Iriomote day trip ideas

During my tree day visit to Ishigaki I want to visit Iriomote island on a day trip. I do not interested in kayaking or long way hiking but the river cruises seem fun.

I plan to go to Uehara port early morning catching one of the Urauchi river cruise boats. Then short hiking to the waterfalls at the end.

How does the cruise work if you get off and walk to and from the waterfall? Can I get on any of the cruise boats returning to Uehara?

How do I get from the port to the river start?

This is an easy answer - join a tour!

http://ishigaki-dream.co.jp

There is an english menu option up the top. Also, all of these tours can be booked on Japanican if you want to have good excellent translations and someone to contact in English before the tours....

Ah.. the tour seems a bit way off my budget really..

I still consider doing this on my own.

Do you know about the river cruise if one gets off and hikes to the waterfall? Do I need to walk back to Uehara by myself or can I get on any ferry back through the river?

Before you say it's too expensive (the day trips), consider the following.

1 way to Uehara (2360 yen)
Urauchi River Cruise (1800 yen)

This is a total of 6520 yen. It's also a 6km walk one way from the ferry to the boat terminal.

I did however note that none of the tours seem to include your walk though....

I read something about a shuttle bus to the river cruise, but not sure how accurate the information is.

The waterfall is mentioned here on Japan Guide.

I dont mind tours but I find it a bit too stressful since I like to do things in a slow pace.

Also, I plan on buying a 3 day boat pass since I plan on going to a few islands other than Iriomote.

Im going there later this week. Pm me and ill confirm when I am there. I leave for Ishigaki tomorrow

Cool. I'll register on JP guide and return to you. No rush. Please enjoy your trip.

I stayed 4 nights in Ishigaki one Oct a few years ago; and initially planning to visit different island each day. However, we finally decided to join the dream tours, a different tour each day. Unless you do a lot of water sport, we don't, I would say guided tours would still be a good option. The group was fairly small and no rush at all; in fact the Kohama island tour was only 2 of us, we felt as if it was a private guided tour. We managed to visit Iriomote, Chubu, Taketomi, and Kohama islands.

Sorry , not Chubu but Yubu island.

I am kinda considering doing at least one tour. Taketomi is fairlyily small so I felt like doing it by myself, perhaps on arrival day to Ishigaki if weather is fine.

I also consider Hateruma but since I as you also stay 4 nights and they say it can't be done as a daytrip I might reconsider...

I found no tours only covering Ishigaki,
Most seeem to combine it with Taketomi as well. But it would save the effort of finding a rental car. Maybe there is not much more to see that can only be seen with your own wheels?

There are day tours of Ishigaki by itself, but it's the same tour that includes Takitomi Island in the afternoon. That's the tour I'll be completing and I don't really do tours. My tour was 6,900 yen from memory and the Takitomi part was a buffalo ride and time to yourself to explore the island. It did not seem as 'bus tourey' as the first part on Ishigaki. I'm also planning on visiting the main town on Ishigaki for half a day by walking and the like. I'll have a blog post on that in probably 3 weeks....

Cool. I'd love to read it but please, no rush. Enjoy your trip.

Hi John,

I just got into my accommodation and they have a bus timetable in English. It looks quite barebones with 4 buses a day. PM me with an email address and I'll email you the photo.