Tohoku, in the North of Japan, is one of the country’s most rural countryside areas. As with much of Japan, the roads here are well-surfaced and easy to navigate, with plenty of highway options so that you can drive from A to B quickly.

On this particular trip, we decided to begin our journey in the Iwate prefecture, in the Hanamaki area, which is famous for onsen baths as well as acre upon acre of rice fields. The plan for this trip was to travel from Hanamaki in to Yamagata – visiting numerous onsen areas along the way, bordering the Miyagi prefecture – before wrapping up the journey in Sendai and the shinkansen back to Tokyo.

Leaving Iwate towards Yamagata will see you drive through numerous small villages; through these always pay attention to the roads and keep your speed well down as the local villagers tend to conduct most of their daily activity near the vehicles streaming by.

The first port of call for this trip was a visit to Oyasukyo Daifunto. The drive there is relatively easy, but the climb down to the site certainly isn’t. It takes approximately 15-20 minutes to reach the bottom, from where you can see a brilliant view of the bridge overhead amongst the clouds of sulphur-full smoke puff from the ground in this highly volcanic area. It’s a well recommended trip as you head south towards Yamagata.

From Oyasukyo Daifunto, we opted to take the scenic route through Miyagi to Naruko Onsen. This is the first time in all of my years in Japan that the satellite navigation decided to take the car through a gravel only road for approximately 6-7 kilometers. It was certainly unexpected and not exactly welcomed from the other passengers, but I have to say the journey over the rocky road added to the excitement of the day.

Next up on our visit was a trip to the stunning Ginzan Onsen. If you are able to, I would highly recommend staying at a hotel in this area but unfortunately this onsen region is very difficult to book into a ryokan. If you are not able to, a short walk through the area is beautiful; and a great place to grab a watermelon juice and a snack. The area was founded on an old silver mine in Yamagata, and caters for those who wish prefer to stay in an old-style themed area of Japan during their stay.

We decided to then head to Zao Onsen, a famous ski resort just south of Yamagata city. A couple of hours further of a drive, taking us right through Yamagata City brought us through the winding roads of Zao and a stop over for the night in Zao, famous for the local baths. This area is highly recommended during the winter, but equally beautiful in the summer and certainly less busy.

Yamagata is famous for it’s cherries, so the next day we decided to go pick “sakuranbo”. In Tohoku you will often find places where you can pay a flat fee and spend 30 minutes pulling fruit from the tree and eating an unlimited amount. Certainly worth trying at least once.

We found a spot just outside of Zao Onsen, which was a very convenient stop over for our trip in to Yamagata City, where there are a few famous buildings worth driving through as well as a small yet vibrant city area packed full of restaurants.

The next must stop is a visit to Yamadera (Risshakuji). This is a cluster of stunning shinto temples clumped together on a mountain, which is no easy feat to climb in itself. Expect to spend at least 2-3 hours here as you’ll see some of the most incredible views in all of Japan.

The final leg of our journey took us to Sendai station, with the remaining stretch of the trip completed by highway.

Tohoku is a beautiful place where you can enjoy the scenery during any season of the year. The winter provides brilliant ski and deep snow, autumn leaves are particularly famous and summer and spring are gorgeous for nature. A must visit if you have long enough during a trip to Japan.