Fukui + Lake Biwa (Fukui → Shiga) — 7 days, car

From Fukui’s Eiheiji and Tojinbo cliffs through the dinosaur museum, then Shiga’s Hikone Castle, Koto Sanzan temples, Omihachiman canal town, and Mt. Hiei’s Enryaku-ji.

Don't miss

funazushi at a Lake Biwa specialist — Japan’s oldest sushi.

• Day 1 — Tokyo → shinkansen Fukui → Eiheiji (Soto Zen head temple) (drive ~1h). Stay Eiheiji. — Route map
• Day 2 — Eiheiji morning → Tojinbo Cliffs → Fukui (dinosaur museum) (drive ~1.5h). Stay Fukui. — Route map
• Day 3 — Fukui → Ichijodani Asakura ruins → Nagahama (castle + Kurokabe glass street) → Hikone (drive ~2h). Stay Hikone. — Route map
• Day 4 — Hikone Castle + Genkyu-en garden + castle town → Omi beef dinner (drive ~0.5h). Stay Hikone. — Route map
• Day 5 — Hikone → Koto Sanzan (Eigen-ji, Kongorin-ji, Saikyo-ji) → Omihachiman canal town → Ishiyama-dera (drive ~2.5h). Stay Otsu. — Route map
• Day 6 — Enryaku-ji (Mt. Hiei, UNESCO) → Miidera → Otsu evening (Biwa view) (drive ~1.5h). Stay Otsu. — Route map
• Day 7 — Otsu morning → Lake Biwa cruise (Michigan) → evening shinkansen from Kyoto/Otsu (drive ~1.5h). — Route map

Highlights

🌊 Tojinbo Cliffs — dramatic columnar-basalt sea cliffs

🏯 Hikone Castle — the original-keep castle rising over Lake Biwa

🛕 Enryaku-ji (Mt. Hiei) — Tendai Buddhism's mountaintop headquarters, UNESCO

🛕 Eiheiji — Soto Zen head temple

🏙️ Ichijodani Asakura Ruins — samurai city ruins in Fukui

🏯 Nagahama Castle — Hideyoshi's first castle, rebuilt above the Biwa shore

🪷 Genkyu-en — Hikone Castle's strolling pond garden

🛕 Kongorin-ji — one of the Koto Sanzan triad in the Kohoku hills

🛶 Omihachiman — the merchant canal town of the Lake Biwa plain

🛕 Ishiyama-dera — the lakeside temple where the Tale of Genji began

🛕 Miidera — Onjo-ji's hilltop halls above Otsu

Local food & drink

• Omi beef — Shiga’s big-three wagyu
• Funazushi — Lake Biwa’s fermented crucian narezushi, Japan’s oldest sushi
• Echizen oroshi soba — Fukui’s cold soba with grated daikon
• Sauce katsudon — Fukui’s Worcestershire cutlet over rice
• Heshiko — rice-bran-pickled mackerel
• Fukui sake — soft-water brewing
• Shiga/Omi sake — Lake Biwa breweries Don’t miss: funazushi at a Lake Biwa specialist — Japan’s oldest sushi.

Local culture

• Zen monastic tradition — Eiheiji and Enryaku-ji anchor two of Japan’s great Buddhist schools; visiting their silent halls and gardens is a lesson in disciplined, contemplative practice
• Omihachiman’s merchant town — the canal-side storehouses and merchant homes of the Lake Biwa plain recall the Omi merchants who once traded across Japan
• Ichijodani’s samurai city — the excavated ruins of the Asakura clan’s capital show how a medieval samurai city was laid out, from castle to temple to street
• Hikone’s castle-town continuity — the original-keep castle and its surrounding streets preserve an unbroken Edo-period townscape, rare in Japan
• Nagahama’s Kurokabe glass — the glass-art studios in the old bank district of Nagahama turned a quiet castle town into a craft destination
• Tojinbo’s folk legend — the columnar-basalt cliffs carry a ghost story of a monk who fell from the rocks, a tale told to every visitor
• Lake Biwa’s cultural weight — Japan’s largest lake has shaped the region’s religion, food, and trade for over a millennium, and its shrines and temples reflect that deep history
• Fukui’s dinosaur fever — the prefecture’s fossil-rich strata have made dinosaurs a point of local pride, with the museum and roadside mascots woven into everyday life