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See the sights

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156 picks · 31 ports

See the sights

Every port has one thing you came for. Here it is, with the round-trip time from the berth and the call length it honestly needs.

92 fit a 2–3h callRound trips from the gangway
Photo: Basile Morin / CC BY-SA 4.0
150 picks
Akita · #1 in the port's Top 10

Selion Tower

100 meters of free observation deck right beside the berth — the Sea of Japan one way, snow mountains the other…

~1h at the port2–3h callSee the port guide →
Aomori · #1 in the port's Top 10

Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse

Full-size festival floats — glowing, ferocious, twenty feet tall — with the drums playing…

~1.5h, on the waterfront2–3h callSee the port guide →
Beppu · #1 in the port's Top 10

The Hells of Kannawa

Cobalt ponds, blood-red pools, a geyser on a timer — seven volcanic "hells" you view, not bathe in…

~4h circuit4–6h callSee the port guide →
Busan · #1 in the port's Top 10

Gamcheon Culture Village

A hillside of Lego-colored houses threaded with art alleys and the Little Prince gazing over it all…

~5h round trip4–6h callSee the port guide →
Hiroshima · #1 in the port's Top 10

Peace Memorial Museum & Dome

The reason your ship stops here…

~4h with tram4–6h callSee the port guide →
Ishigaki · #1 in the port's Top 10

Taketomi island

Coral walls, red-tiled roofs weighted against typhoons, shisa on every ridge, and white sand lanes that residents rake b…

~4h4–6h callSee the port guide →
Kagoshima · #1 in the port's Top 10

Sakurajima by ferry

An active volcano commuted to by city ferry every 15–20 minutes…

~4h round trip4–6h callSee the port guide →
Kanazawa · #1 in the port's Top 10

Kenroku-en garden

One of Japan’s three perfect gardens — two-legged lanterns, ancient pines under snow ropes, water borrowed from a river …

~4.5h with transfers4–6h callSee the port guide →
Keelung (Taipei) · #1 in the port's Top 10

Jiufen lantern town

Gold-rush lanes stacked on a sea cliff, red lanterns lighting the teahouses at dusk — the town that launched a thousand …

~5h round trip4–6h callSee the port guide →
Miyako · #1 in the port's Top 10

Jodogahama Beach

White rhyolite spires over water so clear the monks called it Paradise — the single image of the Sanriku coast, ten minu…

~1.5h2–3h callSee the port guide →
Miyakojima · #1 in the port's Top 10

Yonaha Maehama beach

Seven kilometres of powder-white sand facing Kurima island — the beach every Japanese ranking calls the country’s best…

~2h2–3h callSee the port guide →
Nagasaki · #1 in the port's Top 10

Peace Park & Atomic Bomb Museum

The second city asks quieter questions than Hiroshima, and its museum answers with unbearable specifics…

~4h by tram4–6h callSee the port guide →
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