Sendai and Matsushima Tour With a Licensed Guide

What Is Included

The price includes the meet-up with the guide on foot within a designated area of Sendai, a licensed local English-speaking guide, and a customisable tour of your choice of 3-4 sites from the listing's What to Expect list. No vehicle, boat, meal or admission is included.

• Meet-up with the guide on foot within a designated area of Sendai
• Licensed local English-speaking guide (National Government Licensed Guide Interpreter certification)
• Customised route of 3-4 sites you choose from the list

What You Pay on Top

Transportation fees, entrance fees, lunch and other personal expenses are excluded. Private transportation is excluded too, so the tour moves on foot and by public transport at your cost. One exclusion reads that guide entry fees are covered only for sights on the What to Expect list, which sits oddly beside the blanket exclusion of entrance fees.

The listing therefore contradicts itself on whether the guide's own ticket at your chosen sights is included. Confirm this on the booking page before you go, and budget for your own tickets either way.

Season, Weather and Walking

No season dates are stated for this tour. It is a walking tour at all seasons, so dress for the day you book. Matsushima's sight hours shrink in winter, with Zuiganji closing at 3:30 pm in December and January and the Fukuura Bridge closing at 16:30 from November to March, so an early start matters in the cold months.

The tour suits all fitness levels, but Godaido is reached over an open-slat bridge.

Money and Food

Bring cash. Your entry fees and lunch are all paid by you. Lunch is not included, so plan a stop.

Train fares to Matsushima are also yours.

Meeting and Booking

Pickup is on foot within a designated area of Sendai, not at your hotel, and the exact meeting point is not stated so confirm it on the booking page. Children are priced as infants 0-5, children 6-11 and adults 12-99. The tour is wheelchair accessible in all areas and surfaces, transport options are accessible, service animals are allowed and infants can ride in a pram or stroller.

The Right Station and the Walk

Take the JR Senseki Line from Sendai to Matsushimakaigan Station, about 40 minutes. Do not confuse it with Matsushima Station on the Tohoku Main Line, which leaves you about 20 minutes on foot from the sights. From Matsushimakaigan it is a short walk to the waterfront at Godaido and the temples beyond.

The Matsushima tourist association also gives the Tohoku Main Line option, about 25 minutes to Matsushima Station plus the 20 minute walk.

• Senseki Line to Matsushimakaigan, about 40 minutes, closest to the sights
• Tohoku Main Line to Matsushima, about 25 minutes, then about 20 minutes on foot
• Godaido and Zuiganji are reached on foot from Matsushimakaigan

Fees at the Main Sights

Zuiganji charges $6.36 (¥1,000) for adults and $3.18 (¥500) for children, and opens at 8:30 am all year with a closing time that shifts by season. Entsuin costs $3.18 (¥500) for adults and $1.91 (¥300) for children. Kanrantei is $1.91 (¥300) for adults, tea from $3.82 (¥600) extra.

The Fukuura Bridge to Fukuurajima is $1.91 (¥300) for adults and $0.64 (¥100) for students. Godaido is free. The 50 minute bay cruise is $9.54 (¥1,500) for adults and $4.77 (¥750) for children.

Train fares from Sendai are set by JR East and the current figure is not stated on the pages available, so check at the station.

What the Guide Does for That Money

On this tour the guide covers the planning, the walking route and the history, not the tickets. If you would rather have entries and a cruise already paid, the Matsushima Bay Day Tour with Boat Cruise includes the entry fee at all its locations for $168 per person over 8 hours. If you only want Matsushima, the cheaper Matsushima Private Guided Tour runs 6-7 hours from $106.72 per person with the guide fee only.

The Frame of the Day

The guide meets you on foot within a designated area of Sendai. The exact meeting point, the departure time and the return time are not stated, and are arranged when you book. The tour lasts 6 hours, moving on foot and by public transport, and covers Sendai and Matsushima.

You select spots from the list in the tour information to create the itinerary, choosing 3-4 sites.

Practical Points from the Listing

Service animals are allowed and infants can ride in a pram or stroller. All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible and the transport options are accessible. Public transport options are available nearby.

You cannot combine multiple tour groups, which is what keeps the day private.

Matsushima Bay

The Matsushima tourist association counts about 260 small pine-covered islands in the bay and ranks it among the Three Views of Japan. Closest to the station, Godaido is free to enter, closes at dusk and is reached over an open-slat bridge, and its rebuilt hall of 1604 is the oldest surviving Momoyama architecture in Tohoku. Zuiganji's main hall is a national treasure, its gate opens at 8:30 am all year and closing runs from 3:30 pm in midwinter to 5:00 pm in summer.

Entsuin sits next door, open 9:00-16:00. Crossing the Fukuura Bridge to Fukuurajima costs $1.91 (¥300) for adults, with the bridge open 8:30-17:00 from April to October and 8:30-16:30 from November to March. The 50 minute bay cruise leaves the Central Pier, 7 minutes on foot from Matsushimakaigan Station, for $9.54 (¥1,500) per adult.

Matsushima Light-Up runs 24 October to 23 November.

Sendai City

The Sendai half of your list typically draws on the city's Date Masamune heritage. Zuihoden, Masamune's mausoleum, charges $3.62 (¥570) for adults and opens 9:00-16:50 with last entry at 16:30 from 1 February to 30 November. If your dates fall on 6 to 8 August, the Sendai Tanabata festival fills the city centre and draws over 2 million visitors.

Doing It on Your Own by Train

You can cover this ground without a guide. The Senseki Line takes about 40 minutes from Sendai to Matsushimakaigan, or about 25 minutes on the Tohoku Main Line to Matsushima Station plus a 20 minute walk. What the train does not give you is context or logistics.

Tickets at Zuiganji, Entsuin, Kanrantei and the Fukuura Bridge, and the cruise fare, are all paid separately either way. On your own you handle the timetable, the station choice and the walking route. On this tour a licensed guide does that for you and answers as you go, for $142.90 per person.

If cost matters more than tailoring, the Matsushima Private Guided Tour covers Matsushima alone from $106.72. If you want entries and a cruise bundled in, the Matsushima Bay Day Tour with Boat Cruise is the fixed-route answer. And if you would rather add a second day somewhere wilder, the Ginzan Onsen, Zao Ropeway and Okama Crater Tour runs 11 hours with lunch and the ropeway ticket included.

Oysters and Anago

Matsushima's oyster season runs from late October to mid-March. Book the tour in that window and the waterfront restaurants grill the bay's most famous crop. In summer the speciality switches to anago, saltwater eel, served over rice along the same streets.

Ask your guide where locals eat, since the tour's lunch stop is wherever you and the guide agree.

Where to Eat It

The fish market area near the pier is the practical lunch stop, close to the cruise pier and the temple route. Because your entry fees and meals come out of your own pocket, a grilled oyster set in season is the classic way to spend that budget. If a guaranteed oyster lunch appeals more than choosing yourself, the Matsushima Private Tour with Samurai and Oysters includes lunch with fresh oysters for $222 per person over 6.5 hours.