Naoshima: the Red Pumpkin and MiyanouraPhoto: Yamashita Yohei / CC BY 2.0
The Shikoku Kisen ferry from Uno reaches Miyanoura in about 20 minutes for ¥370; passenger boats take about 15. Ferries and passenger boats use different piers at both ends.
- Getting there
- Shikoku Kisen ferry from Uno to Miyanoura, about 20 min, ¥370 each way; the pier is about 4 min on foot from the berth (our estimate)
Checked · Researched, not yet visited · times from official timetables and our estimates · Takumi Yamada
The art island across the water from the ship. On the quay at Miyanoura stand Yayoi Kusama’s Red Pumpkin and Sou Fujimoto’s Naoshima Pavilion, made of about 250 stainless-steel mesh panels; you can walk into both. Ferries leave Uno 13 times a day, 06:10 to 20:25. The I♥︎湯 bathhouse by the port opens 13:00–21:00, ¥660; the bath, not the quay, shuts on Mondays.
- Number 1 of ten on our list for Uno.
- On a 4–6h ashore call our verdict is "Yes" — add Benesse House Museum by town bus, open every day. Chichu needs a timed ticket.
- 3 hr door to door needs a 5-hour call: a 2–3 hour stop cannot hold it. Pick something closer instead.
- It is a view, so it is weather. Check the morning sky before you commit the hours.
Things worth knowing
- Ferries and passenger boats use different piers at Uno and at Miyanoura: check which one your departure uses.
- Carry coins for the town bus: there is no change machine.
- On weekend afternoons the bus back to Miyanoura can be full. Be at the stop early and keep a later ferry in reserve.
- On a Monday the museum shuttle does not run; Benesse House Museum is open and about 1 km on foot from Tsutsuji-so (our estimate).
Naoshima: the Red Pumpkin and Miyanoura and your ship
Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.
Where the 3 hr goes
The hour before all-aboard is not in this bar; it is already set aside. The minutes are our estimates from timetables and maps, not timed on the ground.
If your ship is late, cut the 2 hr 15 min in the middle. Never cut the hour at the end.
Questions
How often does the ferry from Uno to Naoshima run?
Shikoku Kisen runs 13 ferries a day from Uno to Miyanoura, 06:10 to 20:25, about 20 minutes, ¥370; passenger boats add a 13:30 and late sailings. Back from Miyanoura there are ferries from 06:00 to 20:25. A few ferries run to Honmura instead.
Can I visit Naoshima on a Monday?
Partly. Chichu, the Art House Project, the Naoshima New Museum of Art and I♥︎湯 are closed, and the museum shuttle does not run. Benesse House Museum is open every day, and the pumpkins and the pavilion are outdoors.
Routes that already include it
Finished days timed from official timetables and our estimates, with this stop in them.
What to put beside it
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.
See · ~4hBenesse House Museum and the yellow Pumpkin
The museum-hotel on Naoshima’s south shore, open every day of the year, 08:00–21:00 (last admittance 20:00), ¥1,300 online, ¥1,500 at the door.
See the detail
See · ~6hTeshima Art Museum
A single white concrete shell on a hillside on Teshima, by the artist Rei Naito and the architect Ryue Nishizawa.
See the detail