I hadn’t planned in the Sado Mines for my trip to Japan. But then the site was inscribed during while I was in Osaka region and I could not resist to reorganize my Tokyo part to squeeze it in.
I added Sado as part of my Tokyo loop by rental car, driving straight from Tokyo to Niigata.
The next morning I took the hydrofoil to Sado. It makes no sense to bring the car to the island as the ferry is slower (2.5h compared to the 1h by hydrofoil) and it’s more expensive to bring your car instead of renting one on the island for a few hours.
Car rental was very easy and uncomplicated. There are more companies in and around the port than I ever saw at any airport in Japan. I rented a small car for 9 hours for around 40 USD. The alternative would be using a bus, but I only saw 1 single bus the whole day I drove around the island, so plan this well, if you go public transport.
It takes longer than you might think to get around, as the max speed on the island is 50km/h and this is how fast other cars usually drive. I visited all 3 components, plus a scenic spot with cliffs (Senkakuwan Bay).
 
Aikawa area
This is the main location and it seems to be the island’s main attraction. There were tons of tourists, a museum and a big souvenir shop. You can get into the two mines Zoe mentioned. The first one feels like Disneyland, as they filled the mine with robots (yes, robots, not just puppets. Welcome to Japan) to demonstrate the different works in the old mines.
The second one is basically empty (apart from a room they use to mature the local Sake) but leads outside to a view spot of the mountain. A few hundred meters before the mines you can find the Toukouba Mines Remnants, just off the street. A bit further north, there is the Odachi Pit, but it’s currently und renovation. This area is where you need to go to tick the site. There are lots of other POI in the area. Mine entrances etc. It depends on your time availability and stamina, how many of these you want to visit.
 
Tsurushi Area
The area is a few km off the main road. Go for the marker https://maps.app.goo.gl/Wo21AYgN32wg2oRY8 on google maps. There is a small parking lot and an info board. The “sights” are all in the forest. There are pretty good markers that lead you from place to place and an info board for each place. But basically you are just walking around the forest, as there is not much (rather nothing) left of the buildings that used to be there. It was still a pleasant walk in the forest though. It took me around one hour to see it all and I was the only one there. Not as popular as the main site. I would skip this part if you don’t have to urge to see all components and/or don’t like spiders.
 
Nishimikawa Placer Gold Mine
This one is in the south of Sado. Go for https://maps.app.goo.gl/pMxYCBnqw3jDdj86A. The info board shows all the POI. It’s a village and some of the places are houses, that still exist. Of course there are also “there used to be” places with nothing left to see. There is a parking lot (at least I assumed it’s one) close to place no 12. I whole loop will take approximately 2hours. There were people from the village, but no other tourists. I did also not see any shops, restaurants or other infrastructure. The road from/to the placer mine is very small, so hope for no counter traffic.
 
If you have more time, spend a few days on Sado. It’s very relaxed and there are some nice hiking routes I would have liked to follow.