How to Spend a Day in Benesse House Neighborhood on Naoshima Island

Wondertips

8 years ago

There are three main museums in the Benesse House Area on Naoshima, Benesse House, Lee Ufan Museum and Chichu Art Museum. The easiest way to get there is to take a public bus or a direct bus from Miyanoura Port to Tsutsuji-so beach house. It takes a 30 minute walk from Tsutsuji-so bus stop to Benesse House Museum. On the way, you can enjoy artworks including the very famous Yayoi Kusama’s yellow pumpkin.

Gotanji Swimming Beach

We waded in the Gotanji Swimming Beach near Benesse House. The water was still so cold in the early part of April, but it was pretty to see Seto Inland Sea. The swimming season of Gotanji Swimming Beach is from July to the end of August with no lifeguards. Public restrooms and foot shower were available in Tsutsuji-so site, so we could wash our feet.

Lee Ufan Museum

It was refreshing to walk from Gotanji Swimming Beach to Benesse House Museum seeing artworks and Seto Inland Sea along the way. We visited Lee Ufan Museum on foot from Benesse House Museum. It was not crowded and we could take as much time as we wanted to enjoy his artworks. You can see artworks from various directions and the contrast of the building and artworks is impressive. My kid loved the experience to peek at the artworks from below or right beside them. Nobody strictly directed us to change our postures to enjoy arts.

Chichu Art Museum

Finally, we visited Chichu Art Museum and found we had to wait to enter the museum for over one hour due to the admission restriction. It is a nice idea to visit Chichu Art Museum in the morning to avoid the crowd. We could enjoy Chichu Garden with many kinds of blooming flowers. The layout and color arrangement was so gorgeous.When we stayed at Benesse House 7 years ago, it was much easier to make reservations for rooms and dinners. However, I could not make a reservation for a dinner this time due to the full capacity of the accommodation. The public buses seemed too packed and there was a line up to take photos of Yayoi Kusama’s yellow pumpkin. Please be prepared for the crowd.

Visitors Information:

Benesse House Museum

Opening Days: 7 days a week

Opening Hours: 8am-9pm

Price: 1,030 yen

Lee Ufan Museum

Opening Days: Closed Mondays

Opening Hours: March-September 10am-6pm

October-February 10am-5pm