Stop going to Tokyo and Kyoto and go to these incredible places in Japan with kids instead!
As of 2026, Japan Airlines is offering free domestic flights for travellers coming from the following countries: United States, Canada, Mexico, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, India, China and Taiwan. All you have to do is book both a Japan Airlines international flight and a domestic flight on the same reservation through JAL’s website. This means you can skip playing sardines in Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka, and visit some really incredible places outside of this tourist corridor in Japan.
1. Takachiho Gorge, Kyushu
Takachiho Gorge Boat Ride 
Takachiho Gorge Boat ride
Where to stay in Takachiho
While you can certainly enjoy a day trip here, I would highly recommend staying in Takachiho for at least 2 nights. The countryside here is really beautiful, there’s stunning rice fields, and there’s a few other things to explore in the area. There’s also the added bonus of having Takachiho Gorge almost entirely to yourself in the morning before all the tour buses arrive! The busses generally roll in around 9/10 am so you have plenty of time to explore the place in the morning.
If you’re looking for a Ryokan, this is a great option right in the heart of Takachiho town.
If you’re looking for a little bit more space and a cheaper option, try out this private home in town.
We stayed just outside of town in a 400 year old temple lodge. It was quite remote and you’ll need a car, but we were surrounded by silence and rice fields!
Things to do in Takachiho with kids
This was my main reason for dragging my entire family over to the southern region of Japan, Kyushu. Thankfully I’m the sole itinerary creator at the moment and have full creative control over where and when we go, while everyone else just enjoys the ride and my husband doesn’t know where we’re going until we’re in the airplane.
Takachiho Gorge, a stunning natural gorge in the Miyazaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, took everyone by surprise! The moment the kids saw the waterfalls and blue water, they were BEGGING me to go down there and get into one of the cute rowboats. Lucky for them, I scored two reservations for our family so we could each take the kids twice. Theres a 3-person limit on the boats, though they’ll let you go with 4 people if the kiddos are small enough. Unfortunately we have too many children for even that situation, so we ended up taking turns with the baby on land and one parent with the older kids on the boats.
Make sure to reserve your boat a few days in advance, as they do sell out. If they’re sold out you’re unlikely to get on a boat upon arrival. If you don’t get a boat reservation – that’s alright too. The best views are from the short walking path above, though it’s definitely a cool experience to row past the ragged cliffs and waterfalls.
The town of Takachiho feels very serene, all surrounded by rice fields. It’s the countryside, so you’ll have lots of space to breathe and relax, unlike Tokyo and Kyoto where you feel constantly in the way of 230498 other tourists.In general I found the countryside much easier to navigate than any of the larger cities just from the perspective of crowd overwhelm and bathroom navigation. Odo no Kuchi Rice Terraces are really scenic if you’re looking for some early morning photography!
Aside from the gorge, there’s a really beautiful hike you can do to Amanoiwato Shrine Nishi Hongu. There’s a tori gate inside a cave and the hike itself is fairly short and easy.
On the drive in or out of Takachiho, make sure to stop at Kamishikimi Kumanoimasu Shrine. It has the overgrown temple vibes and looks absolutely stunning with the sun shining through the trees on the old stone temple.
2. Katsuyama
This was a completely unexpected addition to our trip after we decided to cut our Kyoto stay short. I was completely overwhelmed by the insane amount of tourists in Kyoto and told Danny we need to forfeit the rest of our stay there and get out somewhere else.
This was not an easy detour, but as soon as I saw this temple I knew we absolutely had to go here. It is just so different from all the other temples we’ve seen in Japan and the best part was we were literally the only people in the temple and possibly the town. It’s quite a trek to get here, but just remember – the easier it is to get somewhere, the more crowded it’s going to be. This logic works in the other direction as well.
Where to stay in Katsuyama with Kids
Katsuyama is quite far from anything, so you’ll definitely want to spend at least a night here. You likely won’t need more than one night though 🙂
Katsuyama New Hotel is a super cute dinosaur-themed hotel and right in the heart of town. We traveled here by public transport so it was important to stay somewhere in town. It’s also just a 10 minute walk from the temple above so it’s super convenient!
Things to do in Katsuyama with Kids
The main sight for adults is certainly the Daishizan Seidaiji Temple Echizen. It has Japan’s tallest sitting Buddha statue, as well as a wall of hundreds of smaller buddha statues. It truly is such a unique temple.
But the main sight for KIDS might actually be the huge Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum! The entire city is filled with dinosaurs at every corner – there’s some at the train station, some around the streets, even the grocery stores have dinosaurs! If your kid is into dinosaurs, this is certainly the place to be!
Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum 
3. Beppu
Beppu is a hot spring city. I think there’s about 2000 different hot springs in the area, and the entire city looks like it’s steaming! Seven Hells of Beppu is a hotspring park you can explore by foot, with different pools.
Where to stay in Beppu
Stay in Beppu Suginoi Hotel to enjoy their hotsprings and get a beautiful view of the ocean.
If you’re looking for something a little bit more traditional Japanese style, check out Sekiya Resort Bettei Haruki.
4. Iya Valley
Forget about cherry blossoms in Tokyo or Kyoto. This is probably the highest concentration of cherry blossoms I’ve seen in all of Japan – and there was nobody here. We were probably just a week early but I bet even during peak season it’s not super crowded. You’ll definitely need a car to get around here as there’s not enough public transport. But once you’re on Shikoku island, you’ll be surrounded by the Japanese countryside from every angle!
People come to the valley to unplug from the busyness of the major cities, enjoy nature, go rafting in the river and go hiking in the forests. There’s a forest adventure park that’s great for kids and has ziplines, a tree ropes course and a rollercoaster. Unfortunately it was closed when we were there so we didn’t get to try it out but it looked super fun from the outside.
Where to stay in Iya Valley with Kids
Iya Onsen looks absolutely stunning and I wish it was available when we were there.
Hotel Kazurabashi is a great option right near the vine bridge
5. Magome Juku
The Nakasendo Trail is a historic route connecting Kyoto and Tokyo used during the Edo period many years ago. The most famous and scenic section of the trail connects the two towns of Magome and Tsumago, about a 9km stretch. It’s a common hiking route for people wanting to experience a section of this pilgrimage route. There are options to stay in one of the towns and hike to the other town with luggage forwarding so that you don’t have to do a return trip. We did a day hike from Magome to Tsumago and took the public bus back to Magome! I felt like that was less logistics to figure out with kids.
Where to stay in Magome with Kids
A lot of these accommodations didn’t allow kids, but Guest House Yanagiya was excellent. It was right in the historic section of the town (the photo above was taken from the guesthouse door).
Make sure to book accommodation here well in advance as it’s a tiny town and gets sold out very quick. The next best thing if everything is sold out would be to stay in Nakatsugawa and do a day trip, but the logistics of that are somewhat exhausting with kids.
6. Nagano
Most people come to Nagano to see the famous snow monkeys, and I would agree that’s a must. But while you’re in Nagano, there’s a couple of other things you should see!
Matsumoto is in Nagano Prefecture and is an easy train ride away from Nagano. I wanted the girls to see at least one castle while we were in Japan, and really wanted to avoid the popular ones like Himeji or Osaka. While still quite popular, we were able to walk in and out without crowds and enjoy the experience without the immediate overwhelm of crowds.
Matsumoto Castle 
Matsumoto Castle
We also decided to stay at a ryokan in the area since they’re much cheaper outside of the main cities.
Where to stay near Nagano
We stayed at Ryokan Warabino, which is about 40 minutes outside of Nagano city. They can pick you up from the train station so you don’t need to have a car to get here! The food was delicious, it’s located right in the rice fields, and you can also go see the snow monkeys right from here.
7. Kochi
Kochi is a port city located at the southern end of Shikoku island. The main attraction for us here was the Kochi Castle, but also it was a gateway for exploring some more remote parts of Shikoku!
Where to stay in Kochi
If you want to stay right in the city, here’s a good option. It’s close to the castle and super walkable.
We actually drove out about an hour away to stay at Kamikoya Washi Studio for their washi making experience! This was such a highlight for the kids and was absolutely worth the drive over.
The girls made their own washi paper from scratch by collecting natural elements from the surrounding rice fields. It was such a magical and memorable experience! The best part was we got to have it shipped to our final stay in Tokyo before our flight out so we could bring it home with us!
8. Wakayama
We visited Wakayama on a previous trip to Japan and really loved it, so I want to include it here. My photos from my first trip do not do it justice, but it was so beautiful that it was the reason we came back for a second trip to explore more of the countryside!
Where to stay in Wakayama, Japan with kids
Literally look no further than staying at Kiri no Sato Takahara. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.
9. Shodoshima Island
There are a few islands you can visit between mainland Japan and Shikoku, and we picked this one. The ferries are super easy to use, and you can even bring your car onboard. There’s a kids’ section on the ferry, a train on the top deck, slides – it’s basically a full on cruiseship and we had it entirely to ourselves.
Shodoshima is fairly small and you can probably get to the main sites in just a day. We stayed one night and it was the perfect amount of time to check out Angel Road, the rice fields and the Monkey Park!
Where to stay in Shodo Island, Japan with kids
We stayed in Setouchi Shodoshima and it was close to everything we needed!
10. Fukuoka
Fukuoka is like Tokyo’s smaller, calmer, cleaner, better cousin. It has most of the same attractions and viral eats that Tokyo does but with approximately 2304983204958 less tourists. I’m not exaggerating.
Canal City in Fukuoka is a huge shopping mall, but we came there for the free hourly fountain show and stayed for probably three of them because the kids did not want to leave.
Fukuoka also has a Team Lab which is much less busy than the Tokyo/Kyoto ones. I was able to book a same day reservation and actually enjoy my time inside without feeling rushed!
Where to stay in Fukuoka with kids
It doesn’t really matter where you stay location-wise, as everything is just a metro ride away.
Solaria Nishitetsu hotel Fukuoka is a great option if you want something nice for a reasonable price.
What to pack for a trip to Japan with Kids
Here’s what we normally pack with us and it didn’t really change much for this trip!