Takamatsu, Go Deeper
Gateway to the Inland Sea and its art islands, and home to one of the finest gardens in Japan. Kagawa is the udon prefecture — locals eat it for breakfast — and from Takamatsu's port you can sail out to Naoshima's museums or up 1,368 steps to the sailors' great shrine.
- Tap Open in Google Maps on any place for live directions, transit, hours & reviews.
- Get an ICOCA / Suica IC card — tap on/off trains, subways & buses, no ticket needed.
- Carry some cash (¥) — many small shops, shrines & old streets are cash-only.
- Go early: the famous spots are calm and beautiful before ~9am.
Ritsurin Garden
A century in the making by the Matsudaira lords, with six ponds and thirteen hills set against a borrowed mountain — often called the most beautiful garden not on the official 'big three' list. Take tea in the lakeside pavilion.
Takamatsu Castle (Tamamo Park)
One of Japan's rare 'sea castles,' its moats filled with tidal seawater and stocked with black sea bream you can feed. The keep is gone, but the waterside turrets and pine gardens remain.
Yashima Plateau
A flat-topped lava mesa rising straight from the sea, scene of a famous 12th-century sea battle between the Genji and Heike. From the rim the Inland Sea and its islands lie spread out beneath you.
Shikoku Mura
An open-air museum of old Shikoku farmhouses, a kabuki stage and a vine bridge, moved here from across the island. It shows the tough, ingenious rural life the region grew from.
Konpira-san (Kotohira-gū)
The great shrine to the god of seafarers, reached by a pilgrimage of 785 stone steps to the main hall — 1,368 if you go all the way up. Sailors have climbed it for luck for centuries; the view is the reward.
Sanuki Udon
Kagawa's obsession — thick, springy wheat noodles so central that this is officially 'Udon Prefecture.' Locals queue at self-serve counters at dawn; the chewier the noodle, the better.
Naoshima Art Island
A once-declining island reborn as a living museum — Tadao Andō's concrete galleries buried in hillsides, and Yayoi Kusama's yellow pumpkin on a pier. Art and the Inland Sea, inseparable.
Angel Road, Shōdoshima
A sandbar between islets that surfaces only at low tide — cross it hand in hand and, the legend says, your wish comes true. Shōdoshima beyond it is Japan's olive island, dotted with soy breweries.
Zentsū-ji
The birthplace of Kūkai, founder of Shingon Buddhism, and temple 75 of the pilgrimage — a vast complex with a five-storey pagoda and a pitch-black underground passage you feel your way along in prayer.
Plan this trip
Curated experiences (tea ceremonies, guided walks) and places to stay for this route.
Coming soon