Michelin Green Guide Izu Peninsula — Two-Star Shimoda and Shuzenji, the 2020 Jogasaki Coast and Cape Irozaki, and All 22 Starred Sights

What the Michelin Green Guide is — 22 starred sights on the Izu Peninsula

This is the Michelin Green Guide (Le Guide Vert), which rates destinations rather than restaurants. The Japan edition is published in France: the 4th edition in 2015, the 6th in 2020, and the current one in 2025. Every star below is given with the edition that awarded it.

The 2015 edition makes the Izu Peninsula itself two-star, with its stars concentrated in Shimoda, the port opened at the end of the shogunate, and Shuzenji, a hot-spring town carrying Kamakura-period history. The 2020 edition added stars along the volcanic coast and its caves. Izu runs about 60 km north to south, and the railway only serves the east coast and the centre. Plan it as train on the east coast, bus or car for the west and south. On a short trip, a guided tour with a car covers the eastern stars efficiently.

Two-star Shimoda — Gyokusen-ji, Ryosen-ji and Perry Road

Shimoda is two-star in the 2015 edition. The town opened under the 1854 Convention of Kanagawa; Perry’s squadron came here, and the first American consul, Townsend Harris, lived here. Gyokusen-ji, where Harris set up the consulate, Ryosen-ji, where the treaty’s supplementary articles were signed, the Shimoda Perry Road Museum of opening-era material, and the waterfront walk at Shimoda Port and Waka-no-ura are all two-star.

The lane along the canal from Ryosen-ji down to the harbour is Perry Road, and its black-and-white latticed namako walls are one-star. Also one-star: Hofuku-ji, linked to “Tojin Okichi”, said to have served Harris; Choraku-ji, where the Treaty of Shimoda with Russia was signed; and Mt. Nesugata, reached by ropeway. The stars sit within walking distance between the station and the port, so half a day covers the main ones.

Two-star Shuzenji — the bamboo path, Shuzen-ji temple, Shigetsuden

In the middle of the peninsula, on the Katsura River, the hot-spring town of Shuzenji is two-star in the 2015 edition. Shuzen-ji, the temple the town is named for, and its Dainichi Nyorai are two-star, with the treasure hall at one. This is also where Minamoto no Yoriie, the second Kamakura shogun, was confined and died.

Shigetsuden, said to have been built by his mother Hojo Masako in his memory, and the bamboo path along the river are two-star as well. The path takes only a few minutes to walk, but the round bench among the bamboo has become the centre of a stroll through the town. From Tokyo, take the shinkansen to Mishima, then the Izuhakone railway and a bus — about an hour and a half to two hours.

East Izu — the two-star Jogasaki Coast and Mt. Omuro

The 2020 edition gives two stars to the Jogasaki Coast in Ito and one to Mt. Omuro. Mt. Omuro is a 580 m volcano formed about 4,000 years ago, a grassed-over cone. Climbing on foot is prohibited; a chairlift takes you to the top, and the path around the crater rim reaches Mt. Fuji and the Izu islands on a clear day.

The Jogasaki Coast is where lava from Mt. Omuro met the sea and hardened into a line of sheer cliffs. The Kadowaki suspension bridge, about 23 m up, looks down onto the surf. Parts of the clifftop path have no railing, so watch your footing when taking photographs and never step past the barriers. Both are reachable by bus from Izu-Kogen Station.

South and west Izu — Kawazu Seven Falls, Irozaki, Ryugukutsu, Tensodo

The 2020 edition gives two stars to the Kawazu Seven Falls and to Cape Irozaki. The falls are a walking trail past seven cascades on the upper Kawazu River, also known as the setting of Kawabata’s “The Izu Dancer”. At Irozaki, the southern tip of the peninsula, a lighthouse stands on the cliff and the Irozaki Shrine sits in a cleft in the rock.

Ryugukutsu, in Shimoda, is a sea cave whose roof has collapsed; seen from the path above, the opening reads as a heart. On the west coast at Dogashima, the Tensodo is a sea cave lit through a hole in its ceiling, and a sightseeing boat takes you inside. Both are one-star in the 2020 edition. South and west Izu have no railway — you travel by bus from Shimoda, and two or three stops is a realistic day.

Getting to Izu, and model routes by length

From Tokyo, the Odoriko limited express reaches Izu-Kogen in about two hours and Izukyu-Shimoda in two and a half to three. The JR section ends at Ito; beyond that it is the private Izukyu line. For Shuzenji, change at Mishima to the Izuhakone railway. The Japan Rail Pass covers only the JR section, Tokyo to Ito — the Izukyu and Izuhakone lines cost extra.

Michelin Green Guide Izu Peninsula — FAQ

Star ratings: ★★★ worth a special journey / ★★☆ worth a detour / ★☆☆ interesting. Stars come from the 4th (2015) or 6th (2020) edition of the Michelin Green Guide Japan, as noted for each sight, and are reviewed with every edition. “Starred sights” counts every entry the guide awards stars to — including buildings inside a site, museum pieces, viewpoints and routes — so it is not a count of separate locations.