Driving the Nichinan coast: Aoshima to Cape Toi

The Nichinan coast is Miyazaki’s great road trip. South of Miyazaki city, Route 220 runs along the Pacific past palm trees, cliffs and long shelves of wave-cut rock, with a shrine, a castle town or a viewpoint every few kilometres. You can see the highlights in a day, but two days let you reach Cape Toi at the southern tip.

Aoshima

Start 30 minutes south of the city at Aoshima, a tiny island covered in palms, with a shrine in the middle. Walk across the bridge and around the island, and look for the Devil’s Washboard, the ridges of rock that surround it like ripples. Come at low tide if you can.

Horikiri Pass and Michi-no-Eki Phoenix

A few minutes south, the road climbs over Horikiri Pass, with the best views of the rock shelves stretching along the shore. Just beyond is Michi-no-Eki Phoenix, a roadside station with a viewing deck, snacks and local produce. Try a cone of mango soft-serve ice cream.

Udo Jingu

About 40 minutes further south, Udo Jingu is the highlight of the coast: a vermilion shrine built inside a sea cave, reached by a path along the cliffs and steep steps down. Buy a few undama clay balls and try to throw one into the hollow on the turtle-shaped rock below.

Sun Messe Nichinan

Just north of Udo Jingu, Sun Messe Nichinan is a hillside park with seven full-size replica moai looking out to sea. They were made with the permission of the elders of Easter Island, as thanks for Japanese help in restoring the real moai there in the 1990s. Check the opening days before you go, as the park closes on some weekdays.

Obi

Turn inland at Aburatsu for Obi, a castle town of stone walls and samurai houses, about 15 minutes from the coast. Buy the walking and eating map, try the Obi-ten fish cakes and stroll the lanes. Read our guide to a day in Obi.

Cape Toi

If you have time, keep going south past fishing ports and quiet bays to Cape Toi, about an hour from Obi, where wild Misaki horses graze above the sea. Off the coast nearby is Koshima, the island famous for its potato-washing monkeys.

Planning your drive

• One day: Aoshima, Horikiri Pass, Udo Jingu, Sun Messe Nichinan and Obi, returning to Miyazaki in the evening. That is about 150 km in all.
• Two days: add Cape Toi, with a night in Obi or Nichinan.
• By train: the JR Nichinan Line reaches Aoshima and Obi, but not Udo Jingu or Cape Toi, and trains are infrequent.
• By tour: private tours from Miyazaki and shore excursions from Aburatsu port cover the main sights.
• Weather: the coast road can close in heavy rain and typhoons. Check the forecast.