Sandankyo Gorge

Sandankyo runs about sixteen kilometres up the Shibaki River in the mountains of western Hiroshima, and the walk from the entrance to the far end and back is a full day - most people go as far as Sarutobi, about four kilometres in, and turn around. Two points are impassable on foot and are crossed instead by small flat boats pulled along a rope by a boatman: Kurofuchi and Sarutobi, where the gorge narrows to a few metres between vertical walls and the ferry is the only way through. The three-stage waterfall that gives the gorge its name is at the head. The river is clear and green, the walls are wooded, and the path is well made but long. Autumn colour peaks in the first week of November, which is also when the buses from Hiroshima fill.

What you actually see

• Rope ferries - flat boats hauled through two narrows where the path cannot pass.
• A sixteen-kilometre gorge - clear green river between wooded walls.
• Sandan-daki - the three-stage waterfall at the head of the valley.
• Sarutobi - the narrowest point, walls a few metres apart.

When to go

Early November for the colour; April to November otherwise. A day.

Honest expectations

The full length is a long day and most visitors see only the lower part. Ferries stop running outside the season and in high water. Autumn weekend buses from Hiroshima are packed. Facilities within the gorge are minimal.

Nearby

Hiroshima city is south-east; the Chugoku mountains run north.