Oku-Iya Double Vine Bridge — Local services in Miyoshi

Visited Monday, May 13, 2024

This is a cool place to visit if you have some time to hike and explore the area. Parking is limited to the side of the road, and you have to pay to park and enter. The walk down to the bridges contains many stone steps, and the bridges were showing some wear and tear when we visited. That said, both were really neat to walk over and consider in context of when and why they were originally made.

The camping area consists of a concrete slab and composting toilets; it is remote and peaceful if that is your intended style of camping. You can also choose ground areas to camp away from the main area. Either way, be prepared to carry your gear on your back down all the stone steps and across the bridge; the monkey carts were not operational when we visited.

There are several hiking trails easily accessible from the camping area. If you love nature, this is really a great place to stay. Even if you only visit for a day, you will feel like you have entered another...

Two beautiful vine bridges hidden in the Iya Valley. While the construction is not original (the wood has rotted over the years), the bridges have been in this location for over 800 years. There is a small fee (~$4 USD) per person to access the area, but we were happy to pay it to support the struggling tourism industry here and support continued upkeep of the bridges. We had the area to ourselves when we went. Recommend these vine bridges over the more popular one in the western Iya Valley, as there were 2 bridges at this location and much...

One of the worst tourist traps on the island. These are IRON WIRE bridges, with some vines thrown (!) over them in a feeble attempt to cover up the real bridge. After you pay and walk down there is a sign telling you the "wooden monkey" is out of order. Looking at the quality of the sign that monkey has been out of order for at least 5 years. There is no discount and no mention of the monkey being unavailable. On the contrary: the cablecar is very well drawn on all maps. All in all: leave it be. It's not...