The Tokyo Wide Pass brings you to the Izu Penisula via the Ito Limited Express from Tokyo and the local trains in each of the regions.
Some of the notable areas that I read about are Atami beach area, the Mount Omuru, the Jogasaki beach and suspension bridge and Shimoda. However, it is not possible to do it all on a day trip, you have to choose from a few you like.
I found that this guide from Ito Spa was useful for checking out interesting places to go around Izu.
For me, I shortlisted the Mount Omuro and Jogasaki Kaigen for a day trip itinerary.
Mount Omuro
Mount Omuro is a mountain with a crater at the top. There is a mountain chairlift which brings you up to the summit. Within the craters, there are some activities you can do like archery. This mountain is interesting to me because it reminds me of Mount Bromo in Indonesia, except that the crater was a smokey volcanic hole.
How to go to Mount Omuro
You can take a (1) 40-minute bus ride from Ito Station, or (2) a 20-minute bus ride from Izu-Kogen station to Shaboten bus stop.
The Izu-Kogen station is on the Izu Kyoku local line which is covered by the Tokyo Wide Pass. Both options (1) and (2) take about 40 minutes from Ito Station. (2) is slightly preferred because trains are usually more predictable. The choice depends on what time you reach Ito station, because the bus schedules are infrequent. Alternatively, you can take a DIdi or taxi there.
Jogasaki Kaigen and Suspension Bridge
Jogasaki Kaigen is a scenic coastal area with volcanic rocks and hiking trails, ending off with a nice suspension bridge and light tower.
How to go to Jogasaki Suspension Bridge
Take the local train Izu Kyoko line from Ito to Jogasaki-Kaigen train station (~20 minutes) and walk about 40 minutes to the bridge. Note that coming back is a uphill walk and you need to cater more time coming back.
Route Planning Challenge
The Izu day trip was the most challenging to plan among the 3 day trips using the Tokyo Wide Pass.
Firstly there were so many options to do at Izu Penisula and it is not possible to see them all, so you have to read up and choose your favourite.
Secondly, most of the routes suggested by Google Maps were not applicable by the Tokyo Wide Pass because most of them involves a Shinkansen which is not covered by the pass. It costs about 4070 yen to purchase it.
The train line covered by Tokyo Wide Pass is the Odoriko Limited Express which brings you from Shinagawa to Atami, Ito, Izu Kogen and Shimoda. The catch is that the first train is only at 9.08am. It is also slower than the Shinkansen so it would take 3 hours to reach Mount Omuro instead of 2 h 15 min as indicated by Google Maps. That would mean that you only get to start your day at ~12pm. That is probably just enough for a quick trip to Mount Omuro and Jogasaki Kaigen.
As usual, I did not manage to find the Odoriko train schedule on the English website. You need to use the Japanese website or ask someone at the Ticket Counter. The first and last train are as below:
Odoriko Limited Express
9:08 Shinagawa - 11:03 Izu Kogen
16:02 Ito - Shinagawa
As you can see, the best case scenario only gives you 5 hours in the region excluding local commute if you took the first and last Odoriko train. Perhaps this is not meant to be a day trip.
We Missed The Train!!!
We reached the platform on time, but as we were figuring to purchase the tickets using the Resereved Seat Vending Machine, our Tokyo Wide Pass ticket got stuck inside the machine, about 5 minutes before the train departure.
My friend went to get help, while I stayed at the Vending Machine. Someone came to help and retrieved the ticket for us. We would probably have missed the train, but the train was delayed for 10 minutes.
However, due to miscommunication, my friend did not catch the information that the tickets were retrieved. Hence he did not come back in time. Even though the train was delayed, I watched the train come, opened the doors for a minute or so, closed and left right in front of my eyes. I almost cried!
Moral of the story: Do not insert important ticket into a Vending Machine within 15 minutes before your train departure.
Anyway, we took the 10:08 train instead. All the bus schedules had to be re-researched in the train ride.
After much struggles, we decided to forgo one of them due to the very limited time. We would have preferred Mount Omuro but the bus uncertainty was too risky. Hence we opted for Jogasaki Kaigen.
We Almost Missed the Last Train!!!
We did the forest hike option to get to the Jogasaki Suspension Bridge. We did not realize that we were walking downhill when we were walking towards the coast because it’s easy.
We received our punishment for our complacency in time management when we realized it was a steep uphill walk back to the station. We also initially forgot to include the time needed to get from Jogasaki-Kaigen to Ito station. Hence, our last train was effectively at 3:30pm, which was super early.
We did a very brisk walk uphill back to the station, with my heart rate peaking above 160bpm. We reached the station about 2-3 minutes before departure, faces flushed red from the intense workout.
Closing Words
Our day trip to Izu consisted of more than 6 hours of commute for maybe 3 hours of lunch and sightseeing at one site. The shortened day partly because we lost one hour due to missing the first train.
It was still an overall pleasant day for us because the some of the commuting time was spent catching up with my friend who works abroad and we hardly see each other. Luckily he tolerated my partial breakdown in the morning when we missed the train, so that I could recover and not ruin the rest of the day.
This post is thus “not-a-guide” for a day trip to Izu from Tokyo. I am showing you a day-trip itinerary that does not work out due to the very late first train, early last train and long commute. I wouldn’t imagine it to be pleasant for a solo day-trip. It would have been more feasible if the Tokyo Wide Pass included the Shinkansen maybe for a discounted fee. Maybe a shorter trip just to Atami would be more suitable.
Thinking back, we could be lucky to miss the first train so we skipped Mount Omuro, otherwise we might really miss the last train if we tried for both Mount Omuro and Jogasaki Kaigen.
If i were to come back to Izu Penisula, I would not take the Tokyo Wide Pass anymore. The train schedules just does not make sense. I would drive and spend a few days along the way.
If you are using the Tokyo Wide Pass, you may be interested my other two day trips:
Yohuifang 