Awaji Island

Kansai, Japan · Sea / Beach, Countryside / satoyama, Town / small city

The first island Izanagi and Izanami create in Japan's founding myth, home to the shrine tradition calls the country's oldest and to three Tadao Ando buildings within half an hour of each other. And, on the same island, the park with a life-size Godzilla and a Hidden Leaf Village built in the woods.

The essentials

Getting there

Bus — There is no railway on the island: you arrive by highway bus across the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, and that is the normal way in, not a workaround. From Sannomiya bus terminal in Kobe, Shinki, Honshi Kaikyo Bus and Awaji Kotsu take 1h26 to Sumoto Bus Center (¥2,270), 1h33 to Fukura at the southern tip (¥2,700) and 1h25 to Goshiki on the west coast (¥2,130), no reservation needed and with departures every half hour on the main routes. Coming by JR on the Sanyo Line, get off at Maiko Station and board the same buses at the elevated 'Kosoku Maiko' stop directly under the bridge: about 15 minutes to the Awaji IC stop, and the shortcut almost everyone uses from Osaka or Himeji. Direct buses from Osaka (Umeda and JR Namba) reach Sumoto in roughly 2 to 2.5 hours. The other way in is the Awaji Jenova Line ferry from Akashi port to Iwaya, 13 minutes, which takes bicycles and is where the island cycling loop starts. In the south, Kobe-Tokushima buses cross the Onaruto Bridge, putting Tokushima just under an hour from Fukura. On the island itself, Awaji Kotsu local buses link Iwaya, Sumoto and Fukura along Route 28 reasonably often, but most of the good things (the Water Temple, Izanagi Jingu, Hanasajiki, the clifftop lighthouse, the beaches) sit a kilometre or two from the stop or are served three times a day: the island is 53 km from north to south, and a rental car will show you three times as much in the same time.

Frequently asked questions about Awaji Island

What to do in Awaji Island: 30 activities

• Honpuku-ji Water Temple (Tadao Ando) 1 h must-see Ura, Awaji · 40 min

  In 1991 Ando buried the main hall of a Shingon temple under a forty-metre elliptical lotus pond: you descend a stair that splits the water in two and reach a circular red timber hall that fills with orange light from behind the Buddha in late afternoon. Open 9:00-17:00 every day of the year, ¥400 (¥200 for school children). The lotuses flower from June to July, and the last hour of daylight is when the interior makes sense; five minutes from the Higashiura IC exit and a fifteen-minute walk from Higashiura bus terminal.

• Izanagi Jingu, shrine of the creation myth 1.5 h must-see

  The Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki say Izanagi and Izanami stirred the sea with a spear and that the first drop to set was Awaji: this shrine stands where tradition places the palace Izanagi retired to at the end of his life, and it is held to be the oldest shrine in Japan as well as the ichinomiya of old Awaji Province. In the grounds are a twinned camphor tree some 900 years old, the Meoto no Okusu, and a monument called 'the path of the sun' marking how the shrine lines up with Ise to the east and Izumo to the west. The grounds are open at any hour, the office runs 8:30-17:00, entry and parking are free, and the 'Izanagi Jingu-mae' bus stop is at the gate.

• NARUTO & BORUTO Shinobi-Zato 3 h must-see booking

  The Hidden Leaf Village built in the Awaji woods: the gate, the Hokage's office, Ichiraku Ramen actually serving food, shuriken throwing and a ninja trial course that ends in a fight against the villains of the saga. Basic (Light) entry runs ¥3,300-4,100 depending on the day, ¥1,800-2,200 for children, with the trials and extras bundled into the Golden ticket (¥4,800-5,600). Open 10:00-20:00 daily; tickets are bought online for a timed slot and sell out in high season.

• Awaji Ningyo Joruri puppet theatre 1.25 h Fukura, Minamiawaji · 45 min

  Awaji's puppets predate Osaka's bunraku: the troupes that toured the whole country came from here, there were forty-six companies on the island and one is left, the Awaji Ningyoza, designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. Four shows a day at 10:00, 11:10, 13:30 and 15:00, about 45 minutes each, ¥1,800 for adults, ¥1,300 for junior and senior high and ¥1,000 for primary pupils; closed Wednesdays and 31 December to 1 January. It sits in Fukura harbour, next to where the whirlpool boats leave.

• Life-size Godzilla: Interception Operation 1.5 h booking

  A 1:1 Godzilla modelled on Shin Godzilla, 120 m long and 25 m high, half emerging from the hillside: the largest in the world. The ride sends you by zipline towards its open mouth and then into a shooting room to 'neutralise' cells. Light entry ¥2,800-3,600 (¥1,800-2,200 children), Golden ¥4,800-5,600; 10:00-18:00 on weekdays and until 20:00 at weekends. It is paid separately from every other zone of the park.

• Awaichi: cycling round the island 8 h

  About 150 kilometres of coast road hugging the water nearly the whole way, flat along the west and hilly in the southeast: it is the Kansai region's most popular cycling circuit, done in one long day anticlockwise so the sea stays on your left. The Akashi-Iwaya ferry takes bicycles and is the usual start; rental in Iwaya and Sumoto runs from about ¥3,000-5,000 a day and there are repair stations along the route. Anyone who prefers to split it does two days with a night in Fukura or Sumoto.

• Awaji incense: make your own sticks 1.5 h booking

  Awaji makes roughly 70% of Japan's incense, a trade it took up in the mid-19th century when the fishermen of Ei used the dry winter wind to dry sticks instead of going to sea. You can tour the works and roll your own sticks at Kunjudo in Awaji, or blend scented sachets and mixtures at Parchez, the 'palace of fragrance' in Goshiki, which also has hot-spring baths; workshops run about ¥1,000-2,000, take an hour and are booked by phone or online.

• Awaji onions: season, drying sheds and where to buy 1.5 h

  On Awaji the onion is not a souvenir: it is a crop more than a century old grown in clay and sand soil, lifted from April to June and then hung for months in open wooden drying sheds, the tamanegi-goya you see all over the island from the road. The result is sweet enough to eat raw or roasted whole. Bags of two or three kilos start around ¥500-1,000 at the roadside stations and farm markets, and nearly every restaurant on the island has onion soup, croquettes or tempura on the menu.

• Awaji Yumebutai and the Hyakudan-en (Tadao Ando) 2 h Yumebutai, Awaji · 35 min

  The hillside whose earth was quarried to build Kansai Airport: Ando remade it in 2000 as a concrete maze of ramps, stairs, sheets of water and an open-air theatre facing the sea, with the Hyakudan-en, a hundred square planting beds terraced up the slope in memory of the dead of the 1995 earthquake. The gardens and colonnades are free to walk at any time of day, which makes it the easiest Ando building in Japan to visit. The complex also holds a hotel, a greenhouse and a conference centre, and paid guided tours are booked separately.

• Fish from the strait: three-year fugu, hamo and sea bream 2 h booking

  The Naruto and Akashi currents produce fish with reputations of their own, and each season has its name: spring sea bream (sakura-dai), hamo or pike conger in summer, Akashi octopus all year, and from October to March the three-year tiger fugu of Fukura, fattened a year longer than usual. A fugu set menu in Fukura or Minamiawaji runs ¥8,000-15,000 a head and needs booking; octopus and hamo cost far less in any harbour on the island.

• Keino Matsubara: pine grove and beach on the west coast 2 h Keino, Minamiawaji · 35 min

  Two and a half kilometres of white sand with some fifty thousand black pines behind it, listed among Japan's hundred pine groves and hundred beaches and already mentioned in the Manyoshu. It faces west, which makes it the island's spot for sunset over the Inland Sea. The pine grove is walkable all year; the lifeguarded swimming season ran 11 July to 23 August in 2026, and there is a campsite and showers beside the beach.

• Nijigen no Mori: how the anime park works 1 h

  The part nobody expects: entering the park is free and every attraction is ticketed separately, each with its own price and its own hours. It covers some 130 hectares of Awaji Prefectural Park in zones separated by slopes and several kilometres of path, so pick one or two attractions rather than trying them all. Car park A is free for the first three hours and ¥550 a day after that; car parks B, D, E and F are free. The park is about ten minutes' drive from the Awaji IC exit, where the Kobe bus stops.

• The Naruto whirlpools from the Awaji side, by boat 1.5 h booking Fukura, Minamiawaji · 45 min

  The strait is watched from both shores and this is the Awaji one: the Kanrinmaru leaves Fukura harbour and in an hour puts you over the whirlpools, which reach twenty metres across on the spring tides of spring and autumn. ¥3,000 for adults and ¥1,500 for primary pupils; sailings run roughly hourly between 9:00 and 16:00, but the good slot shifts daily with the tide and is published months ahead, so you choose the sailing before you choose the day. If fewer than ten passengers book a slot with no whirlpool expected, it may be cancelled.

• The Nojima Fault and the earthquake memorial park 1.5 h Nojima, Awaji · 45 min

  The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 17 January 1995 killed 6,434 people and its epicentre was here: 140 metres of the step the fault left in the ground are preserved under a shed, with split stone walls, a hedge shifted more than a metre, and a house of the period you can walk through. Local guides who lived it tell what happened that morning. It is in the island's northwest, ten minutes from the Hokudan IC exit; check current hours and admission on their website before going.

• Awaji beef 1.5 h

  The island raises Tajima cattle, the same bloodline that produces Kobe beef, and many Awaji calves end up fattened in Tajima and sold under another name: what stays here is sold as Awaji Beef. It comes grilled, in burgers or in croquettes for far less than the same meat costs in Kobe; an island beef-and-onion burger runs ¥800-1,200 and a decent teppanyaki ¥4,000-8,000.

• Awaji Green Kan, the Yumebutai greenhouse 1.5 h

  Ando's greenhouse inside Yumebutai, known for years as the Miracle Planet Botanical Museum and now marketed as Awaji Green Kan: 6,700 m2 of exhibition space, the second largest in Japan, with floral installations changed by season inside a box of concrete and glass. Open 10:00-18:00, last entry 17:30, ¥1,000 for adults and free through high school; closing days follow a monthly calendar worth checking first.

• Awaji Hanasajiki 1.5 h Kusumoto, Awaji · 40 min

  A prefectural park high on the northern ridge, 300 m above the sea, with slopes planted in seasonal flowers and the Akashi Strait behind: rapeseed and nemophila in spring, sunflowers in summer, salvia and cosmos in autumn. Free, open 9:00-17:00; the thing to check before driving up is the bloom report on their website, because between plantings the terraces are bare.

• Awajishima Matsuri, the Sumoto festival 4 h only the first weekend of August

  The island's big summer festival, in Sumoto: three days of Awaji Odori, the fan dance in circles that belongs to this island, through the town centre, with fireworks over the Sumoto river and Ohama beach on the last night. It is free, draws people from all over the island and fills Sumoto's hotels months ahead, so check the exact dates with the organising committee before booking.

• Crayon Shin-chan Adventure Park 3 h booking

  The Shin-chan zone is really an adventure park over a pond: a hanging obstacle course, long ziplines and a dinosaur trail, with the show's humour as scenery. Light entry ¥3,500-4,300 for adults, ¥1,800-2,200 for school children and ¥1,500-1,800 for little ones; Golden ¥5,600-6,400. Open 10:00-18:00 on weekdays and until 19:00 at weekends. Wear clothes and shoes you don't mind getting wet.

• Dragon Quest Island 3 h booking

  It is still running, whatever you may read elsewhere: a role-playing game walked through the forest, with quests, a paper map, monsters and a final boss, built for a good three hours. Light entry ¥3,400-4,500 (¥1,800-2,500 children) and Golden ¥5,400-6,500, gear and items included. Last admission 18:00 on weekdays and 19:30 at weekends. Almost all of it is in Japanese, so it pays off far more if someone in the group reads kana.

• Ohama Beach, Sumoto 3 h only 10 Jul - 31 Aug

  Sumoto's town beach, fifteen minutes on foot from the bus centre: 600 metres of sand backed by pines, with lifeguards and an inflatable water park set up offshore in summer. In 2026 it opened from 10 July to 31 August. It is the one beach on the island you can genuinely reach without a car, which is why families arriving by bus from Kobe use it.

• Onokoro Jima Jinja and the great vermilion torii 0.75 h Enami, Minamiawaji · 25 min

  A 21.7 m vermilion torii planted among the rice fields of the southern island, one of the tallest in Japan, on a mound this version of the myth identifies as Onogoro, the island formed as the spear dripped. Inside is the Sekirei-ishi, the wagtail stone couples touch together. Open all day, free, free parking; two other places on Awaji claim to be Onogoro, so take it as part of the argument rather than the answer.

• Sumoto Onsen 2 h

  The island's main hot-spring resort, in Sumoto itself and facing the Kii Channel: a row of large hotels with baths high above the sea, saline water, and the sunrise coming straight out of the water in front of you. Several open their baths to non-guests for ¥1,000-2,000 in the afternoon, which is the cheap way to get the bath with the view without paying for the night.

• Sumoto: the hilltop castle and the mill quarter 2.5 h

  The island's historic capital has, up on Mount Mikuma, the stone walls of Sumoto Castle, a National Historic Site, with a mock keep built in 1928 reckoned the oldest of its kind in Japan and a view across Osaka Bay. Down below, the old Kanebo spinning-mill district has been turned into a lane of small shops and cafes, with the prefectural library inside a 1909 brick building. All free and walkable, though the climb to the castle is twenty uphill minutes or five by car.

• The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge from below 1 h

  3,911 metres of suspension bridge with a 1,991 m central span that was the longest in the world from 1998 until 2022, passing directly over the northern tip of Awaji. From Michi-no-Eki Awaji at Matsuho you see it from under the cables with the strait full of ships; at night it is lit and changes colour by date. Free, free parking and a bus stop at the door. The walk inside the structure, Bridge World, starts on the Kobe side, not here.

• The Nadakuroiwa narcissus slope in winter 1.5 h Nadakuroiwa, Minamiawaji · 50 min only 25 Dec - 20 Feb

  A very steep hillside dropping to the Kii Channel on the south coast, covered in wild narcissus that flower in midwinter, when almost nothing else in Japan does. You climb a stepped path with the sea below and Nushima island in front. It opens only for the flowering season, roughly late December to mid-February, for around ¥500; Minamiawaji city publishes the exact dates each year and they depend on the cold.

• Uzu no Oka: the giant onion and the bridge viewpoint 1.5 h Fukura, Minamiawaji · 45 min

  A viewpoint over the Onaruto Bridge whose draws are a two-and-a-half-metre onion to pose with, a claw machine that drops real onions instead of plush toys (¥100 a go, ¥500 for six) and the Awaji onion-and-beef burger that won the national championship. Open 9:00-17:00, closed Tuesdays except holidays and peak season, free parking; the small whirlpool science room costs ¥300.

• Zenbo Seinei: zazen on a hundred-metre deck 4 h booking Nagao, Awaji · 30 min

  A hundred-metre bamboo platform suspended over the forest, designed by Shigeru Ban and opened in 2022 as a meditation retreat: dawn zazen sessions, stretching, a forest walk and fermented plant-based food from the island. You can go for the day without staying the night, on a fixed programme with compulsory booking; prices sit at the high end and are worth checking on their site, since they change with the season and the plan.

• Awaji roof tiles and the onigawara workshop 1.5 h booking Tsuna, Minamiawaji · 30 min

  Awaji is one of Japan's three great roof-tile centres alongside Sanshu and Sekishu, has been at it for four centuries, and is known for ibushi tile, smoked to a silver grey you see on temple roofs nationwide. Around Tsuna a few kilns still show the process and run workshops where you model a decorative tile or a small onigawara demon face; it is arranged by appointment and usually costs ¥2,000-3,000.

• Eshima, the myth rock in Iwaya harbour 0.5 h

  A striped sandstone islet ten minutes' walk from Iwaya port, where the Akashi ferry docks, its tilted strata fully exposed and a small shrine on top. It appears in the Tale of the Heike and is the third candidate for Onogoro, the first land of the myth. Free and visible at any hour from the promenade; it is floodlit at night, with the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge behind it.

What only happens on specific dates

• The Nadakuroiwa narcissus slope in winter 25 Dec - 20 Feb
• Ohama Beach, Sumoto 10 Jul - 31 Aug
• Awajishima Matsuri, the Sumoto festival the first weekend of August

Ready-made routes through Awaji Island

Chains well with

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