Atami, Shizuoka: Guide

Atami (熱海) is a coastal hot spring resort in Shizuoka_%28prefecture%29|Shizuoka prefecture, on the east coast of the Izu Peninsula southwest of Tokyo, Japan.

Understand

Atami means "hot ocean". The town has been a popular hot spring resort since the 8th century and is ranked as one of Japan's Top 3|Japan's Three Great Hot Springs (三大温泉 Sandaionsen). These days the coastline is heavily developed and covered in "identikit" concrete hotels, but in summer the sandy beach is popular.

Get in

By plane

You can reach Atami from one of Tokyo's two airports. From Narita Airport, take the Narita Express train to Tokyo, then transfer to either a Shinkansen Kodama train or a Tokaido Line local train. It is 2 hours via shinkansen connection (¥7510) and 3 hours via local connection (¥5120).

From Haneda Airport, take a Keihin Kyuko line train to Shinagawa for connection to the shinkansen (1 1/4 hours, ¥4680) or Tokaido local (2 hours, ¥2290).

By train

Atami is on the Tokaido Shinkansen main line, just 50 minutes from Tokyo (¥4280). All Kodama trains stop at Atami, and a select number of Hikari stop there as well.

Atami is also a stop on the regular Tokaido Line which runs from Tokyo (1 3/4 hours to Atami, ¥1890) and continues on to Shizuoka and Hamamatsu.

With the exception of the Keihin Kyuko from Haneda Airport to Shinagawa, all train rides listed above are free with the Japan Rail Pass.

Get around

Atami's city center is fairly compact, but buses connect the train station to the MOA Museum of Art (bus no.4) and several other points of interest.

There is an Y800 tourist bus that links the main attractions including the Atami Castle. It's called the Yu-Yu bus.

The train station Tourist Information seemed to be conveniently out of English information of any description. There is however a great Tourist Info on the sea front, between the main Atami Sun Beach and the Marine Spa Atami.

There are two car hire companies directly across from the Train station: Toyota Rent-a-car 0557-81-0100. Nippon Rent-a-car 0557-82-4588 (both Japanese only).

See

MOA Museum of Art (MOA美術館). . Opened in 1982 to house some of the collection of eccentric millionaire Mokichi Okada (see box), the displays here run the gamut from Japanese calligraphy to Tang-dynasty pottery, with a roomful of Matisse, a tea room covered in gold leaf and Socialist-realist bronze sculptures thrown in for flavor. But there's a uniting thread to it all, as according to Okada, "Art must meet three conditions: it must be true, it must be good, and it must be beautiful." No falsehood, evil, or ugliness; no death, no old age, no sickness; no sorrow, no hate, no pain, no lust. The overall effect is a little eerie, but beautiful just the same and well worth a visit. The entrance to the museum is particularly striking. Open 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM daily except Thursday, adult admission is a steep but worthwhile ¥1600 yen. The museum is accessible by bus from JR Atami station (8 minutes).

Adult Museum Atami - A very interesting website english translation!

Do

ONSENS/Hot Springs - Don't be fooled into thinking that the 'Hot Springs/Spas' on the town map are actual Onsen baths, they are literally just where the hot volcanic water pumps up from the ground, some even have Geysers. But there are several excellent Onsen baths, the Marine Spa (or local Leisure Centre) has one and there is a great one called 'Nikkotei' 10 metres uphill from the Ohyu Kanketsusen hot spring/Geyser, it's got an indoor & outdoor baths, Saunas & a chill-out room.

Scuba diving

Atami is a reasonably popular site for scuba diving, largely thanks to its proximity to Tokyo, and the fact that dive centers are close to Atami Station. There are some spectacular soft corals and one of the only divable wrecks in mainland Japan. Visibility can be poor during certain times of year.

'Discovery Divers Tokyo; 6-25-26 Asamizodai (Sagamihara , Kanagawa 228-0828); Phone: 042 854-7711; Email: ; One English-speaking dive operation that offers dive tours in Atami is Discovery Divers Tokyo.

Buy

There are some very strange 'Omiyage' shops in Ginza, and better ones near the train station.

Eat

There are many great Japanese eateries in Ginza or in the shopping streets around the station.

Drink

Sleep

Splurge

Kinjōkan (金城館). Tel. 0557-81-6261, . The glitzily named Golden Palace Hotel was the top place in town in the 1980s but has remained firmly stuck there ever since, with gaudy chandeliers and miles of brown plush. On the plus side, there's a full range of spa and pool facilities and a beautiful little garden too. Rooms for two from ¥15,900 and up, up and away.

Get out

This "Travel Guide" section is drawn from the Wikitravel article "Atami, Shizuoka". We hope you will edit and improve it. It is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 license.