From Matsuyama Airport to the Unomachi townscape and the Ehime Prefectural Museum of History and Culture: leave at Seiyo-Uwa IC

We found no official page giving the driving time from Matsuyama Airport to Unomachi

We did not find an official page that says how many minutes it takes by car from Matsuyama Airport to the Unomachi townscape (or the Ehime Prefectural Museum of History and Culture). On “Access (travel within Ehime Prefecture)” of the prefecture’s official tourism site, Iyokan-net, there are driving guides from Matsuyama Airport for only four places: Dogo, Imabari, Shimanami and Uwajima. There is no page for Unomachi (Seiyo).

There are 4 close numbers, with different starting points and ending points. We list them side by side.

What is written	Source	Start and end
Prefectural Roads 22 and 190, about 15 minutes	いよ観ネット「松山空港から宇和島駅へ」 (Iyokan-net: From Matsuyama Airport to Uwajima Station)	Matsuyama Airport to Yogominami IC
About 50 minutes from Matsuyama IC via Seiyo-Uwa IC	愛媛県歴史文化博物館「交通アクセス」 (Ehime Prefectural Museum of History and Culture: Access)	Matsuyama IC to the museum
5 minutes by car from Seiyo-Uwa IC	西予市の各施設のページ (Pages of Seiyo City’s facilities)	Seiyo-Uwa IC to Kaimei School, Uwa Sentetsu Memorial Hall and others
Normal time 0 hours 57 minutes, distance 64.0 km	ドラぷらの料金・ルート検索（検索の結果） (Driveplaza toll and route search: search result)	Matsuyama IC to Seiyo-Uwa IC

The museum writes the following, with Matsuyama IC as the starting point.

松山自動車道 松山ICから西予宇和IC経由で約50分。 駐車場 普通車156台、大型8台収容 をご利用ください。

Translation: “Matsuyama Expressway, about 50 minutes from Matsuyama IC via Seiyo-Uwa IC. Please use the parking lot, which holds 156 regular cars and 8 large vehicles.”

Source: 交通アクセス ｜ 愛媛県歴史文化博物館

Iyokan-net’s guide to Uwajima Station also has a number from Yogominami IC onward, “Matsuyama Outer Ring Road, Matsuyama Expressway, about 1 hour 10 minutes”, but this is the time to Uwajima-Asahi IC. Seiyo-Uwa IC is before Uwajima-Asahi IC, so it cannot be applied to Unomachi as it is.

The specific route of Prefectural Roads 22 and 190 from Matsuyama Airport to Yogominami IC is not confirmed on official pages. Details of this section are collected in From Matsuyama Airport to Uwajima Castle.

This article divides the route into 15 points, in the order of the airport, Yogominami IC, Matsuyama IC, the Ozu Road and Seiyo-Uwa IC.

From Yogominami IC to Matsuyama IC, through the Ozu Road, and leave at Seiyo-Uwa IC

The order of the road is the Matsuyama Outer Ring Road, the Matsuyama Expressway, the Ozu Road (a free motorway), the Matsuyama Expressway again, and Seiyo-Uwa IC. Here are the section distances from the result of searching Matsuyama IC to Seiyo-Uwa IC on Driveplaza (NEXCO’s toll and route search).

Order	Section	Distance
1	Matsuyama Expressway, Matsuyama IC to Ozu IC (Iyonada SA is at the 3.7 km point and Uchiko PA at the 30.8 km point on the way)	42.0 km
2	Ozu Road, Ozu IC to Ozu-kitamata IC (free)	6.3 km
3	Matsuyama Expressway, Ozu-kitamata IC to Seiyo-Uwa IC	15.7 km

Ozu-kita IC and Ozu-minami IC are interchanges on the way along the Ozu Road. The total is 64.0 km, and the normal time in the search result is 0 hours 57 minutes. This is the result of a route search, not a guide text on an official page. The search was made under the conditions of October 13, 2026 (departure 04:40). The numbers differ from the museum’s “about 50 minutes from Matsuyama IC”.

The places to rest in this section are Iyonada SA (outbound) and Uchiko PA (outbound). At Iyonada SA, paving repairs that cut the parking spaces by up to about half run until October 30, Reiwa 8 (2026). Details of the SA/PA facilities and the construction are in the Uwajima Castle article.

Expressway tolls: Matsuyama IC to Ozu IC and Ozu-kitamata IC to Seiyo-Uwa IC are paid; the Ozu Road is free

Ehime Prefecture’s page “High-standard trunk roads” (高規格幹線道路) has this entry about the Ozu Road.

一般国道56号大洲道路（6.3km）は、四国8の字ネットワークの一部を形成する無料の自動車専用道路として、国土交通省により整備されています。

Translation: “National Route 56 Ozu Road (6.3 km) is built by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism as a free motorway forming part of the Shikoku Figure-8 Network.”

Source: 高規格幹線道路（四国8の字ネットワーク・中四国連携ルート） - 愛媛県庁公式ホームページ（道路建設課）

We checked the amounts for the paid sections in Driveplaza’s search results. These are the figures shown for a regular car when searched on October 13, 2026.

Section	Normal toll	Holiday (all day)	Late night (0:00-4:00)
Matsuyama IC to Ozu IC	1,300 yen	910 yen	910 yen
Ozu IC to Ozu-kitamata IC (Ozu Road)	Free
Ozu-kitamata IC to Seiyo-Uwa IC	590 yen	410 yen	410 yen
Total	1,890 yen

The search results also list a “weekday morning and evening discount (6:00-9:00, 17:00-20:00)” with return rates of 30% and 50%. The ETC toll was also shown as 1,890 yen, the same as the normal toll, in this search. What we list here is the result of a search, not NEXCO West Japan’s toll table itself. For the conditions of discounts and the days such as Golden Week when the holiday discount cannot be used, check in the toll search before you leave. This search starts at Matsuyama IC, and does not include the toll of the Matsuyama Outer Ring Road from Matsuyama Airport through Yogominami IC to Matsuyama IC.

We read the types of toll gates from the image of NEXCO West Japan’s “ETC-only toll gates” diagram (as of February 17, Reiwa 8 (2026)). In the diagram’s legend, green is “toll gate (cash etc. can be used)” and gray is “IC without a toll gate”. The parts related to this route are as follows.

• Matsuyama IC, Ozu IC and Ozu-matsuo main line (the main line toll gate between Ozu-kitamata IC and Seiyo-Uwa IC) are green, “toll gate (cash etc. can be used)”
• Ozu-kitamata IC and Seiyo-Uwa IC are gray, “IC without a toll gate”

The diagram is as of February 2026, and its legend also has yellow for “ETC-only toll gates (from April 8, Reiwa 8 (2026))”. If you plan to pay in cash, check the latest status before you leave.

Night closures: the section that includes Seiyo-Uwa IC from the night of October 26

As of October 13, 2026, night closures of the Matsuyama Expressway have been announced by each operator. NEXCO West Japan’s notice gives the hours in one sentence.

夜間通行止めは、毎夜19時から翌朝6時まで実施します。

Translation: “The night closure is carried out every night from 19:00 to 6:00 the next morning.”

Source: 四国内の高速道路の対面通行区間において秋季夜間通行止めを実施します | NEXCO 西日本 企業情報

Section	Dates	Detour
Matsuyama IC to Ozu-kita IC, both directions	14 nights, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, from the night of Monday, September 28, Reiwa 8 (2026) to the morning of Saturday, October 17. Spare dates: from the night of Monday, October 19 to the morning of Friday, October 23	National Routes 33 and 56
Ozu-minami IC to Seiyo-Uwa IC, both directions	5 nights, from the night of Monday, October 26, Reiwa 8 (2026) to the morning of Saturday, October 31	National Route 56, Prefectural Road 29

There is no night closure on Saturdays, Sundays or holidays. The Friday night closure is lifted early on Saturday morning. If the weather or other causes delay the work, it may move to the spare dates. The first section starts at Matsuyama IC and the second ends at Seiyo-Uwa IC, so this route, which leaves at Seiyo-Uwa IC, overlaps with both sections.

In the notice of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s Ozu River and National Highway Office (October 8, 2026), “Ozu IC to Ozu-kitamata IC”, which is the free Ozu Road, is closed from the night of Monday, November 30, Reiwa 8 (2026) to the morning of Saturday, December 5, and from the night of Monday, December 7 to the morning of Saturday, December 12. Spare dates are from the night of Monday, December 14 to the morning of Saturday, December 19. The hours are 20:00 to 6:00 the next morning each day, and the detour is National Route 56 (existing road). The same notice also has night closures for sections south of Seiyo-Uwa IC (toward Uwajima-kita IC), but they are the sections beyond this route, which leaves at Seiyo-Uwa IC.

By the time you read this article, the period may have passed or the dates may have changed. The Ministry’s contact is the Ozu River and National Highway Office (0893-24-6526, direct line, 8:30-17:15, except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays).

After leaving Seiyo-Uwa IC, take Prefectural Road 29 west to just before National Route 56

On the pages of Kaimei School, the Uwa Sentetsu Memorial Hall, the Townscape Exchange Center and others, Seiyo City writes the access as “5 minutes by car from Seiyo-Uwa IC”. Iyokan-net’s “Unomachi Townscape Guide” also says “about 5 minutes by car from Seiyo-Uwa IC”.

The road after leaving the IC is not confirmed on official pages. In map data (OpenStreetMap), the order is as follows. Map data is not an official road register.

1. The exit ramp of Seiyo-Uwa IC connects to a traffic light intersection on Prefectural Road 29 (Uwa-Nomura Line).
2. From there, Prefectural Road 29 goes west. About 580 m ahead in a straight line, there is a traffic light intersection where Prefectural Road 237 (Torisaka-Uwa Line) branches north.
3. From there, Prefectural Road 29 runs about 140 m further in a straight line and ends at National Route 56.

The Ehime Prefectural Museum of History and Culture is, by the position in map data, about 520 m north of the traffic light intersection where Prefectural Road 237 joins. The Unomachi townscape is about 610 m northwest of the same intersection. The distances are straight-line distances between coordinates, not distances by road. How to turn to the museum entrance is also not fully confirmed on official pages or in map data.

In map data, National Route 56 runs on the southwest side of the townscape. Seiyo City’s “Unomachi Osanpo Map” also shows National Route 56 on the south side of the townscape, with arrows for “toward Ozu” and “toward Seiyo-Uwa IC”. The detour for NEXCO West Japan’s night closure (between Ozu-minami IC and Seiyo-Uwa IC) is also National Route 56 and Prefectural Road 29.

Roadside Station Donburi-kan (道の駅どんぶり館) is, in map data, along Prefectural Road 29 about 310 m southeast of the exit’s traffic light intersection. The page of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s Shikoku Regional Development Bureau gives Seiyo-Uwa IC as the nearest access IC, and describes the parking as follows.

駐車場：普通車93台／大型車1台／身障者用4台（24時間利用可能）

Translation: “Parking: 93 regular cars / 1 large vehicle / 4 for people with disabilities (available 24 hours)”

Source: 道の駅情報｜どんぶり館

The page of the national Roadside Station Liaison Council writes the parking of the same station as “Large: 4, regular cars: 41 (including 4 for people with disabilities)”, so the numbers differ. As for business hours, on the Bureau’s page the tourist information center and the local products shop are open from 8:00 to 18:00 and the restaurant from 10:00 to 17:30, open all year (except January 1 and 2).

The Ehime Prefectural Museum of History and Culture is open 9:00 to 17:30, closed on Mondays except the first Monday

The museum’s page gives the opening hours and closing days as follows.

午前9時から午後5時30分まで （展示室への入場は、午後5時まで）

※毎月第1月曜日は開館、その翌日の火曜日（祝日及び振替休日にあたる場合はその翌日）を休館します。

Translation: “From 9:00 to 17:30 (entry to the exhibition rooms until 17:00). Note: the museum is open on the first Monday of every month, and closed on the following Tuesday (or the next day if that is a holiday or a substitute holiday).”

Source: 利用案内 ｜ 愛媛県歴史文化博物館

The closing day is Monday; the museum is open on the first Monday and closed on the following Tuesday. The top page also says that when the closing day falls on a holiday or substitute holiday, the next weekday is closed, and that the museum does not close during the spring and summer holiday periods. The year-end and New Year closing is from December 29 to January 1, and it also says “the museum may close at other times as necessary”.

The admission fees are as in the table on the visitor information page.

Type of admission	Adults (high school students and over)	Ages 65 and over	Elementary and junior high school students
Permanent exhibition and new permanent exhibition	700 yen	400 yen	Free
New permanent exhibition only	340 yen	200 yen	Free

For groups of 20 or more, it is 580 yen and 330 yen for the permanent exhibition and new permanent exhibition, and 280 yen and 170 yen for the new permanent exhibition only. People with disabilities and one carer are free; show a handbook or similar at the general information desk on the 2nd floor. Special exhibitions are priced separately.

As of October 13, 2026, the special exhibition “Iyo Matsuyama Castle: the castle, the palace and the castle town” is held from Saturday, September 19, 2026 to Monday, November 23 (a holiday). The venue is the special exhibition room.

Ticket	Adults (high school students and over)	Ages 65 and over	Elementary and junior high school students
Special exhibition ticket	650 yen	400 yen	400 yen
Combined ticket (permanent exhibition, new permanent exhibition, special exhibition)	900 yen	650 yen	400 yen

Preschool children are free. The closing days during the special exhibition are written on the exhibition guide page as follows.

9月24日（木）、28日（月）、10月6日（火）、13日（火）、19日（月）、26日（月）、 11月4日（水）、9日（月）、16日（月）

Translation: “September 24 (Thu), 28 (Mon), October 6 (Tue), 13 (Tue), 19 (Mon), 26 (Mon), November 4 (Wed), 9 (Mon), 16 (Mon)”

Source: 特別展「伊予松山城　城郭・御殿・城下町」 ｜ 展示案内 ｜ 愛媛県歴史文化博物館

October 13, 2026, the day this article was written, is one of these closing days. Two theme exhibitions are also held during the same period. In connection with the Matsuyama Castle special exhibition, the route to Matsuyama Castle is described in From Matsuyama Airport to Matsuyama Castle.

The parking fee is not given on the official page. There are 156 regular-car spaces and 8 large-vehicle spaces, and a dedicated parking lot next to the entrance for people who use wheelchairs. The whole site of the museum is non-smoking. It says please refrain from entering with pets (including insects), and that certified assistance dogs for people with physical disabilities may enter.

For the Unomachi townscape’s parking, official pages differ: 15, 20 or about 30 spaces

The Unomachi townscape is the Unomachi Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings in Uwa-cho, Seiyo City, selected on December 8, 2009 (Heisei 21). Its area is about 4.9 hectares. Seiyo City writes the following.

保存地区内には、近世の地割りが良く残っており、宇和島街道沿いの開口部以外を塗籠める桟瓦葺の重厚な町家が残っています。町家には妻入りと平入りが混在し、格子や持ち送り、飾り瓦などの意匠に特徴があります。

Translation: “Within the preservation district, the early modern land division remains well, and heavy townhouses with pantile roofs, with walls plastered over except for the openings, remain along the Uwajima Kaido. The townhouses include both gable-entrance and side-entrance types, and are characterized by designs such as lattices, brackets and decorative roof tiles.”

Source: 卯之町の町並み／西予市

We did not find an official page that points to “here” for the townscape parking. The pages of each facility say the following.

What is written	Source
Uwa Sentetsu Memorial Hall: “parking for 15 cars”	西予市「宇和先哲記念館」 (Seiyo City: Uwa Sentetsu Memorial Hall)
Kaimei School, Uwa Mingu-kan, Suemitsu Family House and Former Musashi all say “free parking lot nearby, 15 spaces”	西予市の各施設のページ (Pages of each facility of Seiyo City)
Townscape parking: “available, about 30 spaces”, parking fee “free”	いよ観ネット「宇和町卯之町の町並み」 (Iyokan-net: Uwa-cho Unomachi townscape)
“You can park in the parking lot behind the Uwa Sentetsu Memorial Hall (20 spaces)”, “For large vehicles, please inquire”, parking fee “free”	いよ観ネット「卯之町の町並みガイド」 (Iyokan-net: Unomachi Townscape Guide)
Uwa Sentetsu Memorial Hall: “available (15 spaces)”, Kaimei School: “city parking lot and others”	せいよじかん（西予市観光物産協会） (Seiyo Jikan, Seiyo City Tourism and Products Association)

Four pages of Seiyo City say the same “15 spaces”, but the pages do not say whether they mean the same lot or separate lots. Iyokan-net’s 20 spaces and about 30 spaces also do not say which lot they mean.

On Seiyo City’s “Unomachi Osanpo Map”, there is a sign reading “P is at the back” (Pは うらへ) and a P picture near the Uwa Sentetsu Memorial Hall, and a P and toilet picture at the “Townscape Plaza”. The P marks on the map do not give the number of spaces. Map data also has records named “city paid parking lot”, “city paid parking lot No. 2” and “Nakamachi Plaza - parking allowed”, but the number of spaces and the fees could not be confirmed on official pages.

From the museum to the townscape, by the positions in map data, the Uwa Sentetsu Memorial Hall is about 280 m in a straight line from the museum, and from there the townscape is about 90 m, the Uwa Mingu-kan about 100 m and Kaimei School about 60 m (Kaimei School is about 410 m in a straight line from the museum). The Osanpo Map has “8 minutes on foot” written beside the museum, but the diagram does not show where the walk starts. It does not say whether you may use the museum’s parking lot only to visit the townscape.

We found no official guidance on the narrowness of the townscape roads or on driving cars there

None of the pages of Seiyo City’s “Unomachi townscape”, Iyokan-net or Seiyo Jikan (Seiyo City Tourism and Products Association) gives the width of the roads in the townscape, one-way streets or restrictions on cars entering. The one-page document made by Seiyo City on the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ site (May 7, Reiwa 8 (2026)) has a message from the chairperson of the Unomachi Townscape Preservation Society.

当地区は、平入と妻入りが混在する在郷町です。保存地区内の住民の暮らしの環境の保持・改善に努めながらの町並み保存を目指しています。

Translation: “This district is a rural town where side-entrance and gable-entrance houses are mixed. We aim to preserve the townscape while working to maintain and improve the living environment of the residents in the preservation district.”

Source: 西予市宇和町卯之町（愛媛県） 令和8年5月7日 西予市作成（文化庁サイト、PDF）

In map data, we found no records of one-way streets or speed limits on the roads around the townscape. No record does not mean there are no restrictions. About half of the roads around the townscape carry a width category taken from an old private map, mostly “3.0 m to 5.5 m”, with some “1.5 m to 3.0 m” and “under 1.5 m”. These are not official road widths.

Seiyo Jikan’s model course gives the walking time as “about 2 hours” (including visiting the facilities and travel time), and another page says “an hour and a half course”. None of the pages says whether cars may enter the roads inside the townscape. Seiyo City’s contacts are the Uwa Sentetsu Memorial Hall (0894-62-6700) and the Unomachi Townscape Exchange Center (0894-62-6701).

Kaimei School, Uwa Mingu-kan and Uwa Sentetsu Memorial Hall are closed on Mondays, with entry until 16:30

The “Facility information” on each page of Seiyo City is as follows.

Facility	Opening hours	Closing days	Admission
Kaimei School (開明学校) (nationally designated Important Cultural Property)	9:00-17:00 (entry until 16:30)	Mondays (closed the next day if Monday is a holiday), year-end and New Year	General 700 yen, university and high school students 420 yen, junior high school students and under free (includes admission to the Uwa Mingu-kan)
Uwa Mingu-kan (宇和民具館)	9:00-17:00 (entry until 16:30)	Mondays (closed the next day if Monday is a holiday), year-end and New Year	General 700 yen, university and high school students 420 yen, junior high school students and under free (includes admission to Kaimei School)
Uwa Sentetsu Memorial Hall (宇和先哲記念館)	9:00-17:00 (entry until 16:30)	Mondays (closed the next day if Monday is a holiday), year-end and New Year	Permanent exhibits free (300 yen for the special exhibition from October 24)
Suemitsu Family House (末光家住宅)	9:00-16:00	Every Monday (closed the next day if Monday is a holiday), year-end and New Year	General 300 yen, university and high school students 180 yen, junior high school students and under free
Former Musashi (旧武蔵)	10:00-16:00	Open inside only on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays	Free
Unomachi Townscape Exchange Center (卯之町町並み交流センター)	8:30-17:15	Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, year-end and New Year	Not given

Kaimei School has a Meiji-era lesson experience from a teacher in hakama. The fee is written as “300 yen per person” on Seiyo City’s page and the Osanpo Map, and “500 yen (per person)” on Seiyo Jikan’s Kaimei School page, so they differ. Both require a reservation at least 1 week ahead. The fee for a townscape guide is also written differently: 3,000 yen on Seiyo Jikan’s Kaimei School page and Iyokan-net, and 2,000 yen on the Osanpo Map.

At the Uwa Sentetsu Memorial Hall, the exhibition “These are all replicas” is held in the 2nd floor exhibition room from Saturday, October 24, 2026 to Sunday, January 24, 2027. Seiyo Jikan writes the admission as 300 yen (free for preschool children and elementary and junior high school students).

When visiting the museum and the townscape on the same day: closing days and entry times

Lining up the closing days that are written gives the following.

• The facilities of the townscape (Kaimei School, Uwa Mingu-kan, Uwa Sentetsu Memorial Hall, Suemitsu Family House) are closed on Mondays
• The museum is also closed on Mondays, but open on the first Monday of every month and closed on the following Tuesday
• On the first Monday of every month (when it is not a holiday), the museum is open and the townscape facilities are closed. On the following Tuesday, the museum is closed and the townscape facilities are open
• The inside of the Former Musashi is open only on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays

As for time, the museum lets you into the exhibition rooms until 17:00, but the townscape facilities allow entry until 16:30. The Suemitsu Family House is until 16:00, and the Former Musashi is until 16:00. The museum’s year-end and New Year closing is from December 29 to January 1, and Seiyo Jikan’s Kaimei School page says December 29 to January 3. Seiyo City’s pages do not give dates for the year-end and New Year closing of the townscape facilities.

What comes next for this article

The positions of the points, and the order of interchanges and roads, are checked with OpenStreetMap. The positions of facilities are points based on old national public facility data, and are not the positions of building entrances. The point numbers will match the chapter numbers of the driving video. This article is written only from official pages and map data, and we have not driven it yet. After driving it, we will add how to turn from the Seiyo-Uwa IC exit to the museum and the townscape, the entrance of the museum’s parking lot, the positions and number of spaces of the townscape parking lots, and the width of the townscape roads.

These are the things we could not confirm on official pages.

• The driving time from Matsuyama Airport to Unomachi and the museum
• The specific route of Prefectural Roads 22 and 190 from Matsuyama Airport to Yogominami IC, and the toll from Yogominami IC to Matsuyama IC
• The museum’s parking fee and which way the entrance faces, and whether it may be used just to visit the townscape
• The location and number of spaces of the townscape parking lots (15, 20 or about 30 on official pages)
• The width of the townscape roads, one-way streets, and restrictions on cars entering
• The specific way to turn from the Seiyo-Uwa IC exit to the museum and the townscape
• The starting point of the “8 minutes on foot” beside the museum on the Osanpo Map