There are few more pleasant ways to spend half a day or more in Japan than exploring the enchanting fishing port of TOMO-NO-URA , at the tip of the Numakuma Peninsula, 14km south of Fukuyama. The town has one of the most beautiful locations on the Inland Sea, and its narrow, twisting streets and surrounding hills, liberally sprinkled with picturesque temples and shrines, are easily explored on foot or by bicycle. Boats unload their catch daily beside the horseshoe-shaped harbour , which has hardly changed since the town's Edo-era heyday, when trading vessels waited here for the tides to change direction or rested en route to mainland Asia. Now, you're just as likely to see locals dreaming the day away on the sea walls, rod in hand, waiting for the fish to bite, or selling catches of prawns, squirming crabs, and other seafood on the streets.

The best way to get your bearings is by climbing up to the ruins of the castle Taigashima-jo on the headland immediately above the ferry landing and pausing to take in the view from the temple Empuku-ji, where you'll also find a small monument to the celebrated haiku poet Basho. To the west, you can see the gentle sweep of the harbour and the temple-studded slopes of Taisiden hill, while to the east is tiny Benten-jima, an outsized rock crowned with a temple to the Buddhist deity, and the larger island Sensui-jima, the best place to stay the night .

Heading west into the town from the bus terminal, you'll soon hit the steps leading up to the Tomo-no-Ura Museum of History (Tues-Sun: April-Sept 9am-5pm; Jan-March & Oct-Dec 9am-4.30pm; ¥150), which has a few mildly diverting exhibits, including a miniature model of the sea-bream-netting show held every day in May, when the local fishermen use age-old methods to herd the fish into their nets. Even if you don't go into the museum, the view from its hilltop location in the middle of the town, across a patchwork of grey and blue tiled roofs dropping away to the harbour, is one of Tomo-no-Ura's most pleasant.

Returning to the foot of the hill, follow the narrow road west past the ships' chandlers shop and then turn left into the street lined with wood and plaster warehouses dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, some of which have been converted into gift and coffee shops. At the end of the street is the confusingly named Shichiky-ochi Ruins , a perfectly intact old sake brewery that briefly sheltered a band of anti-shogun rebels in the turbulent times prior to the Meiji Restoration. The water-washed steps of the harbour, topped off by a handsome stone lantern, are directly ahead.

Much of the locally caught fish ends up being processed at Uonosato (Tues-Sun 9am-5pm; free), a surprisingly engaging snack-food factory in a commanding hillside position on the far western side of the harbour. There's more of a craft shop than a factory atmosphere inside and you can try your hand at making prawn paste sembei (crackers) and other snacks after watching demonstrations by the friendly, blue-clothed workers. Outside the workshops, seafood dries in the sunlight on large wooden racks and there are craft shops on the surrounding terraces, all of which provide marvellous views across the harbour.

Returning towards the town, keep an eye open for the sign pointing up Taishiden hill to the pretty temple Io-ji . If you're cycling it's best to leave your bike on the main road before hiking up to the temple, one of many founded by the revered Buddhist priest Kobo Daishi . You can hike down the hill eastwards past several more temples, include Hosen-ji, where only a truncated stump remains of the previously 14.3-metre-wide Tengai pine tree. As the street turns the corner, just beyond Hosen-ji , glance down to see the mini-stone bridge Sasayaki , where a couple of ill-fated lovers are said to have once whispered sweet nothings before drowning.

Continuing north for a couple of minutes, you'll arrive at the hillside approach to Nunakuma-jinja , a large shrine which, although ancient, has been recently rebuilt in concrete. More impressive is the traditional wooden No stage within the shrine grounds that used to be taken around battlefields so the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi could be entertained. A couple of minutes' walk further north is Ankoku-ji , founded around 1270, and containing two wooden statues of Buddha designated as national treasures. Neither they nor the temple's tatty sand and rock garden are worth going out of your way for.

Either wind your way back to the ferry landing along the narrow streets or follow the seafront to the west, then hike up the hill immediately to the north to take in one more view from the Taichoro reception hall of the temple Fukuzen-ji (daily 9am-5pm). It costs ¥200 to enter the airy tatami space with paper screens that open to a reveal a striking panorama of the Inland Sea, a view which has changed little since 1711, when a visiting Korean envoy hailed it "the most beautiful scenery in Japan."