Sea Glass Craft
Make your own strap, earrings, or necklace from wave-smoothed sea glass. Fully indoors and unhurried. Book at Shima-tabi.
Why One Night Isn't Enough
Toba is a base, not a checkbox
Most travelers pass through Toba for a single night — aquarium, dinner, sleep, on to the next city. That's a fine trip, but it's not really Toba. This coastline was built for people who move around it slowly: hopping a small ferry to an island with no traffic lights, walking to a shrine that's been rebuilt every 20 years for over a millennium, or just sitting at a counter eating whatever the boat brought in that morning.
ARASHIMA is a self-contained 2DK apartment, not a hotel room — a fridge, a microwave, self check-in, two minutes from Kintetsu Nakanogo Station. It's built for staying a few nights and using it as a base, the way you'd use an apartment rental in any city you actually wanted to live in for a while.
1 nightToba Aquarium and dinner. You leave without having really arrived.
2 nightsAdd Ise Jingu — Japan's most sacred shrine — and Okage Yokocho's food streets.
3 nightsAdd a day on the islands — Toshijima or Sugashima, a 10–20-minute ferry ride into a different pace of life entirely.
5 nightsAdd Shima, Matsusaka, and the local restaurants you'd never find with only one evening in town.
🗓️ 3-Night Model Course
Aquarium, pearls, and one island
Day 1 · Arrival
Settle in
Arrive at Kintetsu Nakanogo Station — ARASHIMA is a 2-minute walk, self check-in with a keypad lock so there's no front desk to rush for. Unpack, use the kitchen for a first coffee, then walk to a local counter restaurant for dinner.
Day 2
Aquarium & pearls
Morning at Toba Aquarium, within walking distance. Continue to Mikimoto Pearl Island for the ama divers' show — the same free-diving tradition still practiced along this coast today. In the afternoon, a 50-minute bay cruise to Dolphin Island departs from the same pier.
Day 3
One island, at ferry speed
Toba Marine Terminal is a 15-minute walk from ARASHIMA. Take the ~20-minute ferry to Toshijima for a rental-bike loop and skyline hike, or the ~13-minute ferry to Sugashima for Japan's oldest brick lighthouse. See our Island Hopping guide for details. Either way, you're back well before dinner.
Day 4 · Departure
Slow morning
No need to rush breakfast into a hotel checkout window. Walk to a nearby café, pack at your own pace, and be at Nakanogo Station in two minutes when you're ready.
🗓️ 5-Night Model Course
Everything above, plus Ise and the highlands
Days 1–3
Same as the 3-night course
Arrival, the Toba waterfront (aquarium, pearls, bay cruise), and one island by ferry — see above.
Day 4
Ise Jingu day trip
By train: Nakanogo → Toba (transfer) → Ise-shi, then the CAN bus to Naiku. Visit Ise Jingu — Geku first, then Naiku, through ancient cypress groves. Finish with lunch and shopping at Okage Yokocho's Edo-period food street — Ise udon, tekone sushi, and Akafuku mochi.
Day 5
Highlands & the sea museum
By car or taxi: Toba Observatory on Pearl Road for a 163m ria-coastline view (closed Wednesdays), then the Toba Sea-Folk Museum for the ama-diving and fishing culture behind everything you've eaten this week. Prefer a different pace? Swap in Shima Spain Village instead.
Day 6 · Departure
Last local breakfast
One more slow morning, one more counter breakfast, and a 2-minute walk to the station. Five nights in, Toba stops feeling like a stop on the way to somewhere else.
☔ On a Rainy Day
Indoor options that still feel like Toba
Toba Sea-Folk Museum
A hill-top museum on ama divers and traditional boat building, with ~60,000 artifacts and a real research submarine to climb into. Official site.
Mikimoto Pearl Island
Ama-diving shows run rain or shine, several times a day. Also a reliable spot for authentic pearl shopping. Official site.
Okage Yokocho
Covered arcades and shopfronts right by Ise Jingu — easy to duck between as showers pass through. Official site.
🍣 Eat Like a Local
A short walk from ARASHIMA
A few of the counters and cafés within walking distance — the full list is on our Food & Cafes page.
笹月 (Sazatsuki)
A neighborhood favorite for an unhurried dinner after a day on the water.
お食事処 錦屋 (Nishikiya)
Home-style set meals, the kind of place regulars return to on a normal Tuesday.
大衆居酒屋 みしお (Mishio)
A casual izakaya — good for the night you don't feel like planning anything.
Jubilee Tea & Bakes
A relaxed café for the slow mornings this whole page is built around.
🧭 Where a Base Lets You Go
Full detail on our dedicated pages
This page is the overview. For the complete list of islands, sights, and ferry/train details, see Island Hopping and Sightseeing from Toba — everything from Sakatejima's iris ponds to Shima Spain Village's roller coaster.
🏠 Living Here for a Few Days
The practical details of basing yourself at ARASHIMA
Kintetsu Nakanogo Station is a 2-minute walk — one stop from Toba Station, where trains, the ferry terminal, the aquarium, and Pearl Island all cluster together.
Self check-in with a keypad lock — arrive on your own schedule, no front desk hours to plan around.
A working kitchen (fridge, microwave) in a private 2DK apartment — cook, or don't; the option is what matters for a multi-night stay.
Convenience stores and everyday eateries are within walking distance for anything you forgot to pack.
Toba Marine Terminal — the gateway to all four islands — is about a 15-minute walk from the apartment.
Ready to Stay Longer?
Book direct with the platform you already use
ARASHIMA has two private 2DK apartments — Room 201 (Sea Breeze) and Room 203 (Island Wind). Block out 3 to 5 nights and build your own version of the itinerary above. Book on whichever platform you already use.
Room 201 · Sea Breeze
Room 203 · Island Wind