1 / 7Sunayama BeachPhoto: Paipateroma / CC BY-SA 4.0
Tap a photo to see it large. 7 photographs, every one credited.
Checked against official sources · updated · Takumi Yamada
Over a sand dune and down to a cove with a wave-cut arch. The arch is roped off after rockfalls — honesty requires saying so — but the cove remains the island’s prettiest small beach.
- Short enough to be certain of: 1 hr 50 min door to door, so even a tender day works.
- Free. Parking is free; showers are paid to visit — listings give 24 to about 50 parking spaces, so it is small. there are no shops or restaurants nearby and no lockers, so bring water..
- On a 4–6h ashore call our verdict is "Perfect" — a taxi to the cove and back, then a late lunch in hirara, fits comfortably.
- Always open, no closing days — a national tourism directory lists it as open for strolling with no closing days. toilets, changing rooms and paid showers are at the car park..
- 1 hr 50 min door to door needs a 4-hour call: a 2–3 hour stop cannot hold it. Pick something closer instead.
- No single published ride covers this one. Budget for a taxi both ways, or fold it into a guided day.
Why Sunayama Beach is famous
A small beach reached down a slope through a pine wood, named for the sand dune you cross to get there. Its natural rock arch still stands but has been fenced off since October 2018, after the landowner warned of rockfalls beneath it. What remains is a compact cove with unusually clear water, close enough to town for a short call.
Sunayama means 'sand hill', and the name is the route: from the car park you cross a sand dune and the beach opens out on the far side. It sits a short drive north of Hirara, 2.8 km from the cruise terminal by the computed route. For a port day without a rental car it is the postcard beach a taxi can reach in minutes rather than half an hour, which is the opposite of Yonaha Maehama or Higashi-Henna Cape.
What you see is a small white cove with shallow, clear water and a limestone arch standing in the surf, the shape that appears on every Miyako poster. The arch is netted and fenced because of the risk of collapse, and a travel magazine says you may not enter the sea-cave passage, so it is a photograph from the sand, not a walk-through. Shallow water is fine for paddling and a look at the reef edge.
The catch is that there is nothing here to look after you. The Miyakojima Tourism Association says most beaches on the island have no lifeguards, rip currents are strong, box jellyfish and other hazards exist, and the sun is fierce even under cloud. The same magazine says no swimming area is designated at Sunayama and locals do not generally swim here. Treat it as a shoreline stop. Skip it in typhoon or high-wave warnings, and skip it if the dune climb is too much.
Things worth knowing
- Book or hold a taxi for the return before you get out; there is no shop, no lockers and no taxi rank at the cove.
- Do not go under or onto the arch. It is fenced and netted, and the cave passage is closed because of collapse risk.
- Bring water, a hat and sun cream; the tourism association warns that the sun is strong even when it is cloudy, and there is no shade listed.
- Swimming is at your own risk: most Miyako beaches have no lifeguards and rip currents are strong. Stay at the shoreline.
Sunayama Beach and your ship
Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.
Where the 1 hr 50 min goes
Counted from the moment you step off the gangway, about 30 minutes after the ship arrives. The hour before all-aboard is not in this bar; it is already set aside.
10 minutes each way is the measured figure for car ~10 min, or ~40 min on foot, not the optimistic one. If your ship is late, cut the 1 hr 30 min in the middle. Never cut the hour at the end.
Questions people send us
How do I get to Sunayama Beach from the Miyakojima cruise port?
By taxi from the cruise terminal, which is about 1 km from the berth and served by a passenger shuttle. The computed drive is 2.84 km, about 5 minutes, and the meter should read around ¥900 on the 2023 remote-island tariff. Walking is 3.09 km, about 40 minutes. There is no public bus to the cove in these sources.
Is Sunayama Beach safe for swimming?
It is not a managed beach. A travel magazine says no swimming area is designated and locals do not generally swim there, and the Miyakojima Tourism Association says most Miyako beaches have no lifeguards and rip currents are strong. Paddling at the edge is the sensible limit.
Can I walk under the Sunayama Beach arch?
No. The arch is netted and fenced because of collapse risk, and the sea-cave passage is closed to visitors. You photograph it from the sand.
Routes that already include it
Each one is a finished day timed from the official timetables, with this stop in it. Read the route rather than assembling it yourself.
What to put beside it
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.
3 hr 20 min for bothIrabu Ohashi crossing
The longest toll-free bridge in Japan — 3,540m humped over open turquoise.
See the detail
3 hr 20 min for bothMiyako soba at an old house
Flat noodles, clean pork-and-fish broth, toppings hidden under the noodles in the old tax-era style — the story of the island in one bowl..
See the detail
3 hr 40 min for bothMango, whole, in season
June to August the island’s farms serve their own fruit over ice at parlour counters.
See the detail