So you want to ride a camel? And you don’t just want to ride a camel, you want to trek it through sand dunes and enjoy the desert experience like Lawrence of Arabia? However, heading to the Sahara desert or some other hot, dry desert location seems a bit too extreme. In that case, maybe heading to Tottori Prefecture in Japan might be your best option. The biggest sand dunes in Japan Tottori Sand Dunes have over 30 km² of naturally occurring sand dunes. These sand dunes are created by sand deposits from the Sea of Japan being swept by the wind into an area creating a sand dune haven over the last 100,000 years.

The tourist attraction which offers free entrance gets over 2 million visitors a year and the dunes are constantly changing and rearranging from the wind making it a wonderful place to visit many times over. The Sand Dunes are part of the Sanin Kaigan National Park and are protected to ensure their survival.

The Park also has a Sand Museum where people can check out beautiful sculptures from artists around the world made of sand as well as do things like paragliding or sandboarding to get the full desert experience . People visiting the sand dunes can also take a sky lift or hike and climb the dunes to see great views of the coast. Another option is to take horse cart or camel rides like Chris from the YouTube channel, Okano TV, does in his YouTube video around the sand dunes

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Since the Sand Dunes are open and accessible at any time of the day, tourists wanting less crowds and hoping to see the natural ripples of the dunes come early morning while people interested in seeing the beautiful oranges of the sand with the setting sun prefer early evenings. The sand dunes offer rental boots and slippers as well as wheelchairs with special sand tires making it a place anyone and everyone can enjoy. Just be prepared to be covered in sand by the end of the day.

Watch the entire video on the Tottori Sand Dunes below:


By - grape Japan editorial staff.