Fukushima is the third largest prefecture in Japan, and the part visitors travel to is Aizu — the mountain basin in the west, an hour and a half inland from the shinkansen.
Start with the first of these. Each is worth half a day.
Aizu-Wakamatsu was a castle town that held out to the end of the civil war of 1868, and Tsuruga Castle stands rebuilt above its original stone walls, with red roof tiles rather than the usual grey.
Getting in: Fukushima Airport · Koriyama or Fukushima Station (shinkansen, 1h 20m–1h 40m from Tokyo)
Pick the season first and the days will arrange themselves.
Snow into April in the mountains. Cherry blossom in mid-to-late April, including a famous thousand-year-old tree at Miharu.
Cool in the Aizu basin, and the ponds are at their most vivid in strong light.
Autumn colour from mid-October around the volcano and the lake. The best season here.
Deep snow at Ouchi-juku, which is when the thatched village looks like the photographs. Swans on the lake.
