Home
Back

Dear visitor, if you know the answer to this question, please post it. Thank you!

Note that this thread has not been updated in a long time, and its content might not be up-to-date anymore.

Yakushima by bus - access to trails 2020/1/7 17:40
Hello

I know this is a rather recurrent question but we are hesitating between the bus pass or a rental car for our 4 days on yakushima. Getting up early and finishing trails early is not a problem for us but I'm unsure whether the bus stops at the beginning of trails or if we have to walk some extra miles to join the trails from the coastal road.

Thanks!
by lenilein  

Re: Yakushima by bus - access to trails 2020/1/8 08:18
The bus stops are as close to the trail heads as the parking lots. For the most famous hike (Jomonsugi), you have to take a bus to the trail head even if you rent a car. But buses generally tend to be rather infrequent, as explained here:
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4651.html

I assume you refer to the Arakawa trail head and Shiratani Unsuikyo. Other trail heads may not be served by buses. Also, bus service to the Yakusugi Land is extremely infrequent.
by Uji rate this post as useful

Re: Yakushima by bus - access to trails 2020/1/8 08:42
You don`t need the compulsory bus to Jomon Sugi trailhead if you are visiting the island during off-season - meaning from December until the end of February. In any case, car will make your life so much easier on the island not only in terms of access to more eateries etc but also to some hikes not easily accessible by bus. I spent couple months on the island and I can guarantee that while the bus is available, it really limits the whole experience (https://www.bizarrejourneys.com/yakushima)
by Bizarre Journeys rate this post as useful

Re: Yakushima by bus - access to trails 2020/1/8 09:12
My limited experience on Yakushima was that the bus worked ok for the trip I did, but the infrequent timetable meant that some of the hiking options were not easy to get to from the place we were staying.
by JapanCustomTours rate this post as useful

Re: Yakushima by bus - access to trails 2020/1/8 12:07

When visiting the island we were having a same question whether to use the public transport of a rental car. We decided for the later. Not only it was more convenient, but encountering several tourists who had to wait for a public bus in a pouring rain convinced us that we made a right choice. Yakushima is known to rain 365 days a year. We were there four days, and it did rain every day but one.
by . (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Yakushima by bus - access to trails 2020/1/9 09:07
Yes, Yakushima is said to rain 35 days per month. For my three day visit it didn't rain and we had some great weather. But also we were not hanging around for ages waiting for buses.
by JapanCustomTours rate this post as useful

Re: Yakushima by bus - access to trails 2020/1/22 02:35
Thank you very much to all of you for the very useful comments! We are going to rent a car then. L3t's hope that bus frequency will increase so that tourists in future won't have to go for rental cars :)
by lenilein rate this post as useful

reply to this thread