Enjoy local cuisine and discover great souvenirs! A list of roadside stations in Miyazaki Prefecture

The observation deck here, situated 50 meters above sea level, offers a panoramic view that includes the beautiful Pacific Ocean and wide blue sky, as well as the strange rock formation known as the Devil’s Washboard. Visitors here can also enjoy the tropical resort atmosphere evoked by the many beautiful flowers that bloom throughout the four seasons. Soft ice cream is available here in flavors that exemplify Miyazaki, such as mango and hyuganatsu, a type of mandarin orange, making it a great place to stop for a break during your trip.

This roadside station, affectionately known by the nickname “Vitamin-kan”, or vitamin hall, offers fresh local fruits and vegetables and processed foods, including local citrus fruits such as the Buntan and Hyuganatsu produced in Takaoka. One famous item popular with the locals here is the Nagamanju, an oblong mochi rice cake with sweet red bean paste inside. Meanwhile, the Vitamin Cafe inside offers soft ice cream made with milk from local farms and drinks made from freshly picked fruit.

Tano Town boasts the highest production of Hoshi-daikon in Japan, a food consisting of thin strips of dried daikon radish. Hoshi-daikon is known for its rich flavor and aroma, and the Umami taste produced by the daikon radish itself, and Tsukemono pickles made using it is particularly delicious. Other exceedingly popular items here, mainly for their natural sweetness, are the yaki-imo, or grilled sweet potatoes, made by local farmers, and the additive-free yaki-imo soft ice cream made with freshly squeezed milk.

This roadside station is located roughly halfway between Miyazaki City and Nobeoka City, easily accessible just five minutes from the Tsuno Interchange. 
Connected to the roadside station via the “Kaiun Bridge”, Tsuno Shrine is a prestigious shrine said to be the place where Emperor Jinmu, the first emperor of Japan, stopped to pray for peace for his nation and safety and success in battle while on the way to a battleground. Considered a power spot, it is famous as a powerful and spiritual holy place.
Meanwhile, the roadside station offers an array of fresh vegetables, fruits, and seafood. There are also many items available featuring local tomatoes, a specialty of Tsuno Town. One popular item you can only try here is tomato-flavored soft ice cream. We also recommend trying the Tsuno Wine made with 100% local Tsuno grapes. Tsuno Wine has in fact been selected as one of the top 100 wines of interest in the world, and has consecutively won the Japan Wine Challenge. Roadside Station Tsuno, with its array of local goods that are the pride of the local community, is always a popular destination filled with countless visitors.

For lunch, head toward the large monument that looks like a Kagura dance mask. Located in the middle of Takachiho, a place of myth and legend, this breathtakingly scenic location offers a panoramic view of the Shinto Takachiho Bridge and the Takachiho Gorge. You will also find plenty of local Takachiho items for sale, including fresh local vegetables, processed foods, and wood and bamboo crafts such as Yokagura masks. The attached restaurant offers regional cuisine made with local ingredients and dishes using Japan's No.1 Takachiho beef, which won the Prime Minister’s Award at the National Wagyu (Japanese Beef) Promotion Competition, also known as the Wagyu Olympics.Dishes we recommend trying here include the highly popular Takachiho beef bowl and the Chicken Nanban curry.

This roadside station is located close to Seiun Bridge, one of the highest bridges in Japan. Visitors can enjoy shopping at the facility, decorated with traditional bamboo crafts, including specialty processed foods from Hinokage Town made with chestnuts and the Yuzu citrus fruit. Meanwhile, the restaurant offers such dishes as Chicken Nanban, featuring deep fried chicken in a tartar and vinegar sauce, and Inoshishi (wild boar) rice bowl, a specialty of this roadside station. There is also soft ice cream and a variety of snacks available, making this the perfect spot for a break. The observation deck offers a great view of Seiun Bridge, so it’s the ideal spot to rest and let go of your fatigue from driving.

Taking advantage of the benefits of Kitakata Town and its vibrant farming and fruit production industries, this roadside station offers an array of fresh seasonal vegetables and fruits, such as the Chiyohime peach in the springtime, available before other varieties of peach, and the Jinenjo, or East Asian mountain yam, that grows over one meter in length in the winter. They also offer an abundant variety of popular original ice creams made with ample fruit pulp and fruit juices.

This roadside station features a restaurant that serves a variety of local dishes, such as Nama-shirasu-don, or rice topped with raw whitebait caught in the Hyuga-Nada Sea, Chicken Nanban, a dish originating in Nobeoka featuring fried chicken marinated in sweet vinegar and topped with tartar sauce, and the famed Hiya-jiru chilled soup flavored with local Miyazaki dashi broth and miso. Other popular items here include fresh local vegetables and ready-made side dishes from Kitagawa Town and an original pudding produced by local high school students.

This roadside station is located within the Shimoaso Beach Resort Hamayu Village that features cottages and an auto campsite. The restaurant that offers a view of the coastline serves delicious rice bowls topped with an ample portion of fresh seafood.

Visitors to this roadside station can try handmade Bokusui Soba, a dish of buckwheat noodles made with 100% local buckwheat flour from Hyuga City. You can also try making your own buckwheat noodles or miso paste at the adjacent workshop. The shop offers a variety of local Hyuga City items such as fresh locally picked vegetables, ready-made side dishes, the Ohagi, a rounded mochi rice cake wrapped around sweet red bean paste, and processed foods.

This facility houses an auto campsite with a view of the Hyuga-Nada Sea, a playground, and tennis courts. They also sell fresh seafood from the Hyuga-Nada Sea, Chirimen that consists of boiled and dried whitebait, and also meats such as wild game or gibier. Another popular item here is the Hebesu soft ice cream which is topped with a rich puree of Hebesu, a unique citrus fruit grown in Hyuga City with a refreshing taste and aroma and lower acidity than other citrus fruits.

This roadside station includes a bathhouse with a jet bath and an infrared sauna to ease your travel fatigue. The Katsudon rice bowl featuring Miyazaki brand pork available at the restaurant is known for the tender texture and sweet fatty taste of the meat, and also looks pretty impressive as well. Popular souvenirs here include processed foods made with local Yuzu citrus fruit and chestnuts.

This roadside station is located right next to the Ebino Interchange at the border between Miyazaki, Kumamoto, and Kagoshima prefectures. Here visitors can purchase meats such as the high quality Wagyu beef from Ebino’s vibrant livestock industry, and vegetables and fruits grown in the pure air of the region. There is also a popular buffet restaurant where you can enjoy choices made with local ingredients from a diverse menu while looking out at the majestic Kirishima mountain range.

A popular item at this roadside station is the raw shiitake mushrooms always picked that morning that sell out by the evening. The restaurant offers a variety of original dishes using the mushrooms such as the Shiitake Nanban set, made with the thick and meaty shiitake mushrooms, and the Yama-no-Imo-no-Tempura, made by mixing in mashed fish. There is also a cafe, Cafe 269, that opened in 2022 and serves delicious coffee, painstakingly prepared parfaits, and popular soft ice cream.

This roadside station, reopened after renovations in 2023, is easily accessible just five minutes by car from the Miyakonojo Interchange. A wide array of local produce, including meats and vegetables, is available at the spacious farmer’s market in the main facility. There is also a very ample supply of shochu in the shop, as well as a variety of traditional Miyazaki crafts. 
This is a particularly good place to visit for gourmet adventures, with four café courts based on different themes of meat, shochu, fruit, and potatoes, as well as a restaurant featuring a meat-rich menu. 
There is also a plaza featuring a wooden slide and other playground equipment, as well as picture books, where parents and children can play together, making it popular among families with small children.

This roadside station offers the largest collection of inclusive playground equipment in Kyushu. They offer a variety of local produce, shochu, and speciality goods for sale. The many gourmet options include a restaurant that serves meals using freshly caught local bonito, and a takeout pizza restaurant offering oven-baked Neapolitan pizza made from scratch.

This somewhat nostalgic roadside station is located midway between Nichinan and Miyakonojo cities. It offers a variety of processed goods that leverage the tastiness of nature, such as Kusa-dango, a dumpling that triggers your appetite with the fragrance of the Yomogi herb (mugwort) and the refreshing aroma of Wasabi-miso made with wasabi, or Japanese horseradish, that only grows in pure spring water.

This roadside station is located on a national highway that runs along the Nichinan coast. It is a very popular destination that was ranked as the number one roadside station in Japan by TripAdvisor. The wood terrace that offers views of the islands large and small floating on the azure sea also features strange doors that evoke the popular anime Suzume.
In addition to fresh tropical fruits such as ripe mangoes and local citrus such as the hyuganatsu and dekopon, the roadside station offers plenty of items that can only be found here, including local farm and fishing products and original sweets. There is also a seafood restaurant that serves fresh local seafood. We particularly recommend the very popular mango soft ice cream. The site is also known as the only place in Japan to find a grove of the tropical flower jacaranda, and it is very popular with visitors from late May through the end of June each year when the beautiful purple flowers are in full bloom.

This roadside station, located close to Kushima Station, is an ideal hub for sightseeing. Visitors can enjoy the local dish Buri-Puri Donburi, a rice bowl topped with raw Japanese amberjack caught off Kushima, fresh sushi from the Sushitora sushi chain that originated in Kushima, and fried potatoes made from special local sweet potatoes. There is also an ample array of fresh seasonal fruits, vegetables, and fish, as well as processed foods, all from Kushima.