Jane's Midlife Journey

Today we are taking a train which hugs the northern coast of Shikoku for about 100 miles then heads south, still along the coast, to the island’s largest town, Matsuyama. The city is famous for its hot springs, namely the 19th Century Dogo Onsen Honkan. We have established that the old man doesn’t do hot springs. Not that it makes much difference as when we visited, the complex was under renovation and only had very limited public access.

Matsuyama in 1 day Itinerary

Day 1

Train to Matsuyama Accommodation – Comfort Hotel Matsuyama Matsuyama Castle Horinouchi Park Horinouchi Park parkrun Matsuyama City Station Kururin Ferris Wheel Dinner at Goichi

Train to Matsuyama

Then we set off for Matsuyama on a trip with is further from the coast and far more industrial than I’d imagined. There are no bullet trains on Shikoku, so it’s a 2.5 hour journey. Add in the constant noise pollution of a Japanese train with the constant announcements and jingles and it’s a long 2.5 hours.

I’m not sure what the city’s theme is. Drain covers; flowery.

Accommodation – Comfort Hotel Matsuyama

We are staying at another Comfort Hotel for the next two nights. This one is also around a mile from the station. There is a tram which stops outside the hotel but the old man says it’s antisocial to take a suitcase on a tram, so we walk.

Matsuyama Castle

Once we have checked in, we head for the city’s second biggest attraction, Matsuyama Castle. The castle sits atop the 132 metre high Mount Katsuyama and can be reached by ropeway or chairlift. On Saturdays there is a parkrun in the castle grounds.

Entry to the castle costs Y520 and the ropeway/chairlift is Y270 each way. We opt to take the ropeway up and walk back down along what is described in Lonely Planet as “a pleasant pathway”. From our hotel we must walk round two sides on the castle grounds to reach the ropeway. We arrive to find it is shut, but the chairlift is in operation.

The chairlift is exactly as described, a chair on a lift. Much to my consternation there is no strap or anything to hold you on as you climb 132 metres up a mountain. Just the gravity of your own arse sitting on a chair dangling in mid air.

We reach the top and after the obligatory photo with the tacky plastic saumurai, enter the castle.

Matsuyama Castle is one of Japan’s twelve ‘original castles’. Which, roughly translated, means it is made of wood not concrete. Hence you have to take your shoes off to enter and walk around the slippery wooden floors and steep wooden staircases in badly fitting slippers that have been on any number of other people’s feet. I opt to walk round in my socks. Not my best decision as I now have a splinter in my toe.

The castle is only three storeys high, so not as many stairs as some other castles we’ve visited. But, as if to compensate, you have to do them twice. In the middle are some VR booths where you can watch mock battles taking place in the castle narrated by a lady fuelled by helium.

From the top, not surprisingly, there are great views of Matsuyama and across to the Seto Inland Sea.

We walk back down from the castle via the path, as described in Lonely Planet as “pleasant”. It is hundreds upon hundreds of large, uneven, slippery stone steps. I climb my way way gingerly down the hundreds upon hundreds of far from pleasant steps, cursing Lonely Planet profusely, as I try not to slip or fall or cry. The old man thinks this is all hilarious and videos my distress.

Horinouchi Park

Horinouchi Park Parkrun

Horinouchi Park parkrun which takes place in a nice, flat park at the base of Matsuyama Castle just a 10 minute walk from our hotel. En route, I ascertain that Matsuyama’s theme could well be oranges, as there’s a rather scary one at the entrance to the park.

We’re a bit dubious about locating the parkrun start as there were only 6 runners last week. But the parkrun banner is easy to spot. Plus it’s somewhat busier this week with 27 participants.

The website describes the route as 4 x 1.25 km laps of the park. As we don’t speak Japanese and the organisers don’t speak English, we are not aware there has been a course change due to another event in the park. Hence, I’m somewhat disgruntled to finish my first lap and see my Garmin says 1.5 km. Which would obviously add up to 6 km for 4 laps. However, as I plod grumpily along, I can see flags being moved to a different part of the course. It’s still a little over 5 km, but not as much as I’d feared. And it’s a glorious morning, so I don’t stay grumpy for long.

Horinouchi Park toilet report; built to match the design of the castle. Privacy noise; deafening – can be heard half way across the park.

Matsuyama City Station

Matsuyama City Station is not only a station. Above it is a nine storey department store. On the roof of that is a Ferris wheel.

Kururin Ferris Wheel

The Ferris wheel offers a 15 minute ride with a bird’s eye view of the city for Y800 per person (Y1300 if you choose the one see-through pod).

It’s taken us so long to get here that the sun sets as we rotate high above the city.

Dinner at Goichi

From the 9th floor, we descend to the basement food alley and end up in a restaurant called Goichi. To make ordering dinner even harder, not only do they have no English menu, but there are also no photos, only drawings of unidentifiable brown blobs, which we assume are some sort of chicken.

I end up with fried chicken coated in cheese, which is OK. It could have done with a few chips, rather than a bowl of congealed rice.

• Trip Taken: January 2023
• Updated: May 2026

I hope you found the above information useful. For guides to more destinations in the 50+ countries we have visited, check out my full list of Independent Travel Itineraries here.