Toba, Mie — Slow Travel Base
See the aquarium, sleep one night, move on the next morning.
That is a way to travel, but what makes this coast interesting lies a little deeper in. So here are itineraries for three and five nights.
Why Stay Longer
Crossing to an island with no traffic lights on a small boat. Walking a shrine rebuilt every twenty years for more than a thousand of them. Eating fish landed that morning, at a counter, just as it is. None of these fit into half a day.
Toba Aquarium and dinner, and that is the lot. You leave the next morning barely knowing the place.
Enough to reach Ise Jingu and eat your way along Okage Yokocho. About 40 minutes each way from Nakanogo by train and bus.
A whole day on Toshijima or Sugashima. Thirteen to twenty minutes on the municipal ferry, and yet time moves differently out there.
Shima, Matsusaka, and the local diners you never find in a single night. The range opens right up.
3 Nights
A day on Toba Bay with the aquarium and Pearl Island, and one island by ferry. Everything fits inside what you can walk to and what the boats reach.
Four minutes on foot from Kintetsu Nakanogo Station. Check-in is self-service with a keypad code, so however late you arrive, there is no front desk closing time to worry about. Put your bags down, make yourself a cup in the kitchen, and head out to a counter nearby for dinner.
Limited express trains pass through Nakanogo. Change to a local train at Toba Station
In the morning, Toba Aquarium, five minutes' walk from the inn. Then Mikimoto Pearl Island for the ama demonstration, divers in white showing the free-diving that still goes on in the waters off Toba. In the afternoon, the 50-minute Toba Bay Cruise and Dolphin Island, from a pier in the same area.
Walking and boats only today. No car needed
Toba Marine Terminal is about 15 minutes on foot. Toshijima is roughly 20 minutes on the Toba municipal ferry, good for a rental bicycle and a walk up to the high ground. Sugashima, about 13 minutes away, has the oldest brick lighthouse in Japan. Places to eat on the islands are few, so check the island hopping page before you set off. You will be back well before dinner.
One-day unlimited ferry pass ¥1,480 (valid only on the day of purchase)Check-out is at 11:00, so there is no need to cut breakfast short. Walk to a café nearby, come back to the room, and pack at your own pace. When you are ready, the station is four minutes away.
Check-out 11:005 Nights
The first three days stay exactly as they are. To them you add a day trip to Ise Jingu and the viewpoint on the Pearl Road.
Arrival, Toba Bay (aquarium, Pearl Island, bay cruise), then the ferry out to an island. Up to here, it is the itinerary above.
From Nakanogo, change at Toba for Iseshi Station, then take the CAN bus to the Naiku. Custom has it that you visit Ise Jingu's Geku first. Then on through the old cedars to the Naiku. Finish at Okage Yokocho, which still keeps its Edo air, with Ise udon, tekone-zushi and Akafuku.
About 35–40 minutes each way by train and bus
By car or taxi to Toba Observatory on the Pearl Road. From 163 metres up, the whole folded ria coastline lies open (closed Wednesdays). After that, the Toba Sea-Folk Museum, where the lives of the ama and the fishermen explain everything you have been eating these past few days. If you would rather do something different, swap it for Shima Spain Village.
About 25 minutes by car from the inn (you will need a car or a taxi today)Another slow morning, and breakfast at a local counter. Then four minutes on foot to the station. After five nights, Toba will have stopped being somewhere you pass through.
Check-out 11:00Rainy Days
Stay a few nights and you will catch a wet one. There is plenty of Toba to be had under a roof.
Make a strap, a pair of earrings or a necklace from sea glass worn smooth by the waves. It is all indoors, so a rainy day is no obstacle. Book through Shima Tabisha.
A museum on the high ground telling the history of the ama and of wooden boatbuilding. Some 60,000 objects, and a research submersible you can actually climb into. Official site.
The ama demonstration runs several times a day, rain or shine (fewer in the colder months). There is a pearl museum too, and it is a good place to take your time choosing a real pearl. Official site.
Right beside Ise Jingu, a stretch of street lined with eaves. If a shower comes through, you can wait it out moving from shop to shop. Official site.
Where to Eat
Over several nights, where you eat each evening becomes the stay itself. Here are a few counters and cafés you can walk to. The full list, with opening hours and closing days, is on the food and cafés page.
The local place you want to end up at, unhurried, after a day spent by the sea.
Home-style set meals. The sort of place regulars drop into on an ordinary weekday.
An unpretentious izakaya. Right for an evening when you don't want to decide anything.
A relaxed café that suits the unhurried mornings you get here.
Living Here
Not a hotel room but a whole two-bedroom apartment, kitchen and bath included, rented out entire. When you settle in for several nights, it is these small things that start to matter.
Reservation
Two rooms: Room 201 (Sea Breeze) and Room 203 (Island Wind). Choose your dates and party size on our booking page and the availability and price appear right away. If you would rather use your points or membership benefits, the travel sites below work too.
Reservations require your personal details in advance, and a mobile phone number that can receive an SMS on the day.
お取消しの条件は Terms of accommodation の第5条をご覧ください。
Enquiries TEL 090-3258-2790 (no reservations by phone)