Sado Island in 1 Day by Private Car with Licensed Guide

It takes an hour from Niigata port to Ryotsu port of Sado Island by Sado Jetfoil.Adult: 13,190yen、Child: 6,620 yen（For yourself and your guide）

At Rikiya Kankō Kisen at Ogi Port, you can experience riding on this Tarai Bune.

Shukunegi is a settlement near Ogi Port, located on the southern side of Sado Island. Here, some 100 wooden houses crowd together on a narrow strip of land facing the sea. Shukunegi is characterized by its complicated and narrow alleys and the houses of shipwrights and freight vessel owners from around 1850 still exist. It is the only Group of Traditional Buildings in Niigata Prefecture. You can also take a tour of the extravagant residences that portray the splendor of the time when prosperity was abounding due to commerce along the Kitamaebune, a shipping route from around 200 years ago that went from Osaka to ports in Hokuriku on the Sea of Japan, then later on to Hokkaido.

The scientific name of the crested ibis is “Nipponia nippon,” and it was a bird that could be seen normally around East Asia. However, due to hunting and environmental destruction, including the use of pesticides on fields and forestry development, from the middle of the 19th century, their numbers started to drop rapidly, and even in Japan, there were only about 20 of them left in 1960. In 2003, Japanese crested ibises became extinct.

The Sado History Museum is recommended if you want to learn about Sado’s history and legends. Sado was established as a penal colony a long time ago, and Imperial Families, aristocrats, and other cultured people were sent there. In this facility, among them, Emperor Juntoku, Nichiren Shonin, the sect founder of Nichiren, and Zeami, the founder of noh, are reenacted using robots. You can observe their state at the time through speech and dances.

At Sado Kinzan, you can explore and observe up close “Dohyu-no-Warito,” the symbol of the Sado mine, tunnels dug by hand in the Edo period, and machines and tunnels made with modern technology. It was active from the start of the 1600s to 1989, for almost 400 years, and the tunnels that were continuously dug spread out like an ant’s nest for a total length of approximately 400km. Apparently, this is about the distance between Sado and Tokyo.

Along with Sadokinzan, we highly recommend dropping by Kitazawa Fuyūsenkōbaato, which translates to "Kitazawa Flotation Plant Ruins"! With bare concrete and covered in vines, this facility was the first facility in Japan to use a method of extracting minerals called flotation. Apparently, it processed at least 50,000 tons of ore in a month and was of such a scale that it was extolled as the "largest in the East." Now, only the infrastructure of the building remains, and this dynamic space that is becoming one with nature is open to the public. Visitors are free to explore it and can also look at the group of mining facilities within the compound. The sight of it being lit up at night, which only takes place for a limited period of time, packs a real punch.

At Sado Nishimikawa Gold Park, visitors can experience the actual panning of gold dust on Sado. It works by using a green plate with lines on its side called a pan to shake and remove gravel in water; the relatively heavier gold dust will appear at the bottom. It is an activity that we highly recommend experiencing when visiting Sado.

If you want to enjoy Sado's diverse and magnificent coastal landforms, we highly recommend visiting Senkakuwan Bay, which has been designated as a quasi-national park. Shokakuwan Bay is made up of five bays on a coast spanning three kilometers in the Aikawa district. The fifth one, Ageshima Fjord, can be accessed by crossing a bridge and provides a sweeping view of the area.