Transportation routes to Shikoku

You can get to Shikoku by road, rail, ferry, and air. Here we look at the routes available.

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Transportation routes to Shikoku

You can get to Shikoku by road, rail, ferry, and air. Here we look at the routes available.

Road

There are three routes by road from Honshu. We’ll consider the road access from East to West. All the routes involve tolls.

From the East, you can get to Shikoku from Hyogo Prefecture by driving across the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge to Awaji Island and across the Onaruto Bridge to Tokushima Prefecture.

Moving westward into Okayama Prefecture, you can drive across the Seto Ohashi Bridge to Kagawa Prefecture. This is the only bridge system with a rail link to Shikoku.

The easternmost bridge route is the Shimanami Kaido from Hiroshima Prefecture to Ehime Prefecture. This is the only bridge system that you can cross by bicycle to Shikoku.

Rail

As we noted above, the only rail link to Shikoku is across the Seto Ohashi Bridge between Okayama and Kagawa Prefectures.

Ferry

There are many ferries to Shikoku, and again, we’ll consider the routes from East to West from Honshu and North to South from Kyushu.

Ocean Trans Co., Ltd. operates a car ferry from Tokyo that visits Tokushima on the way to Kitakyushu and vice versa.

Orange Ferry operates a car ferry between Osaka and Toyo, and between Kobe and Niihama.

Nankai Ferry Co., Ltd. operates a car ferry between Wakayama and Tokushima.

Setonaikai Kisen Co., Ltd. and Ishizaki Kisen Co., Ltd. operate a car ferry and fast passenger ship between Hiroshima and Matsuyama in Ehime Prefecture.

Boyo Ferry Co., Ltd. operates a car ferry between Yanai in Yamaguchi Prefecture and Matsuyama in Ehime Prefecture.

Ishizaki Kisen Co., Ltd. operates a car ferry between Kokura in Fukuoka Prefecture and Matsuyama in Ehime Prefecture.

Ferry Sunflower Ltd. operates a car ferry between Beppu in Oita Prefecture and Matsuyama in Ehime Prefecture.

Uwajima Unyu Ferries Ltd. operates a car ferry between Beppu in Oita Prefecture and Yawatahama in Ehime Prefecture.

Kokudo Kushi Ferry Co., Ltd. operates a car ferry between Saganoseki in Oita Prefecture and Misaki in Ehime Prefecture.

Orange Ferry operates a car ferry between Usuki in Oita Prefecture and Yawatahama in Ehime Prefecture.

Sukumo Ferry Co., Ltd. operates a car ferry between Saiki in Oita Prefecture and Sukumo in Kochi Prefecture.

Air

Shikoku has four airports, Tokushima Airport, Takamatsu Airport, Kochi Ryoma Airport and Matsuyama Airport. All have flights to Tokyo and other major Japanese cities such as Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, and Fukuoka.

Takamatsu has flights from Seoul, Shanghai and Taipei, and Matsuyama has flights from Shanghai.

Shikoku Tours can help you plan and book your travel to Shikoku whichever kind of transport you choose, and we’ll be happy to advise you of the best options for getting here and away.