There’s a temple on top of a mountain called Yamadera — it’s about an hour’s train ride outside of Sendai, and it’s easily a must-visit if you’re in the city.
A quick tip: you can buy something called the Sendai Area Pass that’ll let you ride on unlimited trains, subways, and buses around Sendai for a day. Even if you just go to Yamadera and back, this will save you a few hundred yen.
Once you step off the train, it’s pretty much scenic overload. The whole area is quite striking.
There’s a small town below the mountain, which you need to walk through to get to the path that goes up the mountain.
It’s less than a ten minute walk, and as I mentioned earlier, it’s quite scenic.
Then you get to where the path begins. There’s a 300 yen charge to go up there (about $3.50 Canadian) which is more than reasonable considering how crazy impressive this place is.
Once you’ve paid your 300 yen, you pretty much immediately start climbing a bunch of stairs.
A bunch of stairs.
So many stairs.
It’s actually quite exhausting.
But it’s totally worth it.
The whole area is really impressive.
Plus, there’s this observation deck area.
The view from up here isn’t bad, I guess. You know, if you’re into spectacular views or whatever.
Eventually, it’s time to go back down, which is thankfully much, much easier than going up.
Location: 〒999-3301 Yamagata-ken, Yamagata-shi, Yamadera, 4456-4 999 3301
How to find it: Just take the train to Yamadera station, and from there you’ll see signs pointing the way.