Shikoku: which itinerary and how many days to visit the island

Allow five days to cross Shikoku via its major sights, eight to add the upper Iya valley and the art islands, twelve to make the full loop of the island, Pacific capes included. In all three cases, a rental car is almost essential: local trains are few and slow, and the most beautiful places are at the end of mountain roads. The best months are April, May and November.

This guide covers the island on its own. If you want to combine it with the Sea of Japan coast, read instead the San’in coast and Shikoku without the crowds.

What to see on Shikoku: five reasons to make the detour

The island reads as five groups, from the north-west to the north-east by way of the south.

• The Shimanami Kaidō, the gateway from Honshū: seventy kilometers between Onomichi and Imabari, six bridges, seven islands, and a continuous cycle path.
• Matsuyama and Dōgo Onsen. Matsuyama Castle is one of the twelve in the country whose keep is original. At Dōgo, the Honkan, a wooden building from 1894, is the oldest bathhouse still operating in Japan.
• Kōchi and the Pacific coast. Kōchi Castle is the only one in Japan where the keep and the lord’s residence both survive. Further south, the Shimanto flows for 196 kilometers (120 mi) without a single large dam, crossed by forty-seven submersible bridges with no parapet. Capes Ashizuri and Muroto close the coast at each end.
• The Iya valley. The Ōboke gorge, more than two hundred meters deep, is descended by canoe in two hours. Higher up: the Kazurabashi vine bridge, the village of Nagoro and its life-size dolls, then Mount Tsurugi, 1,955 meters (6,410 ft), forty minutes by path from the chairlift.
• The north-east: Konpira-san, Takamatsu and the art islands. At Konpira-san, 785 steps lead to the main hall and 1,368 to the inner shrine. In Takamatsu, Ritsurin-kōen covers seventy-five hectares: allow two hours. Opposite, Naoshima is one of the most visited contemporary art sites in the world.

How many days should you plan to visit Shikoku?

The three routes below are suggestions for building your trip, not products we sell as they stand. They run from west to east, entering by the Shimanami and leaving by Takamatsu.

Length	What you see	What you leave out
5 days	Shimanami Kaidō, Matsuyama and Dōgo, Kōchi, Ōboke gorge and Kazurabashi, Konpira-san and Ritsurin-kōen	The upper Iya valley, the art islands, the capes, the Shimanto
8 days	The same crossing, plus a day in the upper Iya valley (Nagoro, Mount Tsurugi) and two island days (Teshima, Naoshima)	Capes Ashizuri and Muroto, the Shimanto, Naruto
12 days	The full loop: Uchiko, Cape Ashizuri, the Shimanto, Cape Muroto and the Naruto whirlpools as well	Nothing essential

The driving times noted in our travel guides:

• Onomichi to Imabari by the Shimanami: an hour and a half without stopping, a day with the islands;
• Imabari to Matsuyama: one hour;
• Matsuyama to Kōchi by the expressway: two and a half hours;
• Kōchi to Ōboke: two hours;
• Iya valley to Kotohira, then Kotohira to Takamatsu: one hour each time;
• Matsuyama to Cape Ashizuri by the coast: one hour to Uchiko, then about four hours;
• Cape Muroto to Ōboke: three hours.

The south-west explains the gap between eight and twelve days: Cape Ashizuri is at the end of half a day of coastal road. Our Shikoku itinerary in 12 days makes this full loop, with 37 places and eight places to stay between Imabari and Takamatsu. The five-day crossing corresponds to the Shikoku part of our 14-day tour between the Sea of Japan and Shikoku.

Shikoku with or without a car: what really works

With a car, everything is accessible. Without a car, you have to give up the southern half of the island.

The roads of the Iya valley and the Tsurugi ridge are narrow: a single lane for kilometers, ravines with no crash barrier, no mobile signal. To rent a car, you need your license and the document Japan accepts with it, a 1949 Geneva-format International Driving Permit or, for a few countries, an official Japanese translation: see renting a car in Japan.

Watch out: In the upper Iya valley, allow twice the time given by the GPS, drive in daylight only and sound your horn on blind bends. The Mount Tsurugi chairlift closes out of season.

Without a car, here is what remains feasible, according to the official sources consulted in October 2026:

• Matsuyama: a tram links the center to Dōgo Onsen;
• Takamatsu: the ferry terminal for Naoshima and Teshima is a three-minute walk from the station, and on the islands you get around by shuttle or electric bike;
• the Kazurabashi: seven buses a day leave from JR Awa-Ikeda station, four of which go via Ōboke, according to the Miyoshi tourist office;
• a sightseeing bus makes the round of Ōboke and the Kazurabashi in about five hours for ¥13,000 per adult, departing from Awa-Ikeda. It does not run every day and only stops at Ōboke on request.

For the train, the ALL SHIKOKU Rail Pass, reserved for foreign visitors on a temporary stay, costs ¥12,000 for three days and ¥20,000 for seven days at the time of writing. It covers non-reserved seats on JR Shikoku and three local companies, but not the section between Kojima and Okayama. Check prices and conditions again on the official website, and compare in JR Pass or regional passes.

Our travel guides, for their part, only plan access to Capes Ashizuri and Muroto, to Nagoro and to Mount Tsurugi by road. If you do not drive, stick to the five-day crossing and keep time for the islands.

When to go to Shikoku: April, May and November

The island has two climates. The Pacific coast, in the south, is the wettest region in Japan and the most exposed to typhoons. The Seto Inland Sea, in the north, is much drier and sunnier.

• April, May and November are the best months for the island as a whole.
• October is possible, with one reservation: the typhoon season runs from late August to October.
• From late August to October, mountain roads can close because of landslides and the island ferries can be canceled.
• In winter, the mountain roads of Iya are tricky, and the Chichū Art Museum closes for maintenance early in the year.

Where to stay: five bases rather than a hotel a night

The roads are slow: it is better to put your bags down where there are several days’ worth of things to do.

• Matsuyama, in the center, on the Dōgo tram line.
• Kōchi, in the center, within walking distance of the castle and of Hirome Market, sixty counters where you eat bonito seared over a straw flame.
• The Iya valley, two or three nights in a hot-spring ryokan, to see the upper valley without driving at night.
• Takamatsu, near the station and the port, two or three nights: the island days are done by ferry, without picking up the suitcase again.
• Cape Ashizuri, one night, on the full loop only.

Tip: Leave the car in Takamatsu for Naoshima and Teshima. Taking it on board is expensive and pointless, and the ferries, which are few, cannot be booked: build these days around the boat timetables. The bookings to make early are in what to book in advance in Japan.

What it costs on the ground

At the time of writing, in October 2026, the lower bath of the Dōgo Onsen Honkan costs ¥700, and up to ¥2,000 with a rest lounge. You still have to budget for tolls, gas, ferries, chairlifts, vine bridges, the canoe and the island museums. Check the prices again on the official websites.

So, how many days on Shikoku?

• Five days if Shikoku is one stage in a wider trip.
• Eight days if you are coming for the Iya valley and for Naoshima: this is the length we recommend.
• Twelve days if you want the whole island, capes and Shimanto included.

In every case, rent a car, go in April, May or November, and book the island museums before anything else. The Shimanami Kaidō belongs to our San’in and Seto Inland Sea stage, which ends in Imabari. The other regions are on the Japan page.