Tokyo: Recommended Boat Date Route Around Tokyo Bay (Tokyo → Kamakura → Kurihama → Ferry → Kanaya)

Here’s a slightly different Tokyo date: the “Around Tokyo Bay Date Course.” Even for couples stuck in a rut and bored with the usual spots, this route is full of charm—eating, drinking, feeling the sea breeze, and having a fun day out. It’s a fresh way to enjoy Tokyo.

In this article, based on the author’s own experience of the course, we introduce the charms of the “Around Tokyo Bay Date Course.”

Tokyo Date Course Overview (Around Tokyo Bay Course)

Start by Riding the Yokosuka Line Green Car from Tokyo Station

This one-day date course loops around Tokyo Bay—and it starts at Tokyo Station. The Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station is a landmark of Japanese architecture, well worth seeing from the first step. The contrast between Tokyo Station’s historic exterior and Marunouchi’s modern buildings is quintessential Tokyo.

The arches on the ceiling at Tokyo Station’s Marunouchi North Exit are beautiful and worth a look. Snap a photo for Instagram and you’ve got a photogenic shot. Taking pictures of each other can be fun, too—just watch the angle, since you’ll be shooting upward.

Heading from Tokyo to Kamakura, you board the Yokosuka Line from Tokyo Station’s deepest underground platform. Getting down there is simple—just take the escalator.

Since you’ve put real effort into this day-off trip, relax in a Green Car (you can drink beer, too). In the Green Car, hold off on the bento and stick to drinks like beer—delicious food is waiting later in the itinerary.

First Stop: Kamakura Sightseeing—Fun Every Time You Go!

You arrive at Kamakura Station in about 1 hour from Tokyo Station on the Yokosuka Line. The moment you step off, your mood switches to travel and sightseeing mode. It’s such a wonderful town that you think, “I want to live here someday.” Exit Kamakura Station and head toward “Komachi-dori.”

Stroll enjoyably along “Komachi-dori” from Kamakura Station toward “Tsurugaoka Hachimangu.” It’s a narrow path crowded with school-trip students, but the real goal is savoring sausage grilled right in front of you as a savory aroma drifts under a sunny sky.

Step inside a shop and daytime beer is irresistible. Paired with a sausage snack, it’s unbeatable. The sausage is huge, so even that alone might fill you up.

Is it OK to walk into a German (ham & sausage) shop after coming all the way to Kamakura? That casual doubt stands no chance against a supreme lunch of sausage and local beer. If you get drunk and drop out, the trip you went to all this trouble for ends here—so keep it moderate!

A Kamakura Tip: Pay Your Respects at “Tsurugaoka Hachimangu”

With our stomachs heavy after the sausage, let’s head to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu. Thinking it through, steep stairs you shouldn’t tackle right after eating are waiting! Maybe we had the order backward!

Kamakura Essentials: “Hasedera Temple,” Then the “Kamakura Daibutsu”

Ride the Enoden to “Hase Station”—once you’re on the Enoden, you can’t help wanting to continue all the way to Enoshima to see the sea, visit Enospa (the pool), and catch a glimpse of swimsuits, but today is for Kamakura sightseeing, so hold firm and get off at Hase Station.

Hasedera Temple is about a 10-minute walk from Hase Station. Take it at a stroll. The grounds themselves make a wonderful walking path.

Strolling the grounds wrapped in a colorful, refined Japanese garden, koi dance elegantly in the pond, and in June beautiful hydrangeas bloom proudly.

The garden is colorful and pretty, and so is the vermilion seal office. The palette feels modern—another spot you’ll want to photograph. It’s Instagram-worthy.

There’s an eatery, “Kaikoan,” so let’s take a break. Hasedera has quite a few stairs, and your feet tire before you notice. Rest here!

From “Kaikoan,” the view of Sagami Bay is beautiful. Kamakura beer with dango hits the spot—aah, that feels good.

About a 10-minute walk from Hasedera Temple is Kamakura Daibutsu-den Kotoku-in Temple. Looking at the back of the Great Buddha of Kamakura, you feel the grandeur of the human world.

Sitting grandly side by side. It’s huge! You can actually go inside the Kamakura Great Buddha. With so many tourists, being packed into that narrow interior is a bit tough.

A giant “waraji” (straw sandal) has been dedicated—perhaps for the Great Buddha. Either way, it’s huge.

On to Kurihama—and Feeling the Sea on the Tokyo Bay Ferry

From Kamakura to Kurihama on the Yokosuka Line—buses from JR Kurihama Station to the Tokyo Bay Ferry terminal rarely come, so I think about taking a taxi, but there are none at the stand in front of the station. If you wait for the bus anyway, you might miss the ferry depending on the time, so when you start walking toward the main street out of necessity to look for a taxi, one pulls up at the stand! Waiting quietly is the best choice!

From JR Kurihama Station to the Tokyo Bay Ferry Terminal takes about 15 minutes by taxi. The fare is around 1,100 JPY, so it isn’t that far. From the moment you step into the ferry terminal, the sea breeze—wrapped in the scent of the sea—feels great.

On a weekday daytime trip, it is completely empty. On holidays, the ship fills with people carrying fishing gear or golf bags. Weekday dates are recommended.

On weekday daytime it is completely empty, so sofa seats are up for grabs. Coming on a date, the two of you can have a sofa to yourselves.

On weekday daytime, it’s completely empty! Stepping onto the ship’s deck, you feel a very pleasant sea breeze. Looking out over Tokyo Bay is fun, too.

Beer on the ship from daytime on is the best! Drinking beer while looking at the sea and catching the breeze on deck feels great.

You can do the Titanic pose! It might be embarrassing under other people’s eyes, but weekday daytime is completely empty, so strike that Titanic pose to your heart’s content.

Fresh, Delicious Seafood in “Kanaya,” Chiba

The Tokyo Bay ferry from Kurihama arrives at Kanaya Port. It’s a 40-minute boat trip from Kanagawa to Chiba.

Head to the restaurant “The Fish” next to Kanaya Port—a stylish spot overlooking the sea. We ordered a recommended dish, the “Instagrammable seafood bowl,” a seaside specialty.

It comes in a huge shell! The look makes an impact, and the taste is top-notch, of course. Paired with the local beer “Nokogiriyama Beer,” it makes a supreme dinner (they close at 18:00, so plan an early dinner).

After eating, return to Tokyo from JR Hamakanaya Station via the Sobu Line / Uchibo Line. Inbound trains run once an hour, so keep an eye on the time from the restaurant to the station and aim for a departure you can catch. There are no shops around the station at all.

If you mistime it, you end up waiting an hour for a train on a bare station platform… Then when a train finally arrives and you board, the ride back takes two and a half hours, so be prepared (Hamakanaya Station → Tokyo Station)—it’s a long trip where deep sleep is basically required. (On a date, isn’t that last train stretch a bit of an ordeal?)

Have a fun day on the Around Tokyo Bay Date Course.

Weekend-Only: Enjoy a Tokyo Bay Night Cruise

Speaking of Tokyo dates, night views—if you want a slightly unusual, special evening, the “Weekend-Only: Tokyo Bay Night Cruise” is also recommended. Make your best pair memories even better with Tokyo Bay’s night view!

Summary: Tokyo Date Course (Around Tokyo Bay Course)

This course looping through Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Chiba in one day is an active date plan where switching between trains, ships, and buses makes “the travel itself part of the trip.” Starting from the bustle of the city center, strolling historic Kamakura, then riding the Tokyo Bay Ferry in the sea breeze—the greatest charm is how dramatically the scenery changes as the day goes on.

This date course, which brings a fresh surprise when dates feel a bit stuck in a rut, will deepen the bond between the two of you.

Especially if you aim for quieter weekday hours, you can enjoy a luxurious moment—like having a sofa seat on the ship to yourselves. The day ends with a long train ride back, but that too is proof you played to your heart’s content all day. With pleasant fatigue, looking back at the photos while returning slowly to Tokyo is a wrap-up unique to this course.