This is a desk-researched itinerary. I have never been to Daisen or Hiruzen. It is a trip I would like to take, researched and planned as seriously as if I were actually going. Prices and operating information were checked in September 2026, but please confirm the latest details on each official website before you travel.
The plan at a glance
- Budget frame: ¥150,000 for two (¥75,000 per person), 3 days and 2 nights, from Tokyo
- Take the first morning flight from Haneda to Yonago. On Day 1, walk to Daisenji Temple and the Okunomiya of Ogamiyama Shrine, then stay at Kaike Onsen. On Day 2, drive a rental car over the Hiruzen Daisen Skyline to the Hiruzen Highlands. On Day 3, cycle around the highlands and fly home from Yonago Airport
- The backbone of this plan is renting a car only for the stretch from Yonago Station to the airport. Where a plane and a bus will get you there, the plan uses them; for the stretch that includes a pass public transport cannot cross, it rents a car
What changes if you add one more night beyond Daisen
I wrote up a 2-day, 1-night plan for Daisen and Sakaiminato in a separate article. This time the plan goes one step further south from Daisen, across the border between Tottori and Okayama, to the Hiruzen Highlands, which makes it 3 days and 2 nights.
The reason is simple. The Hiruzen Daisen Skyline, the road linking Daisen and Hiruzen, is the most spectacular drive in this region. There is Kagikake Pass, which looks straight at the south face of Daisen, and the Kimendai Observation Rest Area, at an elevation of about 900 m and known as a place to see a sea of clouds. Going to Daisen and back without taking this road honestly seems like a waste.
The catch is that no route buses run on this road. To get from Kaike Onsen to Hiruzen by public transport alone, you would go back to Yonago, head south on the Hakubi Line to Neu Station, and transfer there to the lodging's shuttle bus (reservation required), a detour of more than two hours. And it still does not take you over the Skyline. By car, it is a scenic drive of about 1 hour 20 minutes of driving time from Daisenji via Kagikake Pass to the Hiruzen Highlands.
Working out how to get there
Flights: six round trips a day between Haneda and Yonago
ANA flies six round trips a day between Haneda and Yonago, taking about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes.
- From Haneda: 6:50 / 9:00 / 11:50 / 15:20 / 17:40 / 19:55
- From Yonago: 7:20 / 8:55 / 11:05 / 13:55 / 17:30 / 19:50
Take the first flight of the morning, NH381 (Haneda 6:50 → Yonago 8:15), and you get the whole first day on the ground. For the return, NH388 from Yonago at 17:30 (arriving at Haneda at 18:50) is the flight that still lets you take your time in the highlands on Day 3.
The fare comes down entirely to how you use the early-booking discount. The cost estimate assumes a 75-day advance fare of ¥20,000 per person round trip.
For reference, when I checked the fares actually on offer for October 27–29, about seven weeks before departure, NH381 outbound was ¥29,540 and NH388 on the return was ¥45,380. Booked as in this itinerary, that came to ¥149,840 for two. Seven weeks out is a point where early-booking discounts barely apply, so treat these figures as a reference for what happens if you book late. On this route, booking early once you have decided to go makes the biggest difference.
The return fare also varies with the time of day. At the time of research, the 17:30 departure was ¥45,380, the highest that day, and the last flight at 19:50 was ¥33,280. That is a difference of ¥12,000 per person, or ¥24,000 for two. If arriving at Haneda at 21:10 is fine, the last flight is an option.
By rail, Tokyo to Okayama plus the limited express Yakumo is about ¥23,000 and about five and a half hours one way. A round trip for two is more than ¥90,000, so this plan does not use it.
Rental car: two days, from the morning of Day 2
Pick up the car on the morning of Day 2 in front of Yonago Station, and return it on the evening of Day 3 at Yonago Airport. With Toyota Rent a Car, the Yonago Ekimae branch is a one-minute walk from JR Yonago Station (opens at 8:00), and the Yonago Kitaro Airport branch has a counter in the airport terminal (8:00–20:00). One-way drop-off within the same prefecture is free, so picking up in front of Yonago Station and returning at the airport costs nothing extra.
You have the car for about 31 hours, so you pay for two days. At the basic rate for the compact class (a Yaris or similar), that is ¥8,580 for the first 24 hours plus ¥7,260 for each day after that, or ¥15,840. Add the collision damage waiver at ¥1,100 × 2 days and it comes to ¥18,040. An online discount plan may bring it down a little further.
On the Hiruzen side, Hiruzen IC on the Yonago Expressway is the gateway to the highlands. On Day 3 you can get back to the airport from here, heading toward Yonago, in about 1 hour 15 minutes.
Sample itinerary (3 days, 2 nights)
Day 1: Walk Daisenji, then on to Kaike Onsen
Take NH381 from Haneda at 6:50, arriving in Yonago at 8:15. Take the airport bus (about 25 minutes, ¥600) to Yonago Station, then the 9:30 Nihon Kotsu bus to Daisenji (about 52 minutes, ¥730). The bus to Daisenji runs only five round trips a day, so if you miss the 9:30, there is nothing until the afternoon.
Walk up the Daisenji approach to the Okunomiya of Ogamiyama Shrine, which has one of the largest walls in Japan. The approach, paved with natural stones, runs for about 700 m. I covered how to walk it in the 2-day, 1-night article, so see that one for the details.
Head back on the 15:20 bus to Yonago Station, then take a route bus (about 20 minutes) to Kaike Onsen. Tonight's stay is Kasuitei, a long-established inn at Kaike Onsen with its own hot-spring source, and its large bath looks out over the Sea of Japan. I plan to eat dinner out in the hot-spring town and book a stay with breakfast only to keep costs down.
Day 2: Kagikake Pass and Kimendai, then over the pass to the Hiruzen Highlands
In the morning, take a route bus back to Yonago Station, pick up the rental car in front of the station, and set off a little after 9:00. Drive up the Daisen Kanko Road to the Masumizu Highlands, then follow the Daisen Ring Road south around the mountain to Kagikake Pass. It takes about an hour from Yonago Station to here.
Kagikake Pass is a viewpoint for the south face of Daisen. Rugged rock walls and beech forest make it look like a different mountain from the well-proportioned "Hoki Fuji" seen from the west. In the autumn-leaf season, the parking lot gets crowded.
From Kagikake Pass, join the Hiruzen Daisen Skyline (Prefectural Route 114) and head to the Kimendai Observation Rest Area on the prefectural border. From the viewpoint at about 900 m, you see Daisen and Mount Karasugasen to the north and the Hiruzen Highlands to the south. From Kagikake Pass to the Hiruzen Highlands is about 23 km, or about 50 minutes, on a road that is easy to drive, as you would expect of a former toll road.
Note, though, that the Hiruzen Daisen Skyline is closed in winter. It usually closes in early December and reopens in late March of the following year (in 2025 it closed from December 3, and in 2026 it opened on March 27). In some years, part of the road stayed closed into early spring even after the reopening, so check road information before you go.
Once you come down into the Hiruzen Highlands a little after noon, lunch is Hiruzen yakisoba: a miso-based sauce with kashiwa (meat from mature hens) and cabbage. Officially recognized local shops are scattered around the area, and Yamana Shokudo, a long-established restaurant (10:30–16:00, closed Thursdays), and Yuyu (11:00–16:00, closed Mondays) are the leading examples. Their closing days fall on different days, Monday and Thursday, so one of them should be open.
In the afternoon, take your time around the highlands, then stay tonight at Kyukamura Hiruzen Kogen. It is an inn with natural radon hot springs and a view of the three Hiruzen peaks, and in autumn it serves a highland buffet that includes salt-grilled nodoguro (September 1 to November 30, 2026). At the time of research, none of the booking options I checked had Western-style twin rooms available, and the only room available was a 10-tatami-mat Japanese-style room in the main building. Lodgings in the highlands have few rooms, so this is one to book early.
Day 3: Cycling the highlands and Jersey Land, then back to the airport and home to Tokyo
The Hiruzen Highlands have a cycling road about 30 km long, the Hiruzen Kogen Cycling Road. A full loop takes about 3.5 hours. You can rent bicycles at Kyukamura (¥250 per hour for guests, 7:00–17:00), and even an hour or two of riding in the morning highlands looks like it would be pleasant. Riding through pastureland with the three Hiruzen peaks and Daisen in view is one of the highlights of this plan.
After returning the bikes, drive to Hiruzen Jersey Land. It is next to a pasture where Jersey cattle graze, and it is known for soft-serve ice cream made with 100% Hiruzen Jersey milk and for dishes made with Jersey beef (9:30–16:30 from late March to November). The food menu is limited in the morning, so if you plan to have lunch there, go after 11:00.
Leave Hiruzen around 15:00. From Hiruzen IC on the Yonago Expressway, it is about 1 hour 15 minutes to Yonago Airport. Return the rental car at the airport branch and take NH388 at 17:30, arriving at Haneda at 18:50. If you want to keep the fare down, or stay in the highlands a little longer, you can also switch to the last flight at 19:50.
Estimated cost (total for two, with per-person figures)
With an early-booking fare on the first morning flight
- Flights (Haneda ⇔ Yonago, 75-day advance fare): ¥40,000 / ¥20,000 per person
- Lodging, night 1 (Kasuitei, Western-style triple room with breakfast): ¥23,232 / ¥11,616 per person
- Lodging, night 2 (Kyukamura Hiruzen Kogen, buffet dinner and breakfast): ¥32,010 / ¥16,005 per person
- Rental car (compact, 2 days plus collision damage waiver): ¥18,040 / ¥9,020 per person
- Fuel and expressway tolls: ¥3,000 / ¥1,500 per person
- Local transport (buses and the airport bus): ¥6,000 / ¥3,000 per person
- Food, sightseeing and incidentals (including bike rental): ¥27,000 / ¥13,500 per person
Total: about ¥149,000 for two (about ¥75,000 per person) (about ¥259,000 for two if the flights are booked about seven weeks ahead)
With Kasuitei's kaiseki dinner-and-breakfast plan
Switch the first night to the limited-offer value kaiseki plan (10-tatami-mat Japanese-style room, ¥44,352) and it costs ¥21,120 more, for a total of about ¥170,000 for two (about ¥85,000 per person). Whether you spend your evening in Kaike on the inn's kaiseki or at restaurants in the hot-spring town is up to you.
When to go: late October for autumn leaves, or May to June for fresh greenery
The star of this plan is the Hiruzen Daisen Skyline, so choose the timing by when the road looks its best. The first choice is the autumn-leaf season, from late October to early November, when the beech forest at Kagikake Pass changes color. For fresh greenery, go in May or June. The dishes at Kyukamura's highland buffet change with the season.
As a past example, in fiscal 2026 Tottori Prefecture ran a rental-car subsidy for airport users from outside the prefecture. The eligible period was April 1 to June 30 (excluding Golden Week), with a basic discount of ¥2,000, or up to ¥3,000 off for eligible flights. Major companies such as Toyota, Nippon and Orix were covered.
In winter (December to late March), the Skyline is closed, so this plan does not work.
What I honestly still do not know
- Partial closures in early spring. In 2025, there was a case where only the section between Kagikake Pass and the Masumizu Highlands stayed closed even after the reopening. If you go in spring, first check section-by-section opening status in the road information from Tottori and Okayama prefectures.
- What rental cars actually cost. The estimate uses the basic (list) rate. Online discounts or early-booking plans could lower it by a few thousand yen, but on weekends at the peak of the autumn leaves, cars may be in short supply.
- Bike rental at Kyukamura. Electric-assist bicycles are listed as temporarily unavailable (as of spring 2026). If you want to avoid the hills, other bike rental points in the highlands (such as GREENable HIRUZEN) apparently have e-bikes, but I have not confirmed their prices.
- Meal times at Jersey Land. The food menu is limited in the morning, and the time meals start can vary by season. If you are counting on lunch there, after 11:00 seems the safe choice.
Conclusion
Plane and bus as far as Daisen; beyond that, a car over the pass to the airport. Building the Hiruzen Daisen Skyline, which public transport cannot cross, into the itinerary produced a 3-day, 2-night trip for about ¥149,000 for two. Day 1, with Daisenji and Kaike Onsen, has the same backbone as the 2-day, 1-night article. If you can take only one day off, go with that one; if you want to go beyond the pass, go with this plan. I hope that helps you choose between the two.
Photos from Wikimedia Commons: Daisen 2014-10-30 (15690014225) (mstk east / CC BY 2.0), Autumnus coloribus - panoramio (warabi hatogaya / CC BY 3.0), Hiruzen 01 (Reggaeman / CC BY-SA 3.0), and Hiruzen-Bos taurus (melvil / CC BY-SA 4.0). Resized only. Illustrations are for reference.
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Estimated cost (total for two, two people sharing one room / per person)
- Flights (Haneda ⇔ Yonago, early-booking fare): ¥40,000 / ¥20,000 per person
- Lodging, night 1 (Kasuitei, with breakfast): ¥23,232 / ¥11,616 per person
- Lodging, night 2 (Kyukamura Hiruzen Kogen, dinner and breakfast): ¥32,010 / ¥16,005 per person
- Rental car (compact, 2 days): ¥18,040 / ¥9,020 per person
- Fuel and expressway tolls: ¥3,000 / ¥1,500 per person
- Local transport: ¥6,000 / ¥3,000 per person
- Food, sightseeing and incidentals: ¥27,000 / ¥13,500 per person
- Total: about ¥149,000 for two (about ¥75,000 per person)