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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/nicaraguandeathsquad on 2025-09-14 21:28:33+00:00.
I'm of two minds about visiting the Oki Islands. It's an enormous pain to get to -- really off the beaten path, cost a couple of pretty boring travel days. But I also had one of my favorite travel days of all time. Favorite picture from that day here: https://i.imgur.com/25Jhcpu.jpeg
To get your bearings, there are four islands -- Dogojima (the biggest, which I didn't visit), and the three others that are relatively close together -- Nishinoshima, Nakanoshima, and Chiburijima. Because I didn't visit Dogo, I have no tips/clues about there.
Hotel. I decided to spend three nights on the Oki Islands. First, you have to find a hotel. There aren't a ton, not all of them are on Booking (or anything else comparable), and not all of them speak English. Your best friend, if you need help booking the hotel, contact the Ama Town Tourism Association for Nakanoshima (oki-ama.org) and the Nishinoshima tourist association for Nishinoshima (nkk-oki.com). There are people that speak English to help you out -- they can contact hotels on your behalf if you can't figure out a way to communicate. I ended up staying in Ento on Nakanoshima -- was a bit pricey, but had beautiful views, Nordic vibes. Excellent service, very communicative via email.
I sent my big piece of luggage ahead of me to the hotel using Yamato (or whatever service my hotel in Fukuoka used). Note that the deadlines are different for delivery to the Oki Islands -- basically add a day, and try to get it to the front desk in the morning. But worked like a charm. Also used delivery service to send my large bag on to Osaka.
Restaurants. At least on Nakanoshima, you must get dinner reservations every night. It's crazy. But there just aren't that many restaurants, there's not a ton of tourist traffic, and if they don't know how many people they're going to have, they don't know how much food to get. That said, I was pretty happy with all of my meals there. Favorite was probably grilled meat at Okigyu, but also enjoyed Kikuragechakapon Motekoiyo, and had a great lunch at the port (Sentoraru-tei). Ento also had dinner -- was good, but a little too precious for my taste (not a ton of food, excellently presented, but nothing blew my mind taste-wise). It probably doesn't hurt to get some snacks from in town during the day -- nothing's open after 7p.
Getting there. From Fukuoka, I had a four hour train to Matsue, where I did some light touristing and spent the night. The next morning, I took the 750a bus (which apparently fills up sometimes, so you want to get there early) to Shichirui Port, where I took the 930a ferry to Hishiura (the main port for Nakanoshima), arriving at 1240p. Ento was within walking distance, so that was great, and they even picked up my hand luggage from the port (via the tourist association). Ferry was unremarkable.
Nakanoshima. At the port/tourist association, you can rent an e-bike to explore the island. (Honestly, you're going to need this or a rental car -- I don't know how else you would see everything.) I took a bike path recommended by the tourist association. The highlight (and endpoint) was the Akiya Coast -- a rugged coastline that was quite stunning. Sunset at Rainbow beach (near the hotel) was beautiful as well. Even though it was all pretty great, I didn't see anything on Nakanoshima that really merited the trip all the way out here. (Note -- I spent another whole day on Nakanoshima in my room because it rained all day and it was impossible to do anything. Chalk this up as a possibility if you visit.)
Nishinoshima. This was the day that justified the trip. There are regular ferries between Ama/Hishiura (Nakanoshima) and Beppu Port (Nishinoshima). It's not super clear how to buy your ticket from the machine at the station, so you might need to ask someone. If you bring a bike from Ama (like I did), you need a bike ticket for the ferry. (Note that you can rent bikes from the tourist association at Beppu Port, and I recommend that you do that.)
The goal of your bike trip is the top of the Matengai Cliff. Although I took the main road home, to get there, I took an amazing ride there that started around Sotohama Beach, heading West. If you don't have an e-bike, don't even try it -- it's crazy hilly/steep/mountainy. But with the e-bike is a fantastic ride.
When you get to the Matengai cliff, you leave your bike and hike down to the Kuniga coast. This is simply breathtaking. You have clear views of the cliffs and coves and there are wild horses all over the place. Seriously just a magical, magical hike. (Obviously, it's a lot easier to hike down than to hike back up, which is fairly steep, but such is life). (The imgur link at the beginning of the post is from near the top of this hike.) Even taking my time and taking hundreds of photos, I think this took around 2-2.5 hours.
At this point, I was a bit nervous -- because I had brought my bike from Ama, I was running low on bike battery, which made the ride home rather stressful. Although I love biking, the bike was a bit heavy, the island is very hilly, and it would have been miserable. So just rent from Beppu Port.
On the way home, I stopped in town at Sailing Coffee (for coffee) and キッチンまう for lunch (copied from Google Maps, no clue what it means.) Both were fantastic.
I did not get to explore any more of Nishinoshima because (i) I had to get back to Ama with the dying bike, and (ii) my last day on the islands were completely rained out. My best advice -- stay on Nishinonshima and focus your explorations there, I wish I would have done more on that island.
Chibu. After I dropped my bike off in Ama, I took another ferry to Chibu for the afternoon. Seriously, skip it. There is no tourist infrastructure, and I can't tell how you're supposed to do anything there. I went on a hike to a temple near the Kawai Guardian Deity Water Spring, which was alright, but maybe not worth the trip.
Leaving Oki Islands. I decided to take the "fast ferry" back to the mainland, because the timing fit my schedule better. You have to reserve this well ahead of time. oki-kisen.com/jp I left Hishiura at 814a, arrived in Shichirui port at 1043a, where I was able to take a 1107a shinkansen to Shin-Kobe that arrived at 230p. It's a pain!
Conclusion. I had one amazing, amazing morning-to-early afternoon (Nishinoshima), one OK day (exploring Nakanoshima), one disappointing afternoon (Chibu), and one completely wasted day (rain). Happy I did it, but couldn't imagine how disappointed I'd be if I spent all that time travelling there and it rained the entire time. I guess you have to make your peace with that.