Iya Valley — Vine Bridges, Deep Gorges and Hidden Shikoku

The highlight everyone comes for — a bridge woven from real mountain vines, about 45 metres long, suspended roughly 14 metres above the river. The deck is wooden slats set far enough apart that you can see straight down to the emerald water below, so your heart races with every step. Steel cables are hidden inside for safety, and it's rebuilt with fresh vines every three years.

The gateway to Iya Valley you can reach by train — the Yoshino River has carved the rock here into giant white pillars in strange shapes, with clear emerald-green water running between them. You can take a roughly 30-minute boat ride through the gorge from a pier near the station, and if you're after adventure, this is the spot for white-water rafting on the famous Yoshino River.

A small statue of a boy striking a peeing pose on a rocky ledge high above a deep ravine. It's said to have been made to tease the daring of local children and old-time travellers who liked to stand and relieve themselves right over the drop here. Today it's a nerve-testing photo spot — everyone's legs go a little wobbly standing on the cliff edge, and the view over the valley below is genuinely stunning.

Set far deeper in the valley than the main bridge, this is a pair of vine bridges crossing the same river — known as the "husband and wife" bridges (the long one is the husband, the short one the wife). The real treat is the "yaen", a wooden cable car you sit in and pull across the river by hand to the other side. There are far fewer people than at the main bridge, and the atmosphere is rawer and quieter.

A tiny village deep in the valley filled with hundreds of life-sized scarecrows — more than the real residents who remain. Tsukimi Ayano made them to remember the people who once lived here but moved away or passed on, posing them waiting for the bus, working the fields, and studying in the abandoned school. It's a sight that's endearing and quietly heartbreaking at once, reflecting the ageing and emptying of rural Japanese villages.

End your day exactly the way a long drive deserves — an onsen ryokan perched on the cliff above the valley. The special part is a cable car that slowly descends to an open-air bath (rotenburo) right beside the river far below, where you soak in warm water to the sound of the rushing stream in the gorge. It's an onsen experience that's hard to find anywhere else, ideal for a real overnight rest while exploring the valley.