travelfarandforwardLast Summer I was able to visit the city of Hiroshima on my journey through Japan! I was primarily going to view the 3 sights of Japan (the third sight being the Torii Gate on Miyajima island) but also had a wonderful time exploring the ins and outs of Hiroshima. I timed it perfectly as I had always wanted to visit a summer festival in Japan (more on summer festivals in Japan here). Below here is the itinerary I used for my 3 days 2 nights in Hiroshima! I think this is just enough for a quick trip to see the highlights of the city.
3-Day Detailed itinerary for visiting Hiroshima City
Day 1: Explore Hiroshima City
I arrived via the Shinkansen from Osaka in the morning, the trip from Shin-Osaka station to Hiroshima is only 1.5hr-2.5hrs depending on the train you take, so its easy to arrive early in the morning! I booked my tickets by just showing up at the train station that day and buying an unreserved seat! It was super easy and I had no problem finding a spot to sit, its also a short trip so I wouldn’t worry about reserving a spot for this unless you have a lot of luggage! This trip can also be done as a day trip from Osaka – see here for more details on what I suggest for that! I’d suggest an early start from Osaka so you can a lot of Hiroshima during the first day, but of course its up to you and your schedule.
9:00 AM –Arrive to Hiroshima Station & head to your hotel to drop off luggage.
I stayed in the Ekimae district of Hiroshima and found it was a great base for exploring the city. The hotel I chose was the Koko Hotel Hiroshima Ekimae – small rooms as per usual in Japan, but it was clean and the location was perfect. It was actually walking distance from the train station (about 10 minutes) and by a lot of bus routes. I think many of the hotels in the Ekimae area are good options for a short trip to the city of Hiroshima.
9:30AM – Walk/Transit to the Peace Memorial Park.
From the Ekimae district I was able to walk to the peace park, it was about 25 minutes. Theres a lot of other bus routes/cable cars or taxis that are available to get to this location, but the public transit options actually take about the same amount of time as walking and if its a nice day the walk is quite cool through the city.
10:00AM – Visit the Peace Memorial Park and Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
Inside Peace Memorial Park is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, focused around the reason why Hiroshima is internationally famous, the atomic bomb that was dropped on the city in August of 1945. The ticket for entry is 200 Yen, I paid in cash but believe they take card as well. I’d suggest planning on spending 1-2 hours in the museum. It’s heavy content and contains a lot of very graphic imagery especially for the first half of the museum.
11:30 AM- After you complete your time at the museum – Walk through the peace Memorial Park to the river and see the A-Bomb Dome located across the river at the end of the park.
12:00 PM – Lunch in Hiroshima
Have Okonomiyaki (savory pancakes) in the Hiroshima style at Nagataya, which is near the peace park (and has a separate vegan/vegetarian menu!) Just be aware it is closed Tuesdays. Theres also a number of restaurants on that same block that are highly rated and would be a great lunch option, including an Italian place right on the river that looked quite nice.
2:00 PM – Hiroshima Castle
After Lunch – Take a short walk (About 15 minutes) to the Hiroshima Castle, passing the large playground/park on your left. Its a nice walk on a good day. Once at the castle you can pay the entrance fee and see the reconstructed castle from the 1590s and stroll the grounds. The fee to enter is 370 Yen. Its open daily and you can spend as little or as much time as you want exploring inside.
4:00 PM – Shukkeien Gardens
Walk another 15-20 minutes from Hiroshima Castle to explore this traditional Japanese landscape garden dating back to the 16th century. Its really beautiful and the garden served as a refuge for people injured in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, even though it was also damaged at the time. Its now been restored and serves as a memorial for the attack as well. Spend as much time as you want exploring the garden and taking photos.
Around this time, you can head back to your hotel to properly check in and prepare for dinner. The Shukkeien gardens are only a 10 minute walk from the main Hiroshima Station.
7:00 PM – Dinner in the city
Theres a ton of great options in the city, also if you time it well you can go to a summer festival (which is what I attended during my time in Hiroshima – for more information on Japanese Summer Festivals see here.
Day 2: Miyajima Island
The timing on this day really depends on the tide tables for the season! Please look up the high tide and low tide timing for the best time to begin your day/trip to Miyajima! Ideally you would want to arrive to the island at low tide, and stay until the tide rises and the torii gate becomes covered in water. When I was there (May/June timing) the tide was lowest around 9:30am – meaning I left Hiroshima to get to Miyajima about 7:30am!
7:30am – 9:00am – Take the train, and then the ferry to Miyajima!
Theres 2 ways you can get to the ferry from Hiroshima.
- The JR Sanyo line, leaving from the main station, costs 420 Yen (free with JR pass) and takes 25 minutes.
- The Tram (this is the route I took) costs 270 Yen (not covered by JR pass) and takes a bit longer – around 40 minutes 1 way.
Once at the ferry you will need to walk to the water from the train station (about 10-15 minutes) it requires you to go up some stairs as well so consider that if you have large luggages, might be better to store those at the Hiroshima station.
The ferry costs 100 Yen one way – which you can pay with your IC card (suica etc) plus a 100 Yen visitor fee. If you pay via IC card/normal ticket the visitor fee will be included in your payment. If you try using a JR pass you will need to separately go to the counter and pay the 100 Yen visitor fee in advance. Also beware there are 2 ferry companies and only one of them is JR pass eligible. But they both go the same spot and cost the same amount so if paying with an IC card/ticket you don’t have to worry about which one you get on.
10:00 AM – Itsukushima Shrine & Torii Gate
The first place you should go is the Shrine/Torii gate, especially if you are at low tide and early in the day. It gets much more crowded in the afternoon and the tide will start to come in as well and you wont be able to walk all the way to the Torii Gate after that. You will need to pay for entrance to the Shrine (I believe its a few hundred Yen) and they also have places where you can purchase omomori or get your fortune told. Theres a great outlook where you can wait in line and take your photo overlooking the Torii gate from this shrine, and you can also go out onto the banks from this area and go directly down to the gate itself at low tide. I spent a lot of time here taking photos and watching the tide come in.
11:30 AM – Lunch
If you are interested, the Daishoin Temple has a Tea House that serves vegan curry and drinks and I think thats a great place to stop for lunch, if you aren’t interested in the vegan curry, its best to eat somewhere along Miyajima’s main shopping street and then make your way to the temple.
2:00 PM – Daishoin Temple
Walk up to the Daishoin temple (only around 5 minutes walk from the Torii Gate area) Its through a neighborhood and a bit up hill. Explore around the temple & have a snack at the cafe.
3:30pm Afterwards you can choose to continue to the top of Mount Misen via the hiking trail (medium to hard level steep hike) or walk over to the Ropeway to take the gondola up the mountain. Its a nice view from the top.
5:00pm – Leave some time after to walk down the main shopping street, try some Momiji Manju, a buckwheat and rice cake treat filled with whatever flavor you want and fried up fresh from many vendors along the way. They are a specialty of the island.
After shopping around, grabbing some things to eat and saying goodbye to the many many deer who inhabit the island. You can take the ferry/train back at your leisure to Hiroshima. I’d also suggest passing by the Torii gate one last time before you leave to see how the water has risen.
Day 3: Hiroshima & Departure
10:00 AM – Hiroshima Art Museum
Spend the morning at the Hiroshima Art Museum, half the collection is European/Western artists – and the remaining half is Japanese artists, including those with close connection to Hiroshima and the atomic bombing.
11:30 AM – Hondori Shopping Arcade
Spend the afternoon grabbing lunch and exploring the covered main shopping area of Hiroshima, with tons of shops where you can buy souvenirs or other items. I enjoyed just walking down in the hustle and bustle of it all even when not planning to purchase anything.
1:00 PM – Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki
If you liked it before or picked another restaurant the first day – try out the Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki to finish off your stay in Hiroshima. You can also book a Okonomiyaki group cooking class like this one if you would like to learn how to make it yourself!
3-5PM – Head back to the JR station or the airport to continue your journey in Japan!