PORT OF JAPAN
The rainy-day Kagoshima, Kagoshima

Home / Kagoshima / Your day / Route

When it rains · Kagoshima

The rainy-day Kagoshima

Wet or ashy weather — arcades and aquarium do the work. Timed from the gangway and back.

4 hr door to door5 stopsA wet day
Open the route in Maps
Photo: John Seb Barber from Leeds, UK / CC BY 2.0
Door to door
4 hr
From the gangway and back
Best for
A wet day
Wet or ashy weather — arcades and aquarium do the work
Room to spare
None
Fits a 6-hour stop with nothing to add (off the ship 30 minutes after arrival, back at the gangway an hour before all-aboard). A longer call gives you the extra time; on this one, do not add a stop.
What it costs
~¥2,000 per couple
Museums + shirokuma add ~¥1,500 pp.
Booking
Nothing
Every stop here takes walk-ups

Timed from the gangway with the port's official timetables · updated · Takumi Yamada

Numbers follow the route below. Pins are the places themselves; walking lines are not drawn because the best way between two stops can change with the tram, the tide or the weather.

The route

How the day runs

Times are from the moment you step off, not from the scheduled arrival. Everything shifts if your ship is late; the order does not.

  1. +0:00
    Shuttle to the city, walk into the covered Tenmonkan arcades

    Kilometers of roof — the city planned for weather

    What you will see hereFull guide: Tenmonkan
  2. +0:30
    Shirokuma at Mujaki, unhurried

    Opens 11:00. On an early arrival, do the museum first. Rain thins the queue

    What you will see here
  3. +1:30
    Museum of the Meiji Restoration

    The samurai-modernizers story, fully indoors; ¥600, last entry 16:30. Closed for renovation 24 Nov 2026 – 22 Jan 2027 (dates may change) — then use Reimeikan (¥430; closed Mondays and the 25th, and also on 24 Nov 2026, when neither museum is open; its 2nd floor is closed 1 Dec 2026 – 25 Apr 2027)

  4. +2:30
    Taxi to the aquarium by the ferry terminal

    Whale sharks over wet pavements

    What you will see hereFull guide: Kagoshima Aquarium (io World)
    Sakurajima by ferry, Kagoshima
    Photo: Hyppolyte de Saint-Rambert / CC BY 4.0
  5. +3:30
    Taxi back to Marine Port

    From the aquarium about 15–35 min, ¥3,500–3,700. The ship shuttle leaves from Tenmonkan or Kagoshima-Chuo, not here

    What you will see here
    Tenmonkan arcades, Kagoshima
    Photo: Mike Knell from Vienna, Austria / CC BY-SA 2.0
The margin is not optional. This route ends an hour before all-aboard on purpose. If you are running late, drop the last stop, not the hour.
What the day looks like

Kagoshima, along this route

Real photographs of the places above and the streets between them. Every one is credited.

The bronze statue of Saigo Takamori in Kagoshima
The bronze statue of Saigo Takamori in KagoshimaPhoto: Hyppolyte de Saint-Rambert / CC BY 4.0
Sakurajima erupting with an ash plume above Kagoshima Bay
Sakurajima erupting with an ash plume above Kagoshima BayPhoto: Marek Piwnicki / Pexels
Shochu bottles from Satsuma Shuzo, a Kagoshima distiller, on display
Shochu bottles from Satsuma Shuzo, a Kagoshima distiller, on displayPhoto: Jun Seita / CC BY 2.0
Satsuma kiriko cut glass in red and indigo, Kagoshima
Satsuma kiriko cut glass in red and indigoPhoto: Wikimedia contributor / CC BY 2.0
A samurai residence garden in Chiran, Kagoshima
A samurai residence garden in ChiranPhoto: STA3816 / CC BY-SA 3.0
The rainy-day Kagoshima
Sengan-enPhoto: Hyppolyte de Saint-Rambert / CC BY 4.0
Different hours, different day

The other routes in Kagoshima

The Tenmonkan sprintNeeds a 4.5-hour call · ~2.5hShort calls — shirokuma, arcades, and back on the shuttleThe volcano crossingNeeds a 7-hour call · ~5hThe thing only Kagoshima offers — an active volcano by city ferryLords & lavaNeeds a 9.5-hour call · ~7.5hFull-day calls — the garden, the crossing and the postcard hill
Pick your own stops instead →Back to the Kagoshima guide
Everything in one pageThe complete Kagoshima guide: berth, into town, your hours, tours that fitOpen the complete guide →