Hotels in Kitaibaraki

Kitaibaraki sits at the far northern tip of Ibaraki Prefecture, where the coast runs up against the Fukushima border, and it is best known for two things: rugged Pacific scenery and anglerfish. The Izura coast is the visual draw, with rocky headlands and the small hexagonal Rokkakudo hall associated with the art thinker Okakura Tenshin. The hall was swept away by the 2011 tsunami and has since been rebuilt. In winter, people come for ankou nabe, the region's rich anglerfish hotpot, served in seafront inns and around Otsu port.

Inland, the Hanakawa valley is a quieter option for autumn colour, and the area's coal-mining past still shows in its towns. This is a small, sleepy coastal city with limited nightlife and thin public transport. It is a long run from Tokyo on the Joban Line, and it makes more sense as a slow ryokan-and-seafood stop than as a sightseeing base. Stay along the Izura coast for ocean-view inns with onsen baths and hotpot dinners within walking distance of the shore.