouldn’t have experienced if I had simply driven directly from Osaka to the Tottori Sand Dunes and back.
Bus tours sometimes have a reputation for being a little restrictive because you’re following a schedule, but for a day trip like this, I actually think that’s one of their biggest advantages.
Transportation was already organised, several activities were included, we received benefits such as the chairlift and discounted museum admission, and we managed to experience the coast, seafood, sand dunes, museum, countryside and pear picking all in one day.
For me, it was an affordable and really fun way to explore a part of Japan that I hadn’t seen before.
If you’re staying in Osaka and want to experience some of the rural places in Japan, I definitely recommend looking at a day trip to Tottori.
You might go for the famous Tottori Sand Dunes, but you may end up enjoying the unexpected stops along the way just as much as I did.