Yakushima transport to / from the island is either by air or ferry. YES update the ferry schedule, but visitors should check the JAL website for up-to-date flight schedules. The beauty of booking tours, rentals and accommodation with YES is that can make swift re-arrangements to all your bookings and reservations should adverse weather affect transportation to the island. This is especially the case between July – November when typhoons can disrupt the Yakushima transport system.
YES can reserve your Toppy jet foil tickets for visitors booking a YES TOUR and/or booking 40,000 yen or more of YES services such as hotel, accommodation, car rental and water activities.
Transport to Yakushima is limited to ferry or flight. The ferry departs from Kagoshima-only and flights operate from Osaka (Itami), Fukuoka and Kagoshima. Due to its southerly isolated location then getting to Yakushima time be difficult and time-consuming for those travelling Japan along the usual tourist attraction highway, but this very fact is what makes the extra journey worthwhile.
During the summer months in particular visitors should be aware of typhoons potentially disrupting their visit to Yakushima as both flights and ferries are cancelled or delayed. Ferries are more likely to cancel than flights. We would highly recommended booking accommodation and other Yakushima services with YES as we offer a support service to help visitors during these unpredictable and stressful occasions. YES make frequent contact with the accommodation or other service provider to inform them of the guest`s situation. If you have already booked your accommodation and are reading this notice too late, then transfer the accommodation booking to YES is usually not a problem as long as the accommodation is listed on the YES accommodation page.
Flight
Only Japan Airline operate flights to Yakushima. They have the monopoly on what you are expected to pay for flights. There are daily flights from Osaka (Itami Airport), Fukuoka and Kagoshima. The most frequent operating from Kagoshima.
Ferry
The more common mode of transport to Yakushima is ferry from Kagoshima. There are three operators sailing to Yakushima and the range is from super fast (2 hours) to super slow (13 hours).
Guests booking accommodation with YES that amounts to over 40,000 yen are entitled to our jet foil ferry reservation service. Once the tickets have been reserved then YES send the guest the reservation number and the guests collects the tickets when arriving to the Kagoshima Port. Contact YES for further details.
The slow ferries (Yaku 2 and Hibiscus) do not require pre-booking unless you are bringing your own transport. Bringing your own transport on the ferry is only worth the expense if you plan to stay more 6 days on the island otherwise vehile rental on Yakushima is a much more viable option. There is a large car park at the Kagoshima Port. YES can arrange Yakushima vehicle rental upon request.
