Kurashiki, Okayama: Guide, Hotels, Map & Photos
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JPY 14,000 - 20,000 Ryokan Misono
 A 10-minute walk from Bikan Historical Quarter, Ryokan Misono has offered traditional Japanese-style accommodation and hospitality since the Meiji Era… MoreJPY 5,500 - 22,000 Kurashiki Ivy Square
 Created from a red-brick cotton mill, the stylish Kurashiki Ivy Square offers 2 restaurants, public hot-spring baths and rooms with flat-screen TVs ju… MoreJPY 6,500 - 15,000 Hotel Resol Kurashiki
 Less than a 5-minute walk to Kurashiki’s famous Bikan Historical Quarter, Hotel Resol Kurashiki offers a restaurant, a spa and comfortable rooms wit… MoreJPY 6,370 - 18,000 Dormy Inn Kurashiki
 Dormy Inn Kurashiki is a 6-minute walk from Kurashiki Train Station and offers modern rooms with free internet access and a public bath with natural h… More | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kurashiki, Okayama: Guide
Kurashiki (倉敷) is a city in Okayama (prefecture)|Okayama prefecture, Japan.
Get in
Kurashiki is on the JR Sanyo Honsen line between Okayama and Fukuyama. It takes about fourteen minutes from Okayama station to Kurashiki station and costs ¥320 each way. Note that the infrequent express trains are more than twice as expensive, and will only save you one or two minutes.
There is also a bus that will take you from Okayama's airport to Kurashiki station in approximately 45 minutes. Cost is ¥1000, ticket can be purchased from a vending machine outside of the airport. Large luggage is okay, the driver will stow it underneath the seats. Staff at the information booth just beyond baggage claim are very helpful, and will go outside with you to purchase the ticket and get you on the appropriate bus. Like most buses in Japan, the driver will collect the ticket when you disembark.
Get around
Most of the sights in Kurashiki are in and around the Bikan area (see below). The station is about ten minutes away on foot down Chuo-dori.
See
There is a tourist information office with several decent maps/guides available in several languages, and most of the workers speak some english. To find the office, exit the train station to the south (left from JR ticket collection), to where you overlook the bus station. Stay on the upper level, and the office is in the shops to the right (west).
Kurashiki Ivy Square (Motomachi 7-2), located in an old cotton mill, sells high-end art, fabrics, textiles and other traditional wares.
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The Bikan area is a preserved district of traditional merchant buildings in Japan. White walls and store houses (倉 kura) with lattice windows, many of which have been converted into museums, share space with weeping willow trees along the banks of an old canal. The canal and its bridges is illuminated at night.
Ohara Museum of Art , near the canal, houses a renowned collection of classic European and American art, including Picasso, Renoir, Monet, Matisse and many others. It also has another building for exhibitions by modern Japanese artists. The neoclassical columns are easily recognized amidst the more traditional buildings in the Bikan area. Look for the Rodin statues out front and in the small sculpture garden at the back.
Japan Rural Toy Museum (4-16 1-chome Chuo-dori; Tel. 086-422-8058), also in the Bikan area, has a collection of over 40,000 toys, although only 5,000 usually are on display. Most are show-pieces (and occasionally eerie ones at that), but there are some that kids can play with hands-on. Admission is ¥300 for adults, ¥200 for teenagers and ¥100 for kids.
Museum of Folkcraft (1-4-11 Chuo-dori; Tel. 086-422-1542) hosts excellent seasonal and permanent exhibitions of Japanese folk crafts. Even if you're not captivated by the subject matter, the space in which it's housed - three vintage structures connected by narrow corridors and old stairwells - is worth checking out. Hours are 9am - 5pm for most of the year, 9am - 4:15pm in the winter. It's closed on Mondays.Do
Tivoli Park , near Kurashiki Station, is a theme park intended to recreate Copenhagen, Denmark. There are fifty thousand trees, and about two hundred fifty kind of flowers. In the summer, there are fireworks every night. It's open 10am - 8pm (M-Th) and 10am - 9pm (F-Su), and an extra hour in the summer. The park is closed from latter half of January to February. Basic admission is ¥2000 for adults, ¥1700 for teenagers, ¥1000 for children and seniors and free for children under 6, with half-price tickets available after 5pm.Buy
Hon-dori and Ebisu-dori are covered shopping arcades leading back toward the station.Eat
Takadaiya is a smokey, yet fantastic little yakitoriya (grilled chicken kebab joint) just behind the Ryokan Kurashiki, on the back alleys, next to the Avenue Jazz club. Prices are reasonable and the food is fantastic. No English spoken.Drink
Ko-hi-kan is a decent coffee shop on Chuo-dori, between the station and the Bikan area.Sleep
Young Inn Kurashiki is a large, red-brick hotel with several floors of small, Western-style rooms for Y4200 per night. It's not very clean, especially by the standards of most Japanese hotels, but it's close to the station and fairly easy to find. The owner speaks a little English, and reservations can be arranged over the internet. Breakfast is available.Get out
Okayama is a short train ride away, featuring Koraku-en, one of Japan's Three Great Gardens, and all the Momotaro you could possibly want.