Kagawa itinerary

After leaving Kochi, I will be in Takamatsu/Kagawa area for 5 days in mid November, staying at Takamatsu. The plan is:
- Leave Kochi at 8am, Oboke (no cruise), Iya Kazurabashi, Shikokumura/Yashima
- Ritsurin-en, Kotohira
- Mt Iino
- Shodoshima
- Island hopping

Any comments/suggestion on the itinerary?

For island hopping, any recommendation which islands to go for day trip? Will it be too rushed if I combine some of the island (e.g. Megijima, Ogijima) with Mt Iino?

Thank you very much!

I just got back from a trip touring Kochi, Kagawa and Tokushima. The thing about visiting Shikoku is that train, bus and ferry schedules are not so frequent. Thus the imperative is to look up timetables in advance and plan your daily itinerary according to the transport schedules.

We spent an hour at Kazurabashi, and found that it was more than enough time to see the vine bridge, the waterfall and have a taste of the roasted fish there. The following is the bus timetable:
http://yonkoh.co.jp/pdf/timetable/iya_k.pdf

We visited Megijima, but decided not to visit Ogijima. There are ferries only once every two hours, but the bus schedule on Megijima is co-ordinated to ferry arrivals and departures. One hour is enough to see the cave and viewpoint at Megijima. Megijima ferry timetable can be accessed here:
http://setouchi-artfest.jp/en/access/

As you can see, the number of attractions which you can fit into one day will be constrained by the transport schedules. It may not be possible to combine a visit to Mt Iino with a visit to Megijima and Ogijima. From Marugame port, there is a ferry to Honjima if it is of interest to you.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5468.html

Hi GreenTeaLatte,

Thank you very much for the advise.

Actually, I'm still feeling skeptical on Iya. Initially I was planning to stop by Oboke/Kazurabashi on the way to Takamatsu, but I need to forward my luggage and the cost doesn't seem worth for only 1-2 hr at Iya. I'm still debating whether doing day trip from Kochi (3hr return trip) is also worth the time.

Thanks for the advise on Honjima. I've never thought of it.

Btw, do you find Megijima worth visiting?

We stowed our luggage at the lockers at Oboke station. Using public transport it is a bit limiting in what you can see at Oboke and Iya Valley, and there is really only the vine bridge and scenery to see. I still enjoyed it and did not regret going.

As for Megijima, the Ogre Cave is just a natural cave decorated with hundreds of ogre figurines and statues. Honestly I thought that it wasn't worth it. But we did visit during the Setouchi Triennale so we saw some art installations there (although we were not really interested in art).

Was it difficult to find a coin locker at Oboke station during your trip? I'm worried once I brought the luggage along and can't find locker/luggage service.

Thanks for sharing your view on Megijima. I will be there after Triennale, so I'm not sure if there's many to see. I hope you don't mind for another question, for the 1 hour explore time, do you use bicycle or walking?

There are lockers just inside the train station, we arrived on a Saturday morning and there were still lockers available. They probably wouldn't accommodate very large luggage.

When we arrived at Megijima and entered the ferry terminal building, there was a queue formed at the bus ticket counter. So we joined the queue, purchased return bus tickets, and then we were herded onto the bus. When we got to the mountaintop, we noted the bus timetable, which gave us one hour to explore the cave and the viewpoint on foot.

Thank you very much!

You're welcome.

If you are visiting Ogijima as well, you may want to consider having lunch at Ogijima, as there was not much to choose from at Megijima. We had obtained an information sheet on these two islands from the Takamatsu tourist information centre, and it seem that there was more choice on Ogijima.

Well-noted on the cafe!
I may be going to Ogijima, if time permits. There are some reviews rave for Ogijima more than Megijima which I'm curious.

Hello!
I sugeest you that you should go to HONJIMA,where you can go from Marugame Station.HONJIMA has traditional place , house and so on.You can use rental bicycle there. There are contemporary arts in HOJIMA. I recommend !!

And, after you went to HONJIMA, you might go to Marugame castle.
This castle has very big stone wall. If you are interested in traditonal castle ,I recommend it.