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Chugoku & Shikoku · Hiroshima

Hiroshima and Miyajima: the Peace Memorial in the morning, the floating torii gate in the evening

A day that holds two extremes: the morning in the Peace Park and the museum, which you do not rush, and in the afternoon a ferry to the sacred island with the deer, the red gate in the water, and Hiroshima okonomiyaki to finish.

A day in two parts. The morning is in Hiroshima's Peace Park: the Atomic Bomb Dome, the memorials and the museum, all a few minutes apart on foot. At midday you eat okonomiyaki in the city center, then ride the tram and the train to Miyajimaguchi, and from there the ferry to the island. On the island you walk in one direction: the main street, up to Daisho-in before its gate closes, and down to the shrine on the water, where you stay until the gate in the sea is lit. You come back by ferry and train. The JR Pass covers the train and the JR ferry. Without a JR Pass, the Hiroden day pass, ¥1,000 including the visitor tax, covers all the trams and the Matsudai Kisen ferry, and it pays off if you ride the tram to Miyajimaguchi, 65 minutes instead of about half an hour by train: bought separately, the day's rides this way cost ¥1,220.

This day is part of: Two weeks in Japan: Tokyo, Nikko, Hakone, the Alps, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Osaka

Verified online, October 20268 stops · 08:30 to 19:00¥4,020 · ≈ $25 per personWalking between stops: 68 min · Transport: ¥660Must on a two-week tripMuseum is hard for young childrenCheck the tide times

The day on a map

8 stops, in order

Stops
8
Walking minutes
55
Stop number on the timelineWalkingTrain, metro or busBase map: © OpenStreetMap
  1. Atomic Bomb Dome, then Walk 10 min
  2. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, then Walk 3 min
  3. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, then Walk 15 min
  4. Lunch break in Shintenchi, then Train 50 min
  5. JR train to Miyajimaguchi and JR ferry to the island, then Ferry
  6. Miyajima Omotesando Shopping Street, then Walk 15 min
  7. Daisho-in, then Walk 12 min
  8. Itsukushima Shrine
Open this day in Google Maps

The same stops with the same numbers, and the way from stop to stop. On a phone it opens in the app, and that is what you navigate with in Japan. Pin names on the map are in Hebrew.

Getting there: You start at the Atomic Bomb Dome. From Hiroshima Station, the Hiroden tram (¥240), about 20 minutes, to the Genbaku Dome-mae stop on lines 2 and 6, and from there 2 minutes on foot. From Kyoto or Osaka by shinkansen to Hiroshima, 90 to 100 minutes (from Kyoto ¥11,940 on the Nozomi with a reserved seat, ¥10,770 without). The JR Pass covers the shinkansen, and since October 2023 you can also ride the Nozomi with it by buying a supplement ticket. You can sleep in Hiroshima and do Miyajima in the morning, which is a better order for photos.

  1. Stop 1MemorialMust

    Atomic Bomb Dome

    You start at the prefecture's Industrial Promotion Hall, about 160 meters from the hypocenter of the blast on 6 August 1945. The skeleton of the dome and part of the walls remained standing, and it is preserved as it was. Free, always open, and seen from outside. Early morning is quiet. Hiroshima's peace volunteers guide free tours of the park in English, at 10:45 and 14:00, from the museum's East Building, except from July to September.

    FreeOpen in Maps

    Across to the Peace Park

    • Walk · 10 minCross the Motoyasu River on Motoyasu Bridge to the north end of the park, and walk south along the paths to the cenotaph. About 600 meters.

    On the way you can stop at:

  2. Stop 2ParkMust

    Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park: the Children's Monument and the flame

    In the park stands the statue of Sadako with the crane, surrounded by millions of paper cranes from schools all over the world. On the central axis is the cenotaph with the names of the victims, and behind it the flame, which will go out when there are no more nuclear weapons. The Peace Bell: you are allowed to ring it.

    FreeOpen in MapsAbout this place

    Into the museum

    • Walk · 3 minSouth from the cenotaph along the central axis, to the main building standing on pillars. You enter through the East Building, to its left.

  3. Stop 3MuseumMust

    Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

    The museum costs ¥200. It has objects, clothing, a watch stopped at 08:15, and testimonies. The museum publishes no age advice, and the exhibition includes photos of the injured and the dead. An audio guide in English, ¥500. In the first hour and in the hour before last entry, you can enter only with a ticket bought online in advance. After the museum you need air: a walk along the river.

    ¥200 · ≈ $1In season, reserve a time slot on the website.Open in MapsAbout this place

    Walk to lunch

    • Walk · 15 minEast over Peace Bridge across the Motoyasu River, then through the streets of the center to Shintenchi, at the east end of the covered Hondori shopping street. About 1.2 km.

  4. Stop 4LunchMust

    Lunch break in Shintenchi, near Hondori

    You eat in the city center, next to the covered shopping street. Hiroshima's dish is okonomiyaki in the local style: layered, not mixed into a batter, with noodles inside, and one portion is filling. We did not find a kosher place in Hiroshima: Chabad Kobe and Osaka send chilled kosher meals all over Japan, ordered 3 days in advance. The options:

    • Okonomimura¥1,000 to ¥1,500 per portion

      A building with more than twenty griddle stalls on floors 2 to 4. You sit at the counter, and each stall has its own hours and day off.

    • Micchan Sohonten, the Hatchobori shop

      The main shop of a local okonomiyaki chain, about 8 minutes on foot to the north. At lunch 11:30 to 14:30, from 11:00 on weekends and holidays. Closed on Tuesdays.

    • JoGeSaYuVegan, not kosher

      A restaurant where every dish is plant-based, with no animal products and no alcohol, on Hondori street, about 7 minutes on foot to the west, on the way from the museum. Lunch 11:30 to 15:00, last order 14:30. The closing days are irregular and are announced on Instagram.

    • Kosher or vegan? Every kosher and vegan place in this city

    ¥1,300 · ≈ $8Open in Maps

    Ride to Miyajimaguchi

    • Train · 50 min · ¥660Walk about 4 minutes to the Ebisu-cho tram stop, and Hiroden tram Line 1 to Hiroshima Station, 7 minutes, ¥240. From there the JR Sanyo Line, a local train toward Iwakuni, 9 stations and 27 minutes to Miyajimaguchi, ¥420. From the station it is about 4 minutes on foot to the pier.
    • or: Train · 75 min · ¥240By tram only: walk about 5 minutes to the Hatchobori stop, and from there Hiroden Line 2 to the end of the line, Hiroden-Miyajimaguchi, 65 minutes without a change. The stop is right by the pier.

  5. Stop 5FerryMust

    JR train to Miyajimaguchi and JR ferry to the island

    From Miyajimaguchi you cross to the island on the JR ferry, 10 minutes, ¥200, plus a ¥100 visitor tax on entering the island. The JR Pass covers the train and the ferry, not the tax. On sailings that leave between 09:10 and 16:10, the ferry passes close to the torii gate: stand on the right side of the deck on the way out. The Matsudai Kisen ferry also sails the same route, also ¥200 plus the ¥100 tax. Until 15:00 its ticket office sells a combined ticket, ¥2,100, with the round-trip ferry, the tax and the ropeway up Mount Misen.

    ¥720 · ≈ $5Open in Maps

    Walk to the main street

    • Walk · 5 minGet off the ferry at Miyajima pier, and walk south along the shore to the start of Omotesando, the covered street. About 400 meters.

  6. Stop 6Street foodRecommended

    Miyajima Omotesando Shopping Street: grilled oysters and momiji manju

    You start the island on the main street, because most shops on the island close towards evening. Here you eat standing up: grilled oysters, 2 for ¥750 at Kakiya, and filled maple-leaf cakes, momiji manju, baked in front of you. Anago-meshi, conger eel on rice, is the island's dish. You eat it on the island, or at Ueno, by the ferry terminal on the mainland (¥3,000). The giant rice scoop no longer hangs in the street: since 2021 it has been in the island's community center.

    ¥1,500 · ≈ $10Open in Maps

    Up to Daisho-in

    • Walk · 15 minFrom the south end of the street continue south, pass behind the shrine, and climb the road at the foot of the mountain to the Daisho-in gate. About 1 km, most of it uphill.

    On the way you can stop at:

  7. Stop 7NatureRecommended

    Daisho-in: the temple at the foot of the mountain

    A temple at the foot of Mount Misen, free, and the gate closes at 17:00. Prayer wheels line the stairs, there is a cave with statues of the 88 temples of Shikoku, and a garden with hundreds of small stone statues of the Buddha's disciples. The Misen ropeway does not fit this hour: the last ride up is at 16:00 and the last down at 16:30, ¥2,000 round trip, and on the November 2026 weekends it must be booked online in advance. If you want Misen, go up as soon as you reach the island and shorten the rest of the day. On the summit, the temple's fire hall burned down on 20 May 2026.

    FreeOpen in MapsAbout this place

    Down to the shrine

    • Walk · 12 minWalk down from Daisho-in toward the sea, and go around the shrine to its entrance, on the east side, facing the shore. About 800 meters, downhill.

  8. Stop 8ShrineMust

    Itsukushima Shrine: the shrine on stilts, and the torii gate until it is lit

    You enter the shrine, built over the water in the 12th century. ¥300. The shrine is open until 18:00 from March to 14 October, until 17:30 from 15 October to the end of November and in January and February, and until 17:00 in December, when you visit it before Daisho-in. The red gate stands about 160 meters out in the sea. According to the tourism association, when the water level is above 250 cm the shrine looks like it floats, and below 100 cm you can walk to the gate, so check the association's tide table in advance. There are deer here too, without crackers. After closing you wait for the lights: the gate is lit from half an hour after sunset, and the shore is almost empty because the day trips have left. Sit at Itsuki Cafe, next to the shrine, 20 seats, open every day 09:00 to 19:00, or on the wall facing the gate and watch the water rise or fall. From May to August sunset is late and the lighting starts only between 19:30 and 20:00, so you stay a little past the end of this stop. From here it is about 12 minutes along the shore to the pier, and you go back on the ferry, ¥200. The last JR ferry leaves at 22:14, but after 19:00 only every 30 to 45 minutes. From Miyajimaguchi you go back to Hiroshima on JR, 27 minutes, ¥420, or on tram Line 2, ¥240, about 65 minutes to Hatchobori. In Hiroshima: tsukemen ramen or more okonomiyaki, because one is not enough.

    ¥300 · ≈ $2Open in MapsAbout this place

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Multi-city · Tokyo to Hiroshima

Two weeks in Japan: Tokyo, Nikko, Hakone, the Alps, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Osaka

14 stops · ≈ $1,124 per person

Written as a draft and verified by hand against official sources. Opening hours and prices change, so check before you go.

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