7 spots โ sorted by traveller rating
Oze is Japan's largest high-altitude wetland โ a vast plateau of marshes, ponds, and bog straddling the Fukushima-Gunma border at 1,400 metres, and one of Japan's most celebrated hiking destinations. In late May and June, the marshes explode with white mizubasho (Asian skunk cabbage) blooms and yellow nikko-kisuge lilies, creating a carpet of colour across the boardwalk trails. The full loop takes 4โ6 hours through pristine subalpine scenery.
Goshiki-numa โ the Five Colour Ponds โ is one of Japan's most visually astonishing landscapes: a chain of volcanic ponds in the Urabandai highlands, each a completely different mineral colour from cobalt blue to emerald green to rust red, depending on the chemical composition of the crater waters. The ponds formed after the 1888 eruption of Mount Bandai, which dramatically reshaped the plateau overnight. A 3.6-km nature trail connects the main ponds through birch forest, passable year-round.
The Bandai Azuma Skyline is one of Japan's great mountain roads โ a 29-km route traversing the Azuma volcanic range at altitudes up to 1,622 metres, passing steaming fumaroles, bare volcanic moonscapes, and sudden sweeping views of Fukushima City and the Pacific beyond. The road passes directly below Azuma-Kofuji crater and through Jododaira, an alpine plateau excellent for short hikes. Late October brings spectacular autumn colour; the road closes December through April.
The Urabandai plateau on the northern slopes of Mt. Bandai is a landscape utterly shaped by the catastrophic 1888 eruption โ over 300 lakes and ponds of every size now fill the volcanic depressions across a highland of beech forest and marshland. Beyond Goshiki-numa, a network of cycling paths and walking trails connects the lakes through some of Tohoku's most pristine scenery. Canoe hire is available on the larger lakes in summer, and the plateau turns blazing gold in early October.
The Nishi Azuma Sky Valley road winds through the Azuma mountain range at elevations above 1,500 metres, offering sweeping views across both Fukushima and Yamagata prefectures โ including Mt. Bandai, Lake Inawashiro, and on clear days, the Sea of Japan. Autumn transforms the surrounding beech and maple forest into blazing orange and crimson, making October the most popular month for the drive. The road is closed from November through May due to snow.
Lake Inawashiro is Japan's fourth largest lake โ a vast, exceptionally clear body of water known as the 'sky mirror lake' for the way it reflects the surrounding mountains and the cone of Mt. Bandai. Each winter from November through March, thousands of whooper swans migrate from Siberia to overwinter on the lake's southern shores, and the spectacle of white birds against snow-covered mountains draws photographers from across Japan. The lake offers sailing and cycling in summer, with Bandai reflected in its still surface.
Azuma-Kofuji is Fukushima's most accessible volcanic summit โ a young, near-perfectly circular crater that rewards hikers with an extraordinary bird's-eye view of the emerald-green acid lake within. The trail from the Jododaira plateau car park reaches the crater rim in 30 minutes, making it ideal even for those without hiking experience. The surrounding Bandai-Azuma Skyline road ranks among Tohoku's finest mountain drives, with views across Fukushima City all the way to the Pacific Ocean on clear days.
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