Matsuyama

A three-storey wooden bathhouse from 1894, an Important Cultural Property where people still bathe. A drum in the rooftop pavilion sounds the hour at 6am, noon and 6pm, and people line up before the 6am opening drum to take the first bath.

An annex bathhouse built near the Honkan in 2017 in Asuka-period style, inspired by the legend that Prince Shotoku visited Dogo. Choose a private rest room upstairs and you get tea and a sweet to relax with after bathing.

One of only twelve Japanese castles with an original keep, this one rebuilt in 1854. A ropeway and a single-seat chairlift run side by side up the hill, and the chairlift, open beneath your feet, is the favourite for the ride down on clear days.

Temple 51 of the Shikoku 88 pilgrimage, with a National Treasure gate at the entrance. Behind the main hall a dark cave passage runs through the hill, lit only by a few lamps, and the temple is about 20 minutes' walk from Dogo Onsen.

A French-style mansion built below the castle's south side in 1922 by a descendant of the old ruling family. Stained glass on the stair landing is the highlight. Thirty minutes covers the small house, but it shuts between exhibitions, so check dates first.

A museum of the life and work of Masaoka Shiki, the haiku poet from Matsuyama, at the entrance to Dogo Park. His lodging room is recreated as it was, and it explains why haiku is so everyday here that submission boxes for poems stand around the city.

The clock tower on the square outside Dogo Onsen station. On the hour the tower rises and figures of characters from the novel Botchan come out and move. A free footbath stands beside it, and many people soak their feet waiting for the next hour.

A route linking six islands by bridge from Imabari to Onomichi in Hiroshima, rideable by bicycle. A blue line painted on the road keeps you from getting lost, and rental bikes can be returned at a different terminal, so one way is enough.

A town whose merchant street, grown rich on vegetable wax, still stands, about 30 minutes from Matsuyama by limited express. Uchiko-za, a kabuki theatre built in 1916, lets you go beneath the stage to the revolving machinery on days without a show.

An unstaffed station whose platform looks straight onto the sea, drawing photographers at sunset. It is on the old coastal line where local trains come only every 1 to 2 hours, so fix your return train before going.

A museum built around Shiba Ryotaro's novel Clouds Above the Hill and its heroes, Masaoka Shiki and the Akiyama brothers, designed by Tadao Ando and opened in 2007. Ramps climb through the triangular building, and Bansuiso is just uphill, so see both.

At 1,982m the highest peak in western Japan and a sacred mountain of ascetic worship. Below the top are rock faces climbed by hauling on iron chains, though a side trail lets you skip them. A ropeway from the Saijo side lifts you partway up.

A Meiji trader's villa on a cliff over the Hiji River in Ozu, its Furoan tea hut propped on posts out above the water. The limited express takes thirty-odd minutes, and Ozu Castle's rebuilt wooden keep stands within walking distance.

A hill village south of Matsuyama that fires thick white porcelain painted in indigo, with about a hundred kilns. Browse the workshop lanes; the April pottery fair sells at a discount. It is some forty minutes by bus.

The hill of the medieval Kono clan's Yuzuki Castle, now a park where the moat and earth ramparts survive. Hundreds of cherry trees make it Matsuyama's favourite blossom-viewing spot in spring, one tram stop short of Dogo Onsen.