Shizuoka Prefecture stretches along Japan's Pacific coast between Tokyo and Nagoya, framed by the southern slopes of Mount Fuji, the hot-spring resorts of the Izu Peninsula, and the deep waters of Suruga Bay. Home to Japan's largest green tea harvest, its top eel-producing city, and the closest classic views of Mount Fuji outside Yamanashi, Shizuoka pairs UNESCO World Heritage scenery with feudal-era castles and coastal onsen towns across 7,777 square kilometres of the Chubu region.
Top day trips
Handpicked excursions within easy reach.
Nihondaira & Kunozan Toshogu Shrine
Nihondaira is a tea-covered plateau above Shimizu with a wide outlook over Suruga Bay toward Mt Fuji, and a ropeway drops from the plateau's edge straight down to Kunozan Toshogu Shrine, the elaborately lacquered mausoleum built for Tokugawa Ieyasu. The pairing works because the two halves of the day feel different: open-air scenery on top, dense carved and gilded shrine architecture below. On a clear winter morning Fuji sits directly across the water from the observation deck; on a hazy summer afternoon it usually does not show at all.
Highlights: Suruga Bay and Mt Fuji panorama from the Nihondaira observation deck · Nihondaira Ropeway descent to Kunozan Toshogu Shrine · Lacquered mausoleum and museum of Tokugawa Ieyasu relics at Kunozan Toshogu · Tea terraces and a small tea museum on the Nihondaira plateau
Miho no Matsubara Pine Grove
Miho no Matsubara is a narrow pine-covered sandbar on Shimizu's coast, listed as part of the Mt Fuji UNESCO World Heritage inscription for the way it frames the mountain across Suruga Bay. It is also the setting for the Hagoromo legend, in which a fisherman found a celestial robe of feathers hanging on one of the pines. The appeal is a walk, not a sight to photograph and leave - a path through several thousand pines opens onto a beach with Fuji rising beyond the water on a clear day.
Highlights: Classic framed view of Mt Fuji across Suruga Bay through the pine grove · UNESCO World Heritage-listed pine forest and black-sand beach · Hagoromo pine tied to the celestial-robe legend and nearby shrine · Miho Matsubara Visitor Center exhibits on the site's cultural history
Mt Fuji Fujinomiya 5th Station
Fujinomiya 5th Station is the trailhead for the Fujinomiya climbing route, the shortest and steepest of Mt Fuji's four main trails, reached by a long bus ride up a mountain road rather than by train. Outside the short summer climbing season the station is closed to the public bus service, so this is a viewpoint destination for most of the year and a climb start only in season. At the station's altitude, above the treeline, the landscape is bare volcanic rock and scree with views out over the surrounding hills.
Highlights: Torii gate marking the Fujinomiya climbing route trailhead at 2,400 meters · Views over Suruga Bay and the Izu Peninsula on clear days · On-site shokudo serving noodles and curry near the summit trailhead · Access point for a full Mt Fuji summit climb during the July-September season
Atami Hot Spring Resort
Atami is a hot spring town on the Izu Peninsula's east coast, built up the hillside above a small bay, easily reached from Tokyo on the Shinkansen. It has the layout of a classic Japanese onsen resort - ryokan terraced up the slopes, a shopping street near the station, a beach at the bottom - rather than a single sight to see. The town went through a decline and a well-known revival in recent decades, and now draws day-trippers as much as overnight guests.
Highlights: Hillside onsen ryokan and public hot spring foot baths near the harbor · Heiwa-dori shopping arcade for local snacks and citrus sweets · MOA Museum of Art's Japanese and Asian collection with sea-view gardens · Atami Plum Garden's early blossom festival from late January to early March
Ito Onsen & Jogasaki Coast
Ito is an onsen town on Izu's east coast with a long ryokan tradition, but the reason to build a day around it is the Jogasaki Coast just south of town - a stretch of volcanic rock shoreline formed by old lava flows from Mt Omuro, with cliffs, inlets, and a walking trail along the top. The contrast is between the enclosed, quiet feel of the onsen streets and the open, wind-exposed coastal path.
Highlights: Kadowaki Suspension Bridge over a volcanic inlet on the Jogasaki Coast · Coastal hiking trail across black lava-rock formations from Mt Omuro's eruptions · Ito's old onsen town center with public foot baths and a retro shopping street · Fresh Izu seafood at restaurants near Ito Marine Town and the Jogasaki Kaigan bus stop
Shimoda & the Southern Izu Coast
Shimoda sits at the southern tip of the Izu Peninsula and is where Commodore Perry's fleet anchored in the 1850s, making it the place where Japan's ports first opened to the West - a history that is still visible in the town's temples and old foreign settlement streets. Beyond the history, the southern Izu coast around Shimoda has some of the peninsula's clearer water and quieter beaches, reached from Tokyo by a longer train ride than Atami or Ito.
Highlights: Ryosenji Temple and Perry Road's Treaty of Kanagawa history · Shirahama Beach's white sand and clear turquoise water · Cape Iro lighthouse and cliffside coastal walking paths · Fresh kinmedai and other local seafood at harborside restaurants
Shuzenji Onsen & the Izu Skyline
Shuzenji is considered Izu's oldest hot spring town, built along a small river in the peninsula's interior rather than on the coast, with a temple founded by the monk Kobo Daishi at its centre. The Izu Skyline is a separate, mountain-ridge toll road running along the peninsula's spine, popular with drivers and motorcyclists for its views rather than as a hiking destination - the two only really combine into one day if you have a car, since public transport does not run the Skyline route.
Highlights: Shuzenji Temple, founded in the 9th century and linked to Kobo Daishi · Chikurin no Komichi bamboo grove path along the Katsura River · Free public footbaths lining the riverside promenade · Local wasabi-based dishes near the temple approach
Lake Hamana & Hamamatsu Castle
Lake Hamana is a large brackish lake west of Hamamatsu, long associated with eel farming, and its Kanzanji Onsen shore has a small resort strip with a ropeway up to a hilltop viewpoint. Hamamatsu Castle, back in the city centre, is where a young Tokugawa Ieyasu based himself for around fifteen years before his rise to power - a modest reconstructed keep rather than a grand original, but tied directly to that period of his life. The day splits naturally into a lake half and a castle-and-city half.
Highlights: Mt Okusa ropeway panorama over Lake Hamana from Kanzanji Onsen · Lake cruise between Kanzanji pier and Hamamatsu Flower Park · Hamamatsu Castle, associated with Tokugawa Ieyasu's early career · Hamamatsu-style unagi (eel) restaurants near the castle and lakefront
Kakegawa Castle & Green Tea Fields
Kakegawa's donjon was rebuilt in 1994 using traditional wooden joinery rather than concrete, making it one of the only postwar Japanese castle keeps reconstructed as an actual timber structure rather than a museum shell. The adjoining Ninomaru Goten is an original Edo-period palace building, not a reconstruction, so you get both a rebuilt keep and a genuine historic interior on the same grounds. Combine it with a run out to the Makinohara plateau, one of Japan's principal tea-growing districts, and the day pairs a castle visit with rows of tea bushes running to the horizon rather than a single potted-plant garden.
Highlights: Reconstructed Kakegawa Castle keep built with traditional wooden joinery · Ninomaru Palace, one of Japan's few surviving original Edo-period palace buildings · Makinohara plateau's terraced green tea fields and tea museum · Local sencha tastings near the Makinohara tea growing region
Cape Omaezaki & the Enshu Coast
Omaezaki sits at the point where the open Enshu-nada coastline gives way toward Suruga Bay, and the lighthouse marks a genuine geographic turning point rather than just a scenic overlook. It's a working coastal cape - surfers use the beaches on either side of the point, and the exposed shoreline is noticeably different in character from the calmer bay beaches further into Shizuoka. With no direct rail line, it's a place for people specifically making the trip by car, not a stop you fold into a station-to-station itinerary.
Highlights: Omaezaki Lighthouse, one of the few in Japan open for visitors to climb · 360-degree Pacific Ocean panorama from the lighthouse gallery · Enshu coast surf breaks stretching northwest toward Sagara · Local katsuo and shirasu seafood dishes in Omaezaki town
Trips by distance
How far you can go in a day.
Getting there
Transport options for day trips.
- Tours
- Organized day tours from Tokyo to Mt Fuji and Hakone/Izu often include a Shizuoka stop such as the Fujinomiya 5th station or Atami, typically ¥12,000-20,000 per person (about $76-127) including transport and a guide
- Private
- Private car and driver hire from Shizuoka or Mishima stations runs from around ¥25,000 for a half day (about $158); useful for combining several Izu Peninsula stops that lack direct train access
- Public
- The Tokaido Shinkansen and Tokaido Main Line reach every major town in under two hours; the Izukyu Line and Izuhakone Railway extend into the Izu Peninsula - check timetables at jr-central.co.jp or the Izukyu/Izuhakone sites
- Rental
- Car rental from ¥6,000/day (about $38) is the most flexible option for Mt Fuji's Fujinomiya side, inland Izu onsen villages, and the Lake Hamana countryside, though the Fujinomiya 5th station road closes to private cars during peak summer climbing season
Multi-day tours from Shizuoka
If you have longer than a day, these are organised multi-day trips that start here.
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Day trip tips
Make the most of your excursions.
Nozomi Shinkansen trains skip every station in Shizuoka Prefecture - only Hikari and Kodama services stop at Atami, Mishima, Shin-Fuji, Shizuoka, Kakegawa, and Hamamatsu, so plan around those train types
The Limited Express Odoriko runs directly from Tokyo Station to Ito and Izukyu-Shimoda without a transfer, making it the simplest way to reach the Izu Peninsula's east coast
Combine Nihondaira and Miho no Matsubara into one Shizuoka City day by starting with the ropeway at Nihondaira in the morning and finishing at the pine grove for sunset views of Mt Fuji across Suruga Bay
The Fuji Skyline road to the Fujinomiya 5th station is closed to private cars during the peak July-September climbing season, requiring the Mizugatsuka park-and-ride shuttle bus
Rent a car in Mishima or Shuzenji for the Izu Skyline toll road if visiting multiple inland Izu onsen villages in one day, since bus connections between them are infrequent