Hiruzen-Daisen Skyline

A short highland skyline over Kagikake Pass, framing Mount Daisen's south face above a tunnel of beech forest.

Now toll-free as Tottori and Okayama Prefectural Route 114, the Hiruzen-Daisen Skyline runs about 10km of ridge between the Hiruzen highlands and the foot of Mount Daisen, the centrepiece of the wider Daisen loop drive. The highlight is Kagikake Pass at roughly 800m, where the road crests to a head-on view of Daisen's dramatic south wall rising above a foreground of beech, the trees forming a green tunnel in summer and turning gold in autumn. It is flowing and well surfaced, an easy but genuinely scenic San-in touring road. It closes in winter under snow. Mind the winter closure, the beech-tunnel shade hiding damp patches, and motorcyclists and cyclists on the popular pass.