This section only concerns buses which travel between Awaji and locations not on the island. Buses serve all major towns on Awaji, though the exact details of bus schedules are very complicated.
The easiest places to get to or from are Sannomiya (in central Kobe) and Maiko (just across the bridge from Awaji, also in Kobe). There are more limited services to Osaka, Kansai Airport, Gakuentoshi (a metro station in northwestern Kobe), and Shikoku.
Major bus stations on Awaji are found in Higashi-ura, Tsuna, Sumoto, Goshiki, Seidan (in Minamiawaji), and Fukura. Other places of interest, like Iwaya, Yumebutai, and Ichinomiya, are linked by intermediate stops.
To get a rough idea of the routes, you can view this map:
Map of bus routes to/from Awaji
Exact schedules of the buses are given in the links below. Note that times with (weekday) after them only run on weekdays. Times with (weekend) on them only run on weekends and holidays.
BUSES TO AWAJI
Click the links below for details of the services from each location:
Just across the bridge from Awaji – many, many buses
In Central Kobe – many buses
Kobe’s Shinkansen station, a short walk away from Sannomiya
A residential and university district in the west of Kobe – a dozen buses a day
Kansai’s biggest city – 21 buses a day
Several buses a day to Naruto, Tokushima, Takamatsu, and eastern Kagawa
Nine buses a day between highway stops on Awaji and the airport
TRAVELING TO AWAJI FROM LOCATIONS NOT LINKED BY DIRECT BUS
If you’re in Kyoto, Nara, or other destinations east of Awaji, you have two sensible options, depending on where in Awaji you want to travel. You can travel by train to Sannomiya, and then catch a bus from there. Or you can travel by train to Akashi, and then catch a boat from there.
If you’re in Himeji, Okayama, or other destinations west of Awaji, you also have two sensible options. You can travel by train to Maiko, and then catch a bus from there. Or you can travel by train to Akashi, and then catch a boat from there.
BUSES FROM AWAJI
Click the links below for details of the major bus stations on Awaji, and services originating from them to destinations off the island.
Details on services from the Awaji IT bus stop on the expressway in Iwaya.
Buses running from central Higashiura to Sannomiya, via Yumebutai, southern Iwaya, and Maiko. Also details of services from the expressway in Higashiura.
Tsuna, the largest town in northern Awaji, is well-connected by buses.
Hokudan, Ichinomiya and Goshiki buses
A single route to Maiko and Sannomiya, providing access from Goshiki and the Izanagi Jingu shrine.
Sumoto, the largest town on Awaji, is well-connected by buses.
The Seidan bus station, in Minami-Awaji, and Fukura, in Western Awaji, have links to Maiko, Sannomiya, and Shikoku.
A WORD OF WARNING:
With only a few exceptions, you can ONLY use these services to travel between Awaji and somewhere else, that is not on Awaji. You cannot use buses which link Awaji to the outside world to travel between two places on Awaji itself. For example, frequent buses travel from Sumoto to Tsuna (both on Awaji) and then on to Maiko and Kobe (both not on Awaji). If you get on the bus in Sumoto, you can only get off the bus in Maiko or Kobe. You can’t use this bus to travel only as far as Tsuna.
The exceptions to this are covered on the local buses page.
ABOUT AWAJI BUSES
The bus times listed in the links above pay little attention to which company is running the bus, but actually a variety of different companies are involved. For the most part, it is irrelevant to passengers which company’s bus they are using, but there are occasions when passengers will want to know exactly which company runs which bus. For more details, click the link above.
You will also find links for all the companies running buses to or from Awaji; the company websites contain far more detailed information of schedules and fares than I have provided here, but they are generally only in Japanese.
Awaji Island 