Miyajima Ferry: Fares, the Visitor Tax, and What a Day Trip Really Costs

Last checked against official sources on 2026-09-01

Most English guides quote the Miyajima ferry as ¥180 and stop there. That is the fare, but it is not what you pay. Since 1 October 2023 a ¥100 visitor tax is charged each time you enter the island, collected on top of the fare by the ferry operator. A normal day trip therefore costs ¥460, not ¥360.

What a day trip actually costs

	Adult	Child
Ferry, one way	¥180	¥90
Ferry, return	¥360	¥180
Visitor tax (once, on entry)	¥100	¥100
Total for a day trip	¥460	¥280

The visitor tax is charged per entry to the island, not per crossing, so you pay it once on the way over and not again on the way back. It is added to the ticket price by the operator, so there is nothing separate to queue for.

The visitor tax, in full

Hatsukaichi City introduced the tax on 1 October 2023. The rules below are the city's own, not a summary from a travel site.

¥100 per person per visit. Charged every time you enter the island.
¥500 per person per year if you pay annually instead. Worth it from the sixth visit. The annual declaration has to be filed by the 10th of the month before your first visit, so it is not something you can arrange on the day.
Collected with the fare when you travel by ferry. If you arrive at a pier under your own power it is collected with the pier fee, and if you land on a natural beach you are expected to declare and pay at the city office within 10 days.

Not taxed at all: residents of Miyajima-cho, and people commuting to work or to school there for 48 hours a month or more.

Exempt: pre-school children; participants, leaders and helpers on school trips and other school events; and people holding a disability certificate such as a ryoiku techo.

Two operators leave from the same place

Miyajimaguchi has two ferry companies running the same short crossing side by side. JR West Miyajima Ferry is the one covered by the Japan Rail Pass. Miyajima Matsudai Kisen runs the other service.

The crossing takes about 10 minutes on either line. If you are travelling on a Japan Rail Pass, the JR boat is already paid for — but the visitor tax is a municipal tax, not a fare, so the pass does not cover it and you still pay the ¥100.

We have not verified the Matsudai fare against the operator's own page and so do not state a figure for it here. See the note at the end.

The Great Torii route runs only in the middle of the day

Some JR sailings swing out past the great torii gate standing in the water, which is the shot most people come for. Those sailings run from 9:10 to 16:10. Outside that window the boats take the direct line and you will not pass the gate.

Both the regular and the Great Torii sailings take about the same 10 minutes, so if the gate matters to you, it costs nothing but timing.

What we could not confirm

We do not print a figure we have not seen at its source. Two things are missing here. The Miyajima Matsudai Kisen fare is widely reported as matching the JR fare, but their own English page did not state it when we checked, so we leave it out rather than repeat what other sites say.

We also do not give first and last departure times or the sailing interval. The operator's English pages gave the Great Torii window and the crossing time but not the full timetable. Check the operator before an early start or a late return.

Sources

JR West Miyajima Ferry: fares (passenger fare and Miyajima visitor tax) — checked 2026-09-01
JR West Miyajima Ferry: route information (crossing time, Great Torii service hours) — checked 2026-09-01
Hatsukaichi City: outline of the Miyajima visitor tax (Japanese) — checked 2026-09-01
Miyajima Matsudai Kisen: English site — checked 2026-09-01