Photo: Alpsdake / CC BY-SA 4.0What Omaezaki isOmaezaki is the southernmost point of Shizuoka, a town of about 31,000 on a cape between Suruga Bay and the Enshu coast, half-way between Tokyo and Osaka. Its port handles car carriers and containers; cruise ships have called since 2019, and the town turns out with fishing flags and taiko for each one. Behind the cape lies Makinohara, the largest tea plateau in Japan, and beyond it the Tokaido line towns of Kakegawa and Shizuoka.
Researched from official timetables, operators and the port authority · checked 9 October 2026 · 38 sources · Takumi Yamada
A white brick tower designed under Richard Henry Brunton, first lit on 1 May 1874 and an Important Cultural Property since 2021.
From the ship City shuttle if it runs, or a taxi of about 10 minutes (about ¥1,100 at the tariff floor; a secondary guide quotes ¥2,000).
Japan's largest tea plateau, rows of clipped green bushes to the horizon.
From the ship Taxi 25–30 minutes each way (about ¥7,000 at the tariff floor; a secondary guide quotes ¥5,000); Holland America calls it a thirty-minute taxi.
The 1994 keep was Japan's first full-scale wooden castle reconstruction; the Goten beside it is a late-Edo palace, one of four castle palaces left in the country and an Important Cultural Property.
From the ship Taxi 30–50 minutes each way, 32–35 km, about ¥12,500 at the tariff floor; or the ship's 5-hour coach.
Your hours, or your ship. The page picks your day and the one booking, with the hour before all-aboard set aside.
Omaezaki is on the itinerary because it is the only Shizuoka port on Westerdam's spring loop, and because the town wants you. Residents have lined the quay with fishing flags and taiko at each call so far. The reward for getting off is three things, in three directions.
Ten minutes away stands the Omaezaki Lighthouse, a white brick tower first lit in 1874 and one of 16 lighthouses in Japan you can climb. Behind the cape lies Makinohara, the largest tea plateau in the country, with a factory you can walk through for free. Inland, 32 km away, Kakegawa Castle has a wooden keep rebuilt in 1994 and a real Edo palace beside it.
What this port is not: a walk-off port, and not a Fuji port. Ships dock at a car-carrier quay with tents for a terminal, and passengers cannot walk out of the compound. Mt. Fuji is about 96 km from the cape, visible on a clear morning and not otherwise.
This guide is built from the port council's notices, the city's pages, the official taxi tariff and the sights' own hours. Everything was checked on 8 and 9 October 2026.
Omaezaki has one cruise berth in practice. West Wharf berth No. 2 is a −12 m quay in the western part of the port, completed in 1985 for car carriers and domestic RORO ships. Every cruise call since the first in 2019 has used it: Pacific Venus, Zaandam, three Westerdam calls and Diamond Princess at 115,875 tons.
| West Wharf berth No. 2 | |
|---|---|
| Where | Minato, Omaezaki City, on the north side of the cape; port office at 6170-1 Minato |
| Ships | Westerdam, Diamond Princess, Zaandam, Pacific Venus: every call on record |
| Terminal | None. Immigration, the tourist-information booth, the shuttle stop and the taxi stand are tents inside the berth area |
| On foot | Nothing. The lighthouse is 2.3 km and Nabura Market 1.9 km, but the compound is closed to pedestrians |
The council lists the Central Wharf as cruise-capable too. The prefecture's long-term plan would make it a passenger berth for ships up to about 23,000 tons, but no cruise call has used it. The container terminal at Megishi, with its cranes, is not the cruise berth either.
On ship days the quay hosts a public welcome event. At the October 2026 call that means stalls 08:00–15:30, a stage from 10:00 and a ¥1,000 fishing event on berths 3–4. Ship interiors are closed to the public. Expect crowds on the apron at sailing time, which is part of the charm.
There are three ways out and no fourth. The city's shuttle, when it runs; a taxi from the stand inside the berth area; or the ship's coach. Omaezaki has no railway, and the local buses are infrequent with Japanese-only signage.
| To | How | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Omaezaki Lighthouse | City shuttle (if running) or taxi | about 10 min | free, or about ¥1,100 (a secondary guide quotes ¥2,000) |
| Nabura Market | Shuttle or taxi, 1.9 km | about 5 min | free, or about ¥1,000 |
| Hamaoka Sand Dunes | Taxi, 10 km | about 10 min | about ¥3,900 |
| Grinpia Makinohara (tea factory) | Taxi, about 20 km | 25–30 min | about ¥7,000 (a secondary guide quotes ¥5,000) |
| Tea Museum, Kanaya | Taxi, 28 km | about 30 min | about ¥10,000 |
| JR Kikugawa Station | Taxi, 26–30 km | council: 40 min | about ¥9,500–10,700 |
| Kakegawa Castle | Taxi, 32–35 km | council: 50 min to the station | about ¥11,600–12,500 |
| Mt. Fuji Shizuoka Airport | Taxi, 28–30 km | council: 35 min | about ¥10,200–10,900 |
| Shizuoka Station | Taxi, 50 km | 45 min without traffic | about ¥18,000 |
| Kunozan Toshogu / Nihondaira Ropeway | Taxi, 54–63 km | 45–55 min without traffic | about ¥19,300–22,400 |
| Hamamatsu Station | Taxi, 48 km | about 40 min without traffic | about ¥17,500 |
Road times are our estimates from map routing without traffic, so add a quarter to a half. The council's own figures are quoted where it publishes them. Taxi fares are the distance-only floor of the official Shizuoka-district tariff, ¥700 for the first 1.17 km and ¥100 per 285 m after, without the time charge.
Hourly hire is the tool for anything beyond the cape: ¥3,850 per 30 minutes and ¥1,920 per extra 15, about ¥7,700 an hour for a sedan carrying three. A reseller quotes a van for six at ¥11,600 an hour. Book it before you sail; the stand on the apron serves a small fleet, and waits of 15–20 minutes were reported late in the morning of the 2026 call.
The shuttle deserves its own paragraph because it decides the day for most people. The council's record of the 2023 call says shuttle buses took passengers to sights in Omaezaki and Makinohara, and television footage of the April 2026 call shows the same. Only a secondary guide says the buses were free. No notice has ever published where they go, when they run or what the last return is. A secondary guide written for the 2026 call described a pier–Nabura Market–lighthouse loop every 20–30 minutes from about 08:30, last return 15:00–16:00; a reader's comment adds a Makinohara bus on the official map. Treat that as likely, not promised. Read the map at the tent.
Public transport exists on paper. A Shizutetsu bus runs from the Omaezaki Kaiyo Center stop, 10 minutes' walk from the lighthouse, to the Hamaoka office in about 30 minutes, and a second bus goes on to Kikugawa Station in about 40. The timetables are not published in English and the frequency is low; from Kikugawa a JR local reaches Shizuoka in 39 minutes for ¥770 and Kakegawa in 6 for ¥200. Nobody on a 9-hour call should build the day on that chain.
The lighthouse association and the transport ministry both list Mt. Fuji among the views from the lighthouse, with the Izu peninsula and the Southern Alps. The summit is about 96 km from the tower in a straight line, more than twice as far as from Shimizu. The photograph above, taken from the port district, shows what a clear day gives.
No statistics for Fuji visibility from Omaezaki exist, and this guide will not invent any. The only published series is Fuji City's, 20 km from the mountain, and it does not transfer. What the climate normals do say is that April on the cape averages 5.1 m/s of wind and 201 mm of rain. It is a windy month. Look north-east from the ship at breakfast; if the mountain is there, go to the cape first.
The lighthouse is a 22 m white brick tower designed under the British engineer Richard Henry Brunton and first lit on 1 May 1874. Its lens was destroyed by attack in July 1945 and restored in 1949; it became an Important Cultural Property in August 2021. The climb is a steep spiral stair with no lift, to a gallery; the light stands 54 m above the sea.
Hours since 1 March 2026 are 09:00–12:00 every day, then 13:00–16:00 on weekday afternoons from March to October and 13:00–16:30 on weekends and holidays. It is closed 12:00–13:00 daily, and last entry is 15 minutes before each closing. The fee is a ¥300 visitor donation, paid in cash; children of primary-school age and under are free. Strong wind or bad weather closes it, and reviews describe hats blown off the gallery.
Cape Park is a minute away: free, always open, with a coast path past the Shiosai statue that takes 30–45 minutes. Allow 30–45 minutes for the tower and the park together, longer if the shuttle loop sets the pace. The council says the Marine Park beach is 25 minutes' walk from the park and the market 6 minutes beyond that, so the whole cape can be done on foot once you are out of the wharf.
Nabura Market at 6099-7 Minato, 1.9 km from the berth, is named for the fishermen's word for a school of bonito. The fish hall opens 09:00–17:00 (08:30 on weekends and holidays); the food hall opens 09:00–21:00 with hours that vary by shop. It is closed on Tuesdays (open if the Tuesday is a holiday) and on 1 January. Payment is cash, with other methods shop by shop.
The dish is seared bonito tataki at Ipponzuri Nikkomaru, a restaurant run by a pole-and-line boat (11:00–17:30, last orders 17:00). The Kaisen counter serves seafood bowls on weekends and holidays, and MARE sells shirasu gelato. The Omaezaki Tourism Association sits in the Nabura-kan building next door, closed Tuesdays, and lists rental e-bikes without a price. A 7-Eleven stands beside the market.
Marine Park Omaezaki is 6 minutes' walk from the market: a free beach park with the Eco-Park botanical garden, about 460 parking spaces and the temporary car park used on ship days. The Hamaoka Sand Dunes, 10 km west, are a free stretch of rippled sand where loggerhead turtles nest from May to August. The grey buildings beside the port are Chubu Electric's Hamaoka nuclear plant, shut since 2011; its free museum with an observation deck opens 09:00–17:00, closed the third Monday.
The Makinohara plateau is the largest tea-growing area in Japan, and the ships arrive at the right moment. The Shizuoka tea market's first new-tea auction falls in the second half of April, and Grinpia's 2026 picking season opened on 11 April. A 12 April call lands at the very start of the first flush; an October call sees the autumn picking.
Grinpia Makinohara, at Nishihagima 1151, offers a self-guided tea-factory tour 10:00–17:00, free, no booking, with some lines idle out of season, and a shop. Tea picking costs ¥1,000 and runs in blocks from mid-April to early October. It sits near the Sagara-Makinohara interchange, which the council puts 25 minutes from the port; Holland America calls the tea fields a thirty-minute taxi.
The Tea Museum Shizuoka at Kanaya, 28 km from the wharf, opens 09:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30), with a tea room 09:30–16:00. Admission is ¥500, free at 70 and over; it is closed on Tuesdays. The HAL tours pair it with the 1879 Horai wooden footbridge and the 300-year-old Ogane family farmhouse. Fees and hours for those two are not published in our sources.
Kakegawa Castle is 32–35 km inland, 7 minutes' walk from JR Kakegawa Station, where the Kodama Shinkansen stops. The original keep fell in the 1854 earthquake and was abandoned in the Meiji era; the 1994 rebuild was Japan's first full-scale wooden tenshu reconstruction. Beside it stands the late-Edo Goten, used for ceremonies, audiences and administration, one of four castle palaces surviving in Japan and an Important Cultural Property.
The keep and palace open 09:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30), every day; adults pay ¥410, children ¥150, with no senior rate. The keep's stairs are steep; the palace is flat, shoes off. The Ninomaru Tea House (09:30–17:00) serves matcha or sencha with a sweet for ¥510, and the Ninomaru Museum (¥200) closes on Mondays. Allow 60–75 minutes for the two buildings.
Holland America's coach pairs the castle with Kasuisai, a Soto Zen temple of 1394 at Fukuroi, about an hour's drive from the port. Its peony garden flowers from April to early May. The entry fee in recent notices is ¥500–700.
Shizuoka city is 50 km from the wharf and Kunozan Toshogu 54 km: 44–55 minutes without traffic, so about 75 with. The shrine, Tokugawa Ieyasu's first mausoleum, is open 09:00–17:00 every day at ¥700 (¥1,200 with the museum). It is reached by the Nihondaira Ropeway (¥1,250 return, first car 09:10, last 17:00, cards accepted) or by a long stone stairway from the coast road, about 1,000 steps; inside, the shrine says plainly that wheelchairs cannot be used.
Sunpu Castle Park is a free park 15 minutes' walk from Shizuoka Station; its gates, towers and garden (combined ¥360) are closed on Mondays, which rules them out on 12 April 2027. Miho no Matsubara, the pine shore on the World Heritage list, is 61 km from the wharf. On a 9-hour call the city means one sight by hired car and straight back, as model day 2 shows.
Hamamatsu is 48 km west: the rebuilt castle (08:30–16:30, ¥200, free at 70 and over on a secondary listing) and the city's grilled eel. From Kakegawa a Kodama reaches it in 11 minutes for ¥1,380, but with the taxi to Kakegawa first it is a lunch and nothing else.
Both are Shizuoka ports and both are sold as Fuji calls, which is where the resemblance ends. Shimizu's Hinode Pier is a walkable waterfront in a city of about 660,000, with Fuji 45 km across the bay. The complete guide to it is on Port of Fuji; the site's Shimizu page links there.
Omaezaki's berth is a cargo quay in a town of about 31,000 on a windy cape. Fuji is 96 km away and the nearest station is a 26 km taxi ride. The whole day depends on the city shuttle, a small taxi fleet or the ship's coach.
What it has that Shimizu does not: the climbable 1874 lighthouse, the tea plateau 25–30 minutes away and Kakegawa's wooden castle. And a town that has turned out for each ship so far.
Our full list, with the time each takes from the berth, is on the Omaezaki top 10. In brief:
For timed plans by call length see Omaezaki plans; for every guided option, Omaezaki guided.
Fits the 07:00–16:00 Westerdam calls (Monday 12 October 2026 and Monday 12 April 2027) and any 9-hour-plus call. Book the hourly hire before you sail; the wharf taxi stand cannot be relied on for a whole-day car.
The castle first, then tea country on the way back. Times assume 07:00 arrival and 16:00 departure, so all-aboard about 15:30 and our target at the gangway 14:30. Mondays are fine for every stop below; the Tea Museum and Nabura Market close on Tuesdays.
Fits the 9-hour Westerdam calls only, and only with a car booked by the hour before you sail. On 12 April 2027, a Monday, Sunpu Castle Park's paid buildings are closed, so the day is the shrine and the ropeway.
Shizuoka city is 50–63 km each way, about 75 minutes with traffic. One sight is the realistic haul. Times assume 07:00–16:00, target gangway 14:30, and a sedan at about ¥7,700 an hour: about ¥46,000 for six hours.
Fits every call, including a shortened one. Built for passengers who have not booked a tour or a car and will use whatever shuttle the city runs; the fallback is two short taxis.
Everything is within 2.3 km of the wharf, and the only reason you cannot walk is the cargo compound. Times assume 07:00–16:00 and a shuttle starting about 30 minutes after clearance, as a secondary guide described the 2026 loop. If no shuttle appears, a taxi to the lighthouse is about ¥1,100–2,000.
Work backwards from the ship. All-aboard is usually 30 minutes before departure (check the daily programme), and you want to be at the gangway an hour before that. The first half hour after arrival goes on clearance and the walk to the tents. So the time you can use is the call length minus about two hours.
Every plan here also assumes a shuttle or a taxi for the first and last leg. There is no walking version.
| Call | Usable | What fits from West Wharf No. 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 4 hours | about 2 | The lighthouse climb and Cape Park, then Nabura Market for a bonito lunch. Nothing further. |
| 6 hours | about 4 | The cape plus the Hamaoka dunes by taxi; or Kakegawa Castle by taxi (about ¥12,500 each way) and back. One or the other. |
| 8 hours | about 6 | Hourly-hire taxi: Kakegawa Castle, the Tea Museum and Grinpia; or Shizuoka city for Kunozan Toshogu alone. |
| 9 hours | about 7 | Model day 1 or 2 with a car; model day 3 without. Hamamatsu only as castle-and-eel by car. |
Published calls are 8 to 9 hours. Westerdam's are 07:00–16:00, on 12 October 2026 and 12 April 2027. Diamond Princess calls on 10 November 2026 (times not yet set), then 17 May and 26 November 2027 at 09:00–17:00. The list is on cruises to Omaezaki. Westerdam's 28 March 2027 loop does not call here; the port-by-port journal covers that voyage.
The one to book for an 8-hour call →
One pick per length of call. Every card opens our own page first: what the operator includes, who should skip it, and which upcoming Omaezaki calls it fits. Prices are the operator's "from" price as of 26 Sep 2026.
The one Viator listing written for this port. Its record names no meeting point beyond a sign with the tour name, so ask the operator where it stands before you book.
These two are built for Shimizu's piers, 55–60 km away, and their records say so. Neither mentions Omaezaki as a start point, so treat them as a lead to ask about, not a booking to make blind.
Parties up to 7 · per group · record says staff wait at Shimizu's Hinode or Okitsu pierMiho no Matsubara, Kunozan Toshogu, Nihondaira Guided Tour-VanA private van to Miho no Matsubara, the Nihondaira terrace and Kunozan Toshogu in 5 hours, US$789 for the vehicle; ropeway and admissions extra. The listing itself says wheelchair users will find the shrine difficult.US$789 per car · US$197 each for 4Meets at the pierneeds a 8.5h call · fits 50% of calls hereFree cancellation 24h aheadNew listing · 3 reviewsWhy it is on this site →
Culture seekers · per person · record says the guide meets outside the ship's security gate at ShimizuPrivate Shizuoka Shore Excursion: Zen, Matcha and CalligraphySeiken-ji temple, zazen with chairs available, matcha and your own scroll calligraphy in 2½–3 hours; 14 reviews at 5.0. Taxi fares of about ¥2,000 per vehicle each way are extra, and from Omaezaki the ride would be far longer.US$149 each · US$298 for twoMeeting point in the listingneeds a 6h call · fits 100% of calls hereFree cancellation 24h ahead5.0★ · 14 reviewsWhy it is on this site →Tours are booked through Viator (a Tripadvisor company). If you book, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never decides what we recommend — which is why each tour page has a "think twice" note.
About the return to the ship. The catalogue for this port is thin, and only one of its five listings starts in Omaezaki: the 2½-hour zen, mizuhiki and taiko session with local residents (5587248P17). The other four are Shizuoka-city products whose records name Shimizu's piers or Shizuoka Station as the meeting point, 55–60 km away; one bike tour says in its own words that it is not for cruise passengers. The tea-tasting day ends at Shizuoka Station at 15:30–16:00, which no call here allows.
None of the five promises an on-time return in writing. Among resellers, Japan Shore Excursions prints a 'Back-to-Ship Guarantee: Return to Your Ship 90–120 Minutes Before Departure' on its Omaezaki page, wording no other operator here matches. Its 6-hour highlights-and-tea day is listed from US$190, pricing basis not stated.
A ToursByLocals private guide offers a 7-hour day from the port with transport at the charter rate, and makes no return promise at all. For most passengers the realistic choices are the ship's own excursions, listed below, or a hired taxi day from this guide.
Whatever you book, tell the guide your all-aboard time at the start and agree the gangway an hour before it.
Holland America's Omaezaki pages (port code OMZ) showed these tours on 9 October 2026. Prices are 'from', per person, in US dollars.
| Excursion | Duration | From | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kakegawa Castle & Kasuisai Temple | about 5 h | $139 | 1-hour drive to Kasuisai, then the castle; shoes off; not wheelchair-accessible; no meal |
| Highlights of Omaezaki | about 4 h | $129 | Tea Museum, Horai Bridge, Ogane family residence; 'no guarantee is offered with regard to visibility or views on any particular day' |
| Japanese Tea Culture in Shizuoka | about 4½ h | $139 | Tea Museum, Grinpia picking and factory, Ogane residence; runs late April to early October, so probably not on 12 April |
| Sunpu Castle Park & Shizuoka Sengen Shrine | not shown | not shown | name only on the port page |
| Nihondaira Outlook & Kunozan Toshogu Shrine | not shown | not shown | name only on the port page |
Princess's page for Diamond Princess names four tours without prices or durations. They are Kakegawa Castle & Kasuisai Temple, Nihondaira Outlook & Kunozan Toshogu (ropeway and Yaizu fish market), Sunpu Castle Park & Shizuoka Sengen Shrine (with Yaizu fish market) and Highlights of Omaezaki.
Book early. On forums, a Princess passenger in 2025 found most trips fully booked and nothing else on offer; a 2023 Westerdam passenger could not book three months out.
Carry yen. The lighthouse donation, Nabura Market's stalls and the local buses are cash. No sight in our sources publishes what cards it takes except the ropeway.
| Place | Pay with |
|---|---|
| Omaezaki Lighthouse (¥300) | Cash |
| Nabura Market | Cash; other methods shop by shop |
| Taxis | Not published; assume cash |
| Kakegawa Castle, Tea Museum, Grinpia | Not published; carry yen |
| Nihondaira Ropeway | Cash, credit cards, QR and e-money |
| JR local trains from Kikugawa | IC cards (Suica, ICOCA, TOICA) or cash tickets |
There is no ATM, exchange desk or shop at the wharf. The nearest mapped machines are a FamilyMart about 1 km away, the 7-Eleven beside Nabura Market and a Shimada-Kakegawa Shinkin Bank branch in town. Whether any takes foreign cards is not confirmed, so get cash on board.
Tourist information. The tent on the apron has volunteer interpreters on ship days. In town, the tourism association beside Nabura Market is closed Tuesdays; its Nabura-kan building was shut for renovation 1–14 October 2026. The council's secretariat at the city's Port Business Office answers on weekdays 08:30–17:00, in Japanese.
Closed days against the call dates. Tuesday closes Nabura Market, the Tea Museum and the tourism office: that is the 10 November 2026 Diamond Princess call. Monday closes Sunpu Castle Park's buildings and Kakegawa's Ninomaru Museum, and the third Monday closes the Hamaoka museum: 12 April 2027 is the second Monday. 12 October 2026 is a public holiday, so Sunpu's buildings and the Ninomaru Museum open and the lighthouse keeps weekend afternoon hours.
Food on the route. At the cape: Nabura Market's bonito restaurant and food hall, the city's eel house Unagidokoro Nozaki (hours not published) and Kameya Honten's turtle-shaped kame manju. At Kakegawa: the castle tea house. At Kanaya: the museum's tea room. In Hamamatsu: unagi, on a car day only. Suruga Bay sakura shrimp has spring and autumn seasons, but whether it is on Nabura's counter on a given day is not published.
If this is your first Japanese port, everyone goes through face-to-face immigration at the terminal; allow 30 to 60 minutes after the ship clears. What happens at your first Japanese port →
| Dish | Where | Price | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bonito (katsuo) tataki, seared pole-and-line bonitoRun by a pole-and-line fishing boat. Cash is the safe assumption; card acceptance is not published. | Ipponzuri Nikkomaru, inside Nabura Market, 1.9 km from the berthMap | — | 11:00–17:30 (last orders 17:00); irregular on holidays; the market is closed Tuesdays |
| Shirasu (whitebait) gelato and seafood bowlsThe market pays in cash; other methods depend on the shop. Suruga Bay sakura shrimp is seasonal and not confirmed on the counter on any given day. | MARE and the Kaisen counter, Nabura Market food hallMap | — | Food hall 09:00–21:00, varies by shop; the Kaisen counter serves bowls on weekends and holidays |
| Kakegawa matcha with a sweet, looking at the keepSencha is offered as well as matcha. Payment method not published. | Ninomaru Tea House, inside Kakegawa Castle groundsMapOur page | ¥510 with sweets | 09:30–17:00, open daily |
| Festival | When | From the port |
|---|---|---|
| Omaezaki Lighthouse Festival | 3–5 May (2026 listing); cancelled in rain or strong wind · every year | The lighthouse museum is free during the festival. No ship is scheduled on those dates.Map |
| Kakegawa Matsuri | 9–11 October 2026; 2027 dates not announced | Floats through Kakegawa's streets, 32 km from the wharf. The 12 October 2026 Westerdam call is the day after.Map |
| Shizuoka Matsuri, Sunpu Castle Park | 3–5 April 2026; 2027 dates not announced | A week before the 12 April 2027 call, 50 km away; the park's cherry trees are normally past full bloom by then.Map |
| Omaezaki Minato summer festival and fireworks | 1 August 2026; 2027 date not announced | At Marine Park Omaezaki, 17:00–20:30 with fireworks from 19:45. An evening event; no call is scheduled near it.Map |
Open in Google MapsBerth: West Wharf berth No. 2 (Westerdam, Diamond Princess) — approximate · Omaezaki Lighthouse · The Makinohara tea plateau and the Grinpia factory · Kakegawa Castle
At West Wharf berth No. 2, a −12 m car-carrier quay in the western part of Omaezaki Port. Every cruise call since the first in 2019 has used it, including Westerdam and Diamond Princess. There is no terminal: immigration, the tourist desk, the shuttle stop and the taxi stand are tents on the apron.
The city ran shuttles to sights in Omaezaki and Makinohara at the 2023 and 2026 Westerdam calls; a secondary guide says they were free. No notice publishes the destinations, timetable or fare before the day. Princess's 2026 port sheet says 'confirm locally'. Pick up the map at the information tent and note the last return time.
By the city shuttle if it runs, or by taxi: about 10 minutes, about ¥1,100 at the tariff floor (a secondary guide quotes ¥2,000). The council says it is an hour on foot, but passengers may not walk out of the wharf compound. The tower opens 09:00–12:00 and 13:00–16:00 on weekdays, ¥300 in cash.
On a clear morning, from the lighthouse gallery and Cape Park, about 96 km away: more than twice the distance from Shimizu. The transport ministry lists Fuji, the Izu peninsula and the Southern Alps among the views from the tower. No visibility statistics exist for the cape, and April is a windy month, so do not plan the day around it.
By taxi, 32–35 km: the council quotes 50 minutes to Kakegawa Station, routing gives 30 without traffic. About ¥12,500 each way at the tariff floor, which is why an hourly hire (¥3,850 per 30 minutes) is the usual way. The castle is 09:00–17:00 daily, ¥410, 7 minutes' walk from the station. Holland America's 5-hour coach pairs it with Kasuisai temple.
Taxi 25–30 minutes each way (about ¥7,000 at the tariff floor; a secondary guide quotes ¥5,000) to Grinpia Makinohara: a free self-guided factory tour 10:00–17:00 with no booking, and tea picking for ¥1,000 from mid-April. The Tea Museum at Kanaya is 28 km from the wharf, ¥500 and free at 70+, closed Tuesdays. The city shuttle has also gone to Makinohara on past calls.
Only by hired car or the ship's coach: 50–63 km each way, about 75 minutes with traffic, for one sight such as Kunozan Toshogu by the Nihondaira Ropeway. By public transport it is a 26 km taxi to Kikugawa then 39 minutes by JR (¥770), about 75 minutes each way. Sunpu Castle Park's buildings are closed on Mondays, which includes 12 April 2027.
The Shizuoka-district tariff since 25 November 2025 is ¥700 for the first 1.17 km, then ¥100 per 285 m, plus a time charge in slow traffic. Hourly hire is ¥3,850 per 30 minutes, about ¥7,700 an hour. The lighthouse is about ¥1,100–2,000, Grinpia ¥5,000–7,000, Kakegawa Castle ¥11,600–12,500 and Shizuoka Station ¥18,000, distance only.
Yes. The lighthouse donation, Nabura Market stalls and local buses take cash, and taxi card acceptance is not published. The Nihondaira Ropeway takes cards, QR and e-money. There is no ATM at the wharf; the nearest mapped machines are a FamilyMart about 1 km away and a 7-Eleven beside Nabura Market.
About 7 usable hours. With a car booked by the hour: Kakegawa Castle, the Tea Museum and Grinpia's factory, back by 14:30; or Shizuoka city for Kunozan Toshogu alone. Without a car: the lighthouse, Cape Park, Nabura Market for bonito and the Marine Park shore by shuttle or two short taxis.
For most passengers the ship's own excursions: Holland America's Kakegawa Castle and Kasuisai coach (about 5 hours, from US$139) or Highlights of Omaezaki (about 4 hours, from US$129). The one Viator listing starting in Omaezaki is a 2½-hour zen, mizuhiki and taiko session with local hosts (5587248P17, US$97). None of them promises an on-time return in writing on the pages we read.
Shimizu's Hinode Pier is a walkable waterfront in a city of about 660,000 with Fuji 45 km across the bay; its guide is on Port of Fuji. Omaezaki's berth is a cargo quay in a town of about 31,000, Fuji is 96 km away and the nearest station is a 26 km taxi ride. What Omaezaki has instead: a climbable 1874 lighthouse, the Makinohara tea plateau and Kakegawa's wooden castle.
