Ine is a charming fishing village located on the coast of the Sea of Japan in northern Kyoto Prefecture. It is renowned for its unique wooden boathouses, known as "Funaya," which translates literally to “boat house” in Japanese. Around 230 Funaya line the coast of Ine Bay, stretching for five kilometers. Each boathouse has two levels: the first floor is used for storing fishing boats and gear, providing direct access to the sea. This design makes the boathouses appear as though they are floating, as the first floor is almost flush with the waterline. The second floor contains a living area and is connected to the main house, providing access to the road. These distinctive houses have been around for over 300 years and offer picturesque views throughout the seasons. From cherry blossoms in spring to snow-covered roofs in winter, the Funaya of Ine Bay is a must-see destination for anyone looking to experience the beauty of traditional Japanese architecture by the sea.
Standing on the observation deck of Funayanosato Park, you can enjoy a breathtaking panoramic view of Ine Bay, renowned as one of the most beautiful bays in the world. It resembles a dazzling sapphire nestled between the sea and the mountains, captivating all who behold it. This location is perfect for appreciating the unique beauty of Ine Bay and Funaya.
Ine Cafe is one of the most popular Instagram spots in Ine Town, where you can enjoy coffee and cakes while taking in stunning views of Ine Bay and Funaya. At Ine Cafe, you can savor breathtaking scenery of the calm waters and lush landscapes, making it a perfect location for photos!
Ineura Park is located in the center of the Funaya area, which faces the sea. Walk into Ineura Park and take a close look at the unique boathouse buildings in Ine Town, and appreciate its rich historical style. Throughout the seasons, these boathouses and Ine Bay look beautiful. In spring, cherry blossoms bloom around them; in summer, the mountain trees are lush and green; and in autumn, the leaves turn brilliant shades of red. Perhaps the most enchanting time is winter when thick layers of snow glisten on the roofs of the boathouses, as well as on the surrounding trees and hillsides.
Enjoy the view of the Funaya from the sea, as it offers a unique experience! Take a sightseeing cruise to admire the beautiful seascape of Ine Bay and its iconic boathouses. As soon as the ferry departs, flocks of seagulls will follow in anticipation of food, making this a fun and engaging experience. You will have the chance to interact closely with the seagulls. Feeding them is a delightful activity, you can buy food for them, and they will even take it from your hand. Larger sightseeing boats offer a comfortable 25-minute loop around the bay. These boats provide a stable ride with minimal rocking, enhancing your experience. Ticket prices for the sightseeing boats are 1,200 yen for adults and 600 yen for children.
The name “Amanohashidate” means “bridge to the heavens,” and was named for its shape. It appears to be a pathway connecting heaven and earth when viewed from the mountains that rise above it on either side. This stunning scene of Amanohashidatehas has been admired for centuries and is recognized as one of the "Three Most Famous Views in Japan." Take a Chairlift or Monorail and ascend to the Hiryukan-kairo Observatory for a panoramic view of Amanohashidate. From this vantage point, the sandbar appears like a dragon flying up to heaven. The traditional way to view the sandbar is to turn your back towards the bay, bend over and look at it from between your legs, it looks like a bridge to heaven. This position is known in Japanese as “Matanozoki.” The ticket price for Amanohashidate View Land is 1,000 yen for adults and 500 yen for children. This fee includes round-trip access to the lift and the monorail, which take visitors to the observation deck.
Chionji Temple is located at the southern entrance of the Amanohashidate Sandbar. The temple houses one of Japan's "Three Important Statues of Monju Bosatsu," who is the Buddhist god of wisdom and intellect. As a result, students and visitors often come to the temple to pray for wisdom and for success in their academic and personal lives. They purchase special fortunes (omikuji) shaped like folding fans, which many people hang from the pine trees around the temple grounds. Other important structures around the temple are a large entrance gate and a two-story tahoto style pagoda, which was built in the 1500s and is the oldest structure on the temple grounds. The temple gate facing Chaya Street is registered as Cultural Property of City and is the biggest temple gate in the Tango area.
Rotating bridge, this unusual bridge turns 90 degrees when ships pass through the waterway and connects the Amanohashidate landbridge and the Monju area. The original bridge was built in 1923 and operated manually; however, it was converted to electric operation in May 1960 due to an increase in the number of ships using the waterway.
The eastern coast of the Amanohashidate Sandbar features beautiful white sand beaches. The beaches, combined with the deep blue water and lush green pine trees, create a stunning scenery. Enjoy a stroll along the pristine beach of Amanohashidate and experience the tranquility and beauty of nature.
We had a wonderful hassle-free trip with our lovely tour guide, Joanna. We appreciate all her updates and detailed recos on our group chat. We can’t wait to visit again with our family next time. Thanks for such a great experience!
Guide Joanna is the best ! She was really helpful and positive! The place is actually beautiful and we got lucky , not much of rain.
Perfect day trip with Allen our tour guide. Would 100% recommend over the mainstream day trips. Great memories at the perfect pace. This was a highlight of our trip.
Good experience with Peggie! Enjoyable and relaxing.. dead value for the money, the bus was very clean and Peggy was a good host.
From start to finish it was a very well planned out trip by our guide Peggie. She was fantastic and even rearranged our schedule a bit due to the fact several restaurants were closed in Ine due to it being a Wednesday. We went to the overlook of Ine Bay to take some photos from a higher vantage point then on to the boat ride. The boat ride was very nice and we took Peggies recommendation to set on the lower level to feed the seagulls (which my son loved). While in Ine we had ample time to look around, get a drink at Ine Cafe and sake at Mukai Sake Brewery. Next area we visited was Amanohashidate with time to take the chairlift ride up the hill, get some lunch and walk the sand bar. Before boarding the bus to return to Kyoto we had time to grab souvenir's. Once on board Peggie presented each tour guest with a mini salt butter pie as a token of her appreciation for attending her tour. Peggie is a top notch tour guide speaking multiple languages without skipping a beat. If she ends up being your tour guide you should consider yourself lucky. Side note: the pie was very tasty! Thank you, Peggie!
I had a wonderful experience on this tour! Joann was an amazing tour guide. She was very friendly, kind, helpful, and knowledgeable. introduced us to beautiful places. I highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Japan!
This is a must . Very beautiful and wonderful nature , however , the guide made it so much better. Fredrick , is so kind and really made the trip comfortable and fun. He made sure everyone was taken care of , and he gave precise and detailed plan for the trip and how to meet up for the pick up , “the do”s and don’t “ . He gives everyone a good vibe , always smiling. it was a very positive experience, dont need to hesitate booking this trip with Fredrick.
Wonderful tour ❤️ Joanna was awesome!
We loved our tour to amanahishidate.. The tour was very comfortable and a special thanks to joanna for being an amazing guide.
This tour was excellent! It was kind of far (2.5 hours) outside of osaka, so it was great to jump on a tour bus and not worry about transferring trains to get there! It was great to visit amanohashidate, which was so beautiful! The ropeway was fun and the little amusement park at the top was so cute. Ine bay was so unique and also a beautiful fishing village. This was a great tour for me and my husband, but would also be great for families too! Our guide Carter Sasaki was excellent. You should request him if you can. He was so friendly and outgoing. He was so knowledgeable and we learned quite alot about the areas we visited from him. He was really fun and we enjoyed having him as our guide! He made sure everyone had a great time! We had an excellent tour thanks to Carter! So worth it, totally recommend this tour!
I had a fantastic time! Laura was great! She was very informative and knowledgeable. I went solo and she would take pictures for me. I would definitely recommend her!
Laura is a terrific guide. Explains the tour stops, what we will see, gave tips for what to do and the best areas to experience the best views and such. Very nice gal and did a great job woth our tour. We saw the best parts of Northern seaside of Kyoto.
It is a great place to experience. Very nice tour guide and all planned very well. Will recommend to friends and family
Very good tour highly recommend. Our tour guide Effy was really friendly, very informative and extremely helpful! The bus ride has good AC and the journey is really smooth. Ine and Amanohashidate were beautiful. The boat ride was an added bonus - especially if you like birds!
Had a great day with Candy as our guide. Although the weather didn't start very well with constant rain, it did clear upon arrival at Ine Funaya. It was a great day, Candy kept us updated as we progressed through the day. Highly recommend this tour, the scenery is amazing.
We really enjoyed the tour and the place. Ine Funaya and Amanoshidate, beautiful scenic views. Our tour guide Frederick was so knowledgeable about the place and he was so friendly, kind, cheerful and accommodating. He did an excellent job. Overall we had a fantastic, fun and enjoable tour. Worth the money. Highly recommend the tour especially the tour guide Frederick. Thank you so much.🙂Aussie Fam
It was very well organised trip and tour guide Fred was very helpful and friendly. He made the trip very comfortable and enjoyable for us
Beautiful location with natural beauty at its epitome. One feels a sense of calm and serenity there. To top it Fredrick our tour guide was brilliant, explaining the nuances of the places.
Excellent tour with Joanna as our tour guide. She is well inform and very organize for entire trip.
Really enjoyed all locations we went and the freedom we had at each location to explore. The guide was extremely respectful and informative. She also kept everybody on time.
The guide is excellent. She is very helpful like giving infomative advices , etc. The driver is also good and polite.
Thank you Sarah for a very enjoyable tour to Amanohashidate. I loved your humor and genuine personality. All in all it was more than I anticipated. Aloha!
Very memorable. Experiencing outskirt Kyoto, fishing village, surrounded by mountains. What a great experience.
Great day trip from Kyoto to a famous sight seeing spot in northern Kyoto pref
Very well organised trip . Our guide Laura joined us into a what’s app group prior to the day and kept us well informed of departure times etc . She even included background information of where we were visiting to read .The coach was clean and comfortable . The day itself was great fun , we loved the chair lift and the views were stunning . The boat trip was fun too and we fed the seagulls from the boat with lobster corn snacks which we were given before boarding Highly recommend !
This was a wonderful day trip with kids, probably my favourite day in our Japanese holiday. Peggie, our guide, provided plenty of clear information about the locations and activities, and was excellent. The day was divided across 3 locations, and although some suggestions were given as to how much time we might like to spend at various activities in each location there was also a lot of freedom to spend more time at the parts we were most interested in, adjust the amount of walking/stair climbing etc. The bus driver was excellent and the bus was comfortable. There was also a scheduled restroom break on the long drive back which is always useful travelling as a family. Ine is a beautiful village, the fishing houses are charming and the scenery is gorgeous. We really enjoyed the sightseeing boatride feeding the seagulls and watching the kites fly close over the boat. Amano-hashidate also has stunning scenery, the chairlift was easy and fun with spectacular views, and there were plenty of interesting things to see such as the rotating bridge. All in all a great day.
Peggie did an amazing job guiding us around! She friendly and provided great information regarding the sites we've visited.
Amanda was absolutely AMAZING, everything ran smoothly and on time, got plenty of time to explore both areas including time for food, shopping and bathroom breaks. Highly recommend this, all the sites we went to were to die for
Joanna was a very good guide. She explained what we were going to see and the history behind it. She arranged for our tickets, showed us where to go and how to meet back up. She made our entire tour enjoyable.
Had very good tour. Thoroughly enjoyed the visit. All places were explained nicely. Our guide Mr Frederick is very pleasant to interact and knowledgeable.
Great Experience! The trip was fun and the transportation was much easier than talking public transportation. Also enough time to explore on your own!
Excellent service with Lee our guide, very engaging and knowledgeable, even when poor conditions cancelled the initial boat journey, Lee made the alterations seamless and enjoyable! 10/10 would recommend
Had such a great time on this tour. Highly recommend this hidden gem for a fun cultural experience. Scenery was amazing! Nox did such a great job keeping everyone organised and I enjoyed learning about Japanese history on the bus ride.
One of the best tours I’ve ever had! Our guide Yuna was amazing and provided us with really interesting information about the trip and places we were visiting!! We loved the tour and definitely will recommend it. Thanks.
Joanna was very sweet, and very considerate of the whole tour group. Highly recommend
Two stops but with plenty for all - a relaxing and enjoyable day by the sea and with wonderful scenery. Joanna was a hospitable and knowledgeable guide.
Lovely scenery and lots of interesting places. Joanna was an excellent guide, would recommend!
We had a great day in Amanahashidato
Great day with beautiful views and commentary from our amazing tour guide Laura. Good value for the experience.
Great! Saw all the major sites and Laura was super helpful and organized. Quite a long bus ride on both ends
The trip was amazing, the stunning views, beautiful greenery and the spotless beach, just a place in heaven. The guide Peggie , she made everything seamless, organised, friendly and knowledgeable. Huge thanks to her. I will say the driver was also very safe, and friendly. One of the best tour we done in Japan
Lee was a great guide! Thank you for everthing and the recomendations for kioto & Osaka! Your the best tour guide!
Great tour with Peggie. She was very knowledgeable and very friendly. The tour stops were soooo beautiful. Loved how the tour is so different from the big city.
Trip was well organized. Scenery was amazing. Drive was comfortable and our guide Peggie was great!!
It was a beautiful day trip with Peggie. She was amazing. Thank you very much. We will come back. Such a great time.
Great tour! Our guide Zoya was engaging, funny, and knowledgeable.
Great tour to Ine fishing village. The weather was great so every part of the trip was all the more beautiful. Would have enjoyed more time spent at the Ine village itself really but the cable car experience at Amanohashidate was a great addition.
Bus trip to explore the more regional areas of Kyoto. The trip took us along some beautiful stretches of coastline. Lovely experience.
This was a very relaxed enjoyable experience that shows another side of Japan apart from the bustling big city life. Only a two hour drive from Kyoto station. The tour bus we were on was comfortable and pleasant with a fun knowledgeable tour guide. Zoya was awesome, friendly, spoke English and Chinese well and a great photographer when needed. She was informative and attentive. It was a great day trip.
Wonderful day nice to see unspoiled places outside the city. Lovely quiet fishing village .our guide was knowledgeable and spoke good English.
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