Although you can hop on a tram and travel the length of Momotaro-dori to Shiroshita (¥140), the closest stop to Korakuen, the walk is easy enough and takes you across the tree-lined Nishi-gawa Greenway Canal , a pleasant spot for a stroll. At the main cross-road, Shiroshita-suji, turn north and you'll soon arrive at the atmospheric Okayama Orient Museum (Tues-Sun 9am-5pm; ¥300), an unusual and well-presented collection of Near Eastern antiquities, ranging from Mesopotamian pottery to Syrian mosaics and Roman sculptures. A block further north, you'll see an angular modern building, which is home to the Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art (Tues-Sun 9am-5pm; ¥300), a collection of more recent and local art. As well as dreamy ink paintings by the fifteenth-century artist and priest Sesshu Toyo, there are examples of the local pottery style, Bizen-yaki , and regularly changing special exhibitions, for which you'll have to pay an additional fee.

Just north of the museum, turn east and head across the Tsurumi-bashi (bridge) to the northern end of the comma-shaped island on which you'll find Okayama's star attraction, Korakuen (daily: April-Sept 7.30am-6pm; Jan-March & Oct-Dec 8am-5pm; ¥350). Founded in 1686 by Lord Ikeda Tsunamasa, this landscaped garden is notable for its wide, lush green lawns, highly unusual in Japanese garden design. Other than this, all the traditional elements, including teahouses, artificial lakes, islands and hills, and borrowed scenery (in this case, the black keep of Okayama-jo), are present. The strange bleating sound you'll hear on entering the garden comes from a flock of caged red-crested cranes. Fortunately, Korakuen is large enough to soak up the crowds that deluge other famous gardens, such as Kenroku-en in Kanazawa and Ritsurin-koen in Takamatsu , both of which are more interesting.

Outside the main gate to Korakuen is the lacklustre Okayama Prefectural Museum (Tues-Sun: April-Sept 9am-6pm; Jan-March & Oct-Dec 9.30am-5pm; ¥200), where the historical exhibits are presented with little ceremony and no English captions. Better to head for the smartly renovated castle, Okayama-jo (daily 9am-5pm; ¥300), reached by walking round the island and crossing the Tsukimi-bashi (Moon-viewing Bridge). Its nickname, U-jo (Crow Castle), refers to the black-wooden cladding of the donjon, from the top of which you get an excellent view of the surrounding area. Founded in 1573 by Lord Ukita Hideie, the adopted son of the great warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the castle fell foul of both the Meiji restoration and World War II bombings, with the only original bit of the building now being the Tsukimi Yagura (Moon-Viewing Turret), at the western corner of the compound. You can pick up a good English-language leaflet from the ticket desk at the entrance to the donjon, and inside there's the chance to dress up in regal kimono as a lord or lady.

A final pit stop on the way back to the station is the small Hayashibara Museum of Art , 2-7-15 Marunouchi (daily 9am-5pm; ¥300), which displays selections from the Oriental art collection of local businessman Hayashibara Ichiro. There are some beautiful items in the collection, including delicate ink scroll paintings and exquisite No theatre robes from the sixteenth century, but they're not always on display, so take a moment to leaf through the catalogue while sipping a free cup of green tea in the lounge.