Trains to Amanohashidate Station in Monju run along the scenic Kita-kinki Tango Tetsudo line. If you're approaching the Tango-hanto from the west, you'll need to change from the JR line at Toyo-oka . The standard fare from here for the eighty-minute journey to Amanohashidate is ¥1160, but for ¥930 extra you can save yourself thirty minutes by taking the more comfortable limited express trains, whose carriages have large picture windows and TV screens showing the view from the front of the train. There are a few direct JR trains from Kyoto and Osaka, which take around two hours and thirty minutes, but you'll have to pay for the Kita-kinki Tango Tetsudo portion of the journey if you're using a JR pass. Buses from both Kyoto and Osaka take around two hours and forty minutes.

Inside Amanohashidate Station, at the tourist information desk (daily 10am-6pm; tel 0772/22-8030 or 22-8031, monju@tango.or.jp ), the helpful assistants don't speak much English, but can provide a couple of English-language pamphlets on the area and help with accommodation bookings.

Buses across the bay to Fucho, where you'll find the two youth hostels, and around the Tango-hanto, leave from outside the station until 7pm, and take twenty minutes. Alternatively you can take the regular ferry (12min; ¥520), from the jetty beside Chion-ji, five minutes' walk from the station, to the Fucho-side jetty at Ichinomiya. If you fancy some exercise, bicycles can be rented from the shops close to the station for ¥500 for two hours, or you could stroll the 4km across the sandbar.