Miyazaki with a toddler (2–3) 3 spots
Miyazaki is the warm side of Japan, palms along the coast, mild in winter. Udo Jingu is built inside a sea cave where you throw clay pebbles for luck, and at Takachiho you row up a gorge past a waterfall.
Cliffs up to 100 m tall run 7 km along this gorge in a quasi-national park.
checked Aug ’26
Chiho no Ie Ganso Nagashi Somen
Said to be where flowing somen noodles began, an eatery open since 1955.
checked Aug ’26
About 80 dairy cows and 60 sheep graze this 42-hectare farm below the Kirishima mountains.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Family restroom · checked Aug ’26
There are no tour boats here, only rowboats you row yourself. A boat holds three, but a party with a preschooler in it may take four, so the family fits in one boat and looks up at the 17 m falls from the water. If it is your first time, staff show you how to row as you set off.Standing up and swapping rowers are both forbidden once you are afloat, and the ride is 30 minutes. Life jackets go on as the staff direct. Online booking runs from 9:00 two weeks before your date to 9:00 two days before, paid in advance by credit card only. There is no waiting list, and on days that sell out online no same-day tickets are sold at all.
Before sending your table's noodles down, a member of staff calls out that they are coming, so a small child gets a warning and can be ready. Sitting on the downstream side makes the noodles easier to see and catch, and whatever gets past is caught by a basket at the end of the trough and brought over at the end.Several parties share one trough, and the next group is shown to a place where a group is nearly finished. One visitor's account advises watching a child of the age that will reach for the noodles belonging to the party beside you. Tea is self-service, set out beside the trough.
Milking is 500 yen a person and comes with a voucher for soft-serve ice cream; the milking area works even in the rain. Once they are three, they can get up on a horse for the photo course (800 yen) and be photographed. The farm also keeps about 60 sheep and two ponies.Milking runs only on Sundays, public holidays and the second and fourth Saturdays, for the first 30 people. Pick up a numbered ticket at the information centre; sign-up closes at 11:00 and 13:30 for starts at 11:30 and 14:00, so be at the site ten minutes before it begins. Cash only. Horse riding is Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, 11:00-15:00, no reservation, with tickets from the machine just before the Hitsujigaoka viewpoint (cash only); the photo course is from age three and the two led-horse courses from age four. The ice-cream and butter workshops run weekends and holidays only and are booked three days ahead on 0986-33-2102. Children of lower primary age and under may need a hand, so an adult joins in with them. Strollers are lent at the information centre.