Naruto鳴門

Whirlpools in the strait at the northeastern tip. Enjoy trips on boats with glass-floored promenades.

Naruto City, which looks out on the Strait of Naruto, known for whirlpools, is located at the northeastern tip of Tokushima. Linked with Tokushima, Awaji-shima Island, and Honshu by O-Naruto-kyo Bridge and Akashi Kaikyo (Strait) Bridge, Naruto is a gateway to Shikoku.

The biggest attraction in Naruto is the whirlpools in the Naruto Strait. The phenomenon occurs when opposing currents from the Seto Inland Sea and the Kii Channel meet in the Naruto Strait with a water level difference of as much as 1.5 meters, which is made by the ebb and flow of the tide. At the time of the flood tide in the spring through the fall, huge whirlpools running at 20 kilometers an hour and that exceed 20 meters in diameter occur. You can see these roaring whirlpools and surging currents from a tide-viewing boat, one of the Senjojiki observation platforms in Naruto Park, or the top of Escahill Naruto.

The place where you can look down at the dynamic swirls from right above is the Tokushima Prefectural Uzu-no-michi (Path of the Whirlpool) Promenade, which opened in April 2000. A 450-meter-long above-the-sea walk built on the girders of O-Naruto-kyo Bridge, it allows you to take in a really spectacular view of the whirlpools through the glassed floor 45 meters above the sea. The best time to see the whirlpools is once at high tide and once at low tide each day. A tide schedule that shows the times when the tide is fastest is available at the tourist information office.