Best time to visit Tottori

Japan · East Asia

All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.

The year in Tottori

Tap a month for its page

Sweet spot
Good
OK
Avoid
Busy

Go in Apr–Jun — these months score within a whisker of each other; 26C max, 11 rainy days. Jul is the next best.

Plan this trip

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Flights

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Where to stay

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Things to do in Tottori

Tottori Sand Dunes 16 km from east to west, the Tottori Sand Dunes are a favorite target for climbing, exploring, and more.
Jinpukaku Mansion This French-style mansion was home to the remnants of the Edo-era feudal clan, Ikeda.
Hakuto Shrine Hakuto Shrine is the shrine of the Inaba rabbit.
Kannon-in Constructed in 1632, this is the 32nd temple along the Chugoku 33 Kannon Temple Pilgrimage.
Ube Shrine The first shrine to be built in the Inaba area, which consists of the entire eastern half of modern Tottori Prefecture.
Shikano Castle Ruins Although none of the original castle remains, the inner and outer moats and stone columns can still be seen.
Tottori Prefectural Museum Museum in Tottori, Japan

Tours and tickets in Tottori

Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank

Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Tottori), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.

Month by month

Month	Max °C	Rain days	Humidity	Sun h/day	Verdict	Why
Jan	8°	17d	72%	6.0h	avoid	8C max, 17 rainy days
Feb	9°	15d	71%	6.3h	ok	9C max, 15 rainy days
Mar	13°	14d	70%	7.6h	ok	13C max, 14 rainy days
Apr	18°	11d	71%	8.3h	sweet spot	18C max, 11 rainy days
May	23°	11d	71%	9.3h	sweet spot	23C max, 11 rainy days
Jun	26°	11d	77%	8.8h	sweet spot	26C max, 11 rainy days
Jul	30°	11d	80%	9.7h	good	30C max, 11 rainy days
Aug	31°	8d	77%	10.1h	goodbusy	busier than usual
Sep	27°	12d	80%	7.7h	good	27C max, 12 rainy days
Oct	21°	13d	77%	7.2h	okbusy	busier than usual
Nov	16°	11d	74%	7.3h	okbusy	busier than usual
Dec	10°	18d	72%	5.8h	avoid	10C max, 18 rainy days

Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.

Weather read at the city, 5 km from the dunes, 6 km from the airport (TTJ): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.

A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.

How busy it gets

Busiest in August, October and November; quietest in January and March.

Then and now

Tottori's March days now average 13.1°C, 3.3°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 11 of 12 months are clearly warmer.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1981–90	6.1°	6.1°	9.9°	16.0°	20.2°	23.6°	27.1°	29.0°	24.5°	19.3°	14.4°	9.6°
2017–26	8.0°	8.7°	13.1°	17.8°	22.5°	25.8°	30.1°	31.4°	26.9°	21.0°	16.2°	10.4°
Change	+1.8°	+2.6°	+3.3°	+1.9°	+2.3°	+2.1°	+3.0°	+2.4°	+2.3°	+1.7°	+1.8°	+0.8°

The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.

Getting there

How far Tottori is depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.

Before you go

Type A and B plugs at 100 V. Drives on the left. The currency is the Yen. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Everything for Japan: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.

Being there

On arrival

Paying — Cards are widely taken in cities, but carry cash for small restaurants, inns and rural areas. Suica and PASMO also pay in many shops, and PayPay QR codes are common.
UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
Tipping — Not done in restaurants or taxis; some hotels and restaurants add a 10% service charge.

Getting around Tottori

Apps — Rides: GO, DiDi, S.RIDE, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: LINE. Ride apps here hail ordinary licensed taxis; private-car rideshare is limited to small trials.

Loop Kirinjishi. For the sand dunes and port, take this bus. A special sakyū bus runs from the train and central bus station — it plays the sand dunes' theme song as it goes by. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Tottori, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Help

Emergency — police 110 · ambulance and fire 119.
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.

Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 7 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.

Sources (21)

Tottori in pictures

Tottori Sakyu Tottori Japan — i

Hashi photo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What Tottori is like

Tottori (鳥取市 Tottori-shi) and its sand dunes are among the best reasons to visit western Japan. There's more to do than climbing and collecting seashells — hang-gliders, sandboards, and even camels await. More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing: Tottori Sand Dunes (鳥取砂丘 Tottori sakyū). 24 hr; special activities typically begin at 09:00. More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing: Mt. Kyusho (久松山, Kyūshō-zan). Starting from the castle ruins, climbing takes around half an hour and offers a great view of the city and surrounding area, all the way out to the sand dunes. More on Wikivoyage
Getting in: The nearest airports with regular international flights are Yonago and Okayama; however, travellers should also consider using Osaka-Kansai. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Tottori, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.

Around Tottori

Also in Japan

Nearby

Kind of place

Tottori is in Japan, East Asia. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

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