Amanohashidate is a pine-tree covered, 3.6 km long sandbar. The sand bar spans Miyazu Bay in the Tango Peninsula of northern Kyoto Prefecture. This is one of Japan’s top three scenic views.
Amanohashidate has a very limited number of attractions. The only one is Amanohashidate. From the hills on the north or south side, the land bridge can be best seen. There is an amusement park and a cog-wheel train on the south side. The chairlift and electric trolley on the north side take guests to an observation area where a coffee shop and snack bar are located. Tickets can be purchased at the bottom lifts. The lifts are clearly marked and easily located.
It is said that the best way to see Amanohashidate bridge is to look it up and down, while bending over. This is meant to give it an appearance of floating to heaven and bring you good luck.
It is a unique attraction, but it’s not a must see. The middle part of the bridge does not raise like a drawbridge. Instead, it rotates to 90 degrees so that boats can pass. This bridge is near a Shinto shrine, and the boats that take visitors north of Amanohashidate.
Distances between the small villages are not great, so you can easily reach them on foot. The village of Monju (??) has a train station that is only a few hundred feet from ryokan, noodle shops, dried fish shops and tourist shops. The train station, located on the southern side of the landbridge, is just a few hundred meters from ryokans, noodle stores, dried fish shops and tourist shops.
Rent a bike at any of the bicycle shops in Amanohashidate and ride over the landbridge to the surrounding tourist attractions.
Small motorboats can transport you between Amanohashidate’s north and south side. These boats cost less than $10 and travel for 5-10 minutes along the entire length of Amanohashidate’s land bridge. The boats dock on the southern side of Amanohashidate near the Shinto Shrine.