Island-hop the art museums of Naoshima and Teshima

What the experience is

The islands of the Seto Inland Sea were known for quarries, copper smelters and fishing villages that were losing their young. Since the 1990s some of them have become one of the great destinations for contemporary art. The project started with Soichiro Fukutake, head of the Benesse publishing company, who began building museums on Naoshima with the architect Tadao Ando.

Naoshima is the centre. Ando’s buildings include Benesse House, which is both museum and hotel, the Chichu Art Museum, sunk into a hilltop and lit largely by daylight, with rooms for Monet, James Turrell and Walter De Maria, and the Naoshima New Museum of Art, which opened on 31 May 2025. In the village of Honmura, old houses have been turned into single works of art. Yayoi Kusama’s yellow pumpkin sits at the end of a pier.

Teshima has the Teshima Art Museum, by the architect Ryue Nishizawa and the artist Rei Naito: a low concrete shell open to the air, on whose floor drops of water rise, gather and run. It is among the most admired works in the region.

Inujima is a very small island with a museum built in the ruins of a copper refinery.

How to plan

Allow three days: two nights on Naoshima, or in Takamatsu, with a day each for Naoshima and Teshima and a half day for Inujima. Ferries are the main transport and their timetables govern everything. Two islands in a day is better than three.

When to go

Spring and autumn. Summer is very hot. Every three years the Setouchi Triennale extends the art to a dozen islands, with more to see and larger crowds; the sixth edition took place in 2025.

Good to know

The Chichu Art Museum is visited by advance online reservation for a date and time, and if the online tickets are sold out there are no sales on the day; the Teshima Art Museum and several of the Naoshima art houses also work by reservation or limited entry. Most museums close one day a week, and the day differs between islands. Rooms on Naoshima are few and should be reserved months ahead. Okayama, on the shinkansen line, is the gateway from Kyoto and Osaka.

Why OKYTO recommends it

The art is first-rate, and the journey between the works, by slow ferry across calm water, is part of it. The same sea can be crossed by bicycle on the Shimanami Kaido or aboard guntû.