1 / 7Kehi no MatsubaraPhoto: くろふね / CC BY 3.0
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Checked against official sources · updated · Takumi Yamada
Some 17,000 pines on a beach about 1 km long (34 ha) — one of Japan’s three great pine groves, and dead flat the whole way. The quiet hour of the day.
- Short enough to be certain of: 1 hr 30 min door to door, so even a tender day works.
- Free to visit — no admission is listed; only parking is charged, and only in the bathing season..
- On a 4–6h ashore call our verdict is "Tight" — doable by taxi from the berth for a 30-minute walk, if you skip the museum quarter.
- Always open — an open pine belt and beach; no gate or ticket is listed. parking is free except in the swimming season, when it is charged..
- 1 hr 30 min door to door needs a 3.5-hour call: a 2–3 hour stop cannot hold it. Pick something closer instead.
Why Kehi no Matsubara is famous
A pine grove of about 34 hectares on the bay, about 1 km long by the tourism association's figure, counted among Japan's three great pine beaches alongside Miho no Matsubara and Niji no Matsubara, and a National Place of Scenic Beauty since 1934. Roughly 17,000 red and black pines stand on white sand.
Kehi no Matsubara is a national scenic site, which the tourism association calls one of Japan's three great pine groves with Miho no Matsubara and Niji no Matsubara. It is about 1 km long and about 340,000 m², with red and black pines growing over white sand.
What you do is walk it. The paths take about 15 to 40 minutes depending on the course. In summer it is a swimming beach; out of season it is a calm, flat walk by the sea. The association tells the legend of the Ichiya no Matsubara, in which thousands of pines are said to have appeared on the beach in one night, and lists nearby the grave of Takeda Kounsai and the Suzaki high lantern.
The catch is the logistics. It is outside the shuttle loop, the loop bus is currently skipping its stop, and the whole trip costs roughly an hour of travel for a flat pine walk. On a short call it is not worth it; with a long call and a taxi it is the quiet hour of the day.
Things worth knowing
- Do not rely on the Gurutto Tsuruga loop bus: it skips Matsubara Kaigan until around the end of December 2026 while Matsushima Bridge is repaired. The community Matsubara line serves the Kehi no Matsubara stop.
- Taxi from Tsuruga Station is about 10 minutes, so a ride from the shuttle's station stop works as a fallback.
- Pay the community bus with cash or an IC card (Suica, Icoca, Pasmo, manaca); the fare is ¥200 for adults.
- Ask the taxi to wait or arrange the ride back before you walk, since the grove runs about 1 km.
Kehi no Matsubara and your ship
Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.
Where the 1 hr 30 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 taxi ~10 min, not the optimistic one. If your ship is late, cut the 1 hr 10 min in the middle. Never cut the hour at the end.
Questions people send us
How do you get from the Tsuruga cruise port to Kehi no Matsubara?
By taxi, about 5 km and roughly ¥2,450 on our calculation. By bus, ride the free shuttle to Tsuruga Station and take the community Matsubara line: about 10–20 minutes and ¥200, or a taxi of about 10 minutes.
How long is Kehi no Matsubara?
About 1 km long and about 340,000 m², according to the Minato Tsuruga Tourism Association.
Does the loop bus go to Kehi no Matsubara?
Not at present: the Gurutto Tsuruga loop bus skips the Matsubara Kaigan stop from 7 Sep 2026 until about the end of December because of bridge works. Use the community Matsubara line or a taxi.
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.
1 hr 50 min for bothFormer Tsuruga Port Station
A pocket museum of the boat-train era, when Tokyo–Tsuruga–Vladivostok was the fastest way from Japan to Paris.
See the detail
2 hr for bothSymbol Road statues
Twenty-eight bronze Galaxy Express 999 and Space Battleship Yamato figures line the arcade — the town’s 1999 tribute to its port-and-rails century.
See the detail
2 hr for bothKanegasaki-gu
The “love shrine” on the hill over the museum quarter — a short stair climb, a harbor view, and in early April the cherry-blossom flower-exchange festival..
See the detail