Hiroshima & Miyajima: 3 days

Day-by-day

1. Day 1

   Arrive, Peace Memorial Museum, A-Bomb Dome

   Morning

   Arrive by shinkansen or at Hiroshima Airport. Check in to your hotel near Hiroshima Station or Peace Park. Drop bags and walk to the Peace Memorial Park (15 minutes from the station on foot, or two tram stops on the #2 line). The park is open all day; the museum (¥200, one of the cheapest admissions in Japan) opens at 08:30.

   Afternoon

   Spend three hours in the Peace Memorial Museum. The East Building (context and history) leads into the Main Building (personal testimonies, preserved belongings). The final corridor with the shadow burned into stone steps and the watch stopped at 8:15 am are not photographs — they are the originals. Walk the park afterward. The A-Bomb Dome (Genbaku Dōmu) is a five-minute walk north across the Motoyasu River. It is the only structure at the hypocenter left standing deliberately as a ruin.

   Evening

   Dinner in the Nagarekawa entertainment district (10 minutes east of Peace Park). This is where Hiroshima people actually eat. Try Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki — it is layered, not mixed, with soba noodles inside, and it is genuinely different from Osaka-style. Okonomimura ('okonomiyaki village') is a building with 24 stalls on multiple floors: pick any stall with a cook who looks absorbed in their work.

   TipBuy the Peace Memorial Museum audio guide (¥300). The recorded voices of survivors are irreplaceable context that the exhibit panels alone cannot provide.

2. Day 2

   Miyajima: floating torii, Itsukushima Shrine, Mt. Misen

   Morning

   Take JR Hiroshima line to Miyajimaguchi station (26 min, ¥410; JR Pass eligible), then the JR ferry to Miyajima island (10 min, ¥200; also JR Pass eligible — the only ferry in Japan that accepts it). Check the tide table the night before: Jinja.jp lists tide times for Miyajima. Arrive at the island 90 minutes before high tide for the best floating torii shot. The torii is 16 metres tall and 600 years old.

   Afternoon

   Itsukushima Shrine (¥300): the entire shrine complex is built on stilts over the tidal flats. Walk the covered corridors and look down — at low tide you can walk to the base of the torii, but it's knee-deep mud. After the shrine, take the ropeway to Mt. Misen (¥1,000 one way, ¥1,800 return); it covers the bottom two-thirds of the mountain. The summit hike from the ropeway top station is 30 minutes each way on a clear rocky path. The eternal flame at the summit has burned since Kōbō Daishi lit it in 806 AD.

   Evening

   Sunset from the island if your tide timing worked out. Dinner on Miyajima — anago (conger eel, the island specialty) at any restaurant on Omotesando shopping street. The anago-meshi bento boxes sold at the ferry terminal and at Ueno Shokudo are local icons. Return to Hiroshima by 21:00; the last ferry runs late but the JR trains from Miyajimaguchi thin out after 22:00.

   →Train hiroshima → miyajima (36 min)JR Hiroshima line to Miyajimaguchi (26 min) + JR ferry (10 min). Both JR Pass eligible.

3. Day 3

   Hiroshima Castle, Shukkeien garden, departure

   Morning

   Hiroshima Castle (¥370) is a 1958 reconstruction but the moat and grounds are original 16th-century layout. The museum inside traces the city's samurai history and provides useful counterpoint to the Peace Museum — Hiroshima was a major military command centre before 1945. Walk five minutes to Shukkeien Garden (¥260), a 17th-century strolling garden with a central pond, teahouses, and maple trees that turn red in November.

   Afternoon

   Lunch at any of the shotengai (covered arcade markets) near Hondōri. Pick up Momiji manju (maple-leaf-shaped cakes with red bean filling, the city's most famous souvenir) from Nishinoya or Yamada-ya. Head to Hiroshima Station for your shinkansen departure. The Nozomi to Shin-Osaka is 85 minutes; the Nozomi to Shin-Yokohama is 3 hours 15 minutes.

   Evening

   If departing by evening flight from Hiroshima Airport (HIJ), allow 45 minutes for the airport bus from Hiroshima Station. If you have an extra night, Nagarekawa has excellent izakaya for a farewell dinner.

   Recommended stops

   • Hiroshima Castle

FAQ

Is Hiroshima safe to visit? Is there radiation?

Completely safe. Background radiation in Hiroshima is the same as any major city. The 1945 bomb detonated at altitude (600 metres) rather than on impact, which minimised ground contamination. Scientists have been studying radiation levels continuously since 1950; there is no elevated risk.

Can I do Hiroshima and Miyajima as a day trip from Osaka or Kyoto?

Technically yes but it's genuinely bad. Hiroshima is 85 minutes each way from Osaka by Nozomi shinkansen. Doing the Peace Museum (3h minimum) and Miyajima (half day) in one day means a 05:00 departure and a 23:00 return. The Museum alone deserves an overnight stay so you can process it.

When is the best time to visit Miyajima?

Year-round, but spring (late March to April, cherry blossoms) and autumn (mid-November, maple leaves) add colour to an already striking landscape. Summer (July–August) is hot and humid but the island's forested hills stay cool. Winter mornings can be foggy in a beautiful way. The torii is always there; the tide is what changes your experience.

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