Sample itinerary of day trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima from Osaka/Kyoto

1 to 3 days
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is one of Must-See in Hiroshima. ©Yasufumi Nishi/©JNTO
2014.11.03
One of well known places in Japan, World Heritage Site, Miyajima Itsukushima shrine. ©Hiroshima Prefecture / ©JNTO
One of well known places in Japan, World Heritage Site, Miyajima Itsukushima shrine. ©Hiroshima Prefecture / ©JNTO

Hiroshima and Miyajima are very popular and obviously these are “Big Name”s in Japan. Some of you want to visit these place but you may be hesitating to visit there because of tight schedule.

If you stay in Osaka or Kyoto, Hiroshima and Miyajima can be visited as day trip. If you can stay there for even one night, that is much better. But you may prefer to have “Baggage Free” day trip.

In this post, I show you sample itinerary to visit Hiroshima and Miyajima as day trip.

From Osaka / Kyoto to Hiroshima

Kyushu Shinkansen Sakura and Mizuho give you direct trainsfer to Shin-Osaka from Kyusyu.
N700 series Shinkansen fleet is used for Mizuho and Sakura.

If you stay in Osaka, get Shin-Osaka station to catch the Shinkansen. If you stay in Kyoto, you can catch the Shinkansen at Kyoto station.

If you use JR Pass, as probably you know, you cannot take Nozomi and Mizuho. Only Hikari, Sakura and Kodama are covered by JR Pass. But there are a few Hikari that take you to Hiroshima from Kyoto directly. Please check the Shinkansen timetable in JR Central official site:

JR Central official site – The Tokaido and the Sanyo Shinkansen timetable

As of September 2019, only these following Shinkansen trains which are covered by JR Pass go directly to Hiroshima from Kyoto.
Hikari 481
Kyoto 07:20 – Shin-Osaka 07:35 – Hiroshima 09:06
Hikari 493
Kyoto 08:00 – Shin-Osaka 08:14 – Hiroshima 09:56
Hikari 495
Kyoto 08:23 – Shin-Osaka 08:39 – Hiroshima 10:35

If you miss these trains, you have to transfer trains at Shin-Osaka in most cases.

If you do not use JR Pass, Kansai Hiroshima Area Pass is recommended.

Kansai Hiroshima Area Pass user guide. The deal for the traveler who wants travel in Kansai, Hiroshima and the surrounding area.
Kansai HIroshima Area Pass is the best choice who stays in Kansai area and visit Hiroshima and Miyajima. You may find how to use this pass in this post.
jprail.com
2014.12.24

This pass is sold at 13,000 yen. This is cheaper than round trip fare to Hiroshima from Shin-Osaka. But this pass does not cover the Shinkansen from Shin-Osaka to the east. You cannot take the Shinkansen from Kyoto. If you stay in Kyoto and intend to use this pass, you have to take other trains on the conventional lines to get Shin-Osaka from Kyoto. Special Rapid train runs every 15 minutes and connects Kyoto and Shin-Osaka in less than 30 minutes.

JR Special Rapid Service, most useful train among Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe and Himeji.
JR Special Rapid runs between Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe and Himeji. Some trips runs to Banshu Ako, Kamigori and Tsuruga. This is most convenient and very fast train. This post shows you the information with some images of Special Rapid train.
jprail.com
2011.04.24

Trip to Miyajima

You have to visit at low tide if you want to walk around Torii. ©Hiroshima Prefecture / ©JNTO
You have to visit at low tide if you want to walk around Torii. (C) Hiroshima Prefecture / ©JNTO

If you go to Miyajima first, you need to transfer to a local train at Hiroshima station. If you have 10 minutes, you can transfer. Local trains run every 10 to 15 minutes to Miyajimaguchi that is the nearest station to the ferry to Miyajima. And it takes about 30 minutes to get Miyajimaguchi. I have visited Miyajima and wrote about access there from Hiroshima before. Please find more information at the link below:

How to get to Miyajima by a train and a ferry. The JR Pass and the JR West Passes cover the trip fully.
Itsukushima Shrine in MiyajimaMiyajima is one of the World Heritage sites in Japan, and also this is called one of ...
jprail.com
2020.07.09

Most of you spend half day in Miyajima and half day in city of Hiroshima. You can visit either Miyajima or Hiroshima at first. But if you want to walk down floating Torii gate at Itsukushima shrine in Miyajima, you visit there at low tide. You can find updated tide table of Miyajima at this fishing site.

You will spend 45 minutes for each way from Hiroshima to Miyajima. I suggest you to have 4 hours, 2 hours transfer and 2 hours sightseeing, for Miyajima.

Sightseeing in Hiroshima

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is one of Must-See in Hiroshima. ©Yasufumi Nishi/©JNTO
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is one of Must-See in Hiroshima. ©Yasufumi Nishi/©JNTO

Most of sites are very accessible from Hiroshima station by street car. And also JR tourist bus “Meipuru-pu” takes you to most places in Hiroshima.

JR tourist loop bus Meipuru-pu

Hisoshima Sightseeing Loop Bus, “Meipuru-pu”

This bus is covered by JR Pass, Kansai Hiroshima Area Pass, Sanyo Sanin Area Pass, Hiroshima Yamaguchi Area Pass.

Street car is most popular transportation in city of Hiroshima. ©Hiroshima Convention & Visitors Bureau

If you want to see more places that is not covered by this loop bus, you can take Hiroshima Railway’s street car, a.k.a. “Hiro-den”. One day pass is 600 yen.

Hiroshima Electric Railway economical ticket

If you spend 4 hours for Miyajima, you still have 7 hours for Hiroshima until the last Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka. You may add some more time for Miyajima. It depends on how many places you want to see in Hiroshima.

From Hiroshima to Kyoto / Shin-Osaka

There is no direct Shinkansen trains from Hiroshima to Kyoto. If you take the last Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka, there is no Shinkansen trains to Kyoto. Even if you have JR Pass, you have to take local train to Kyoto. Please see Shinkansen timetable below:

JR Central official site – The Tokaido and the Sanyo Shinkansen timetable

As of September 2019, these Shinkansen trains will be your last departure to Shin-Osaka.

Hikari 444
Hiroshima 21:58 – Shin-Osaka 23:32

Mizuho 612 (Sanyo San’in Area Pass, Kansai Hiroshima Area Pass user only)
Hiroshima 22:12 – Shin-Osaka 23:37

If you have to take the subway to get Namba or other subway stations, it is no problem. The last subway departs from Shin-Osaka is 0:02. Usually you can transfer from Shinkansen to subway in 10 minutes.

If you have to go back to Kyoto, the last train is Special Rapid 00:30 departure to Kyoto. But if you take this train, you can get Kyoto but you cannot get any other places in Kyoto by the public transportation. If you do not stay around Kyoto station, take earlier Shinkansen train.

Sample itinerary

My suggested itinerary is as follows:

From Shin-Osaka

08:04 Shin-Osaka
Sakura 547
09:34 Hiroshima

10:00 Hiroshima
Local train
10:27 Miyajimaguchi

10:40 Miyajimaguchi
Ferry
10:50 Miyajima

From Kyoto

08:00 Kyoto
Hikari 493
09:56 Hiroshima

10:15 Hiroshima
Local train
10:41 Miyajimaguchi

10:50 Miyajimaguchi
Ferry
11:00 Miyajima

Sightseeing and easy lunch at Miyajima.
Same itinerary for Osaka and Kyoto departure after visiting Miyajima.

13:30 Miyajima
Ferry
13:40 Miyajimaguchi
13:58 Miyajimaguchi
Local train
14:25 Hiroshima

Sightseeing and dinner at Hiroshima. Enjoy Hiroshima Okonomiyaki (savory pancake Hiroshima style) for your dinner!

Hiroshima has one of the best Okonomiyaki in Japan! ©Hiroshima Convention & Visitors Bureau

20:52 Hiroshima
Sakura 570
22:21 Shin-Osaka

If you take Sakura 570, you can get back to any places in Osaka and Kyoto by public transportation.

At last, I recommend you to take Sakura (or Mizuho) than Hikari (or Nozomi) if you take a seat in the reserved car. Because the reserved seat accommodation is much better. Sakura and Mizuho has 2+2 layout. Hikari and Nozomi have 2+3 layout. Sakura and Mizuho’s reserved seat is much wider. You find many photo of seat and interior at the link below:

The Tokaido, the Sanyo and the Kyushu Shinkansen (Bullet Train) train ride guide. Most popular train between Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Hakata and Kagoshima.
This Shinkansen ride guide gives you all information about the Shinkansen between Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Hakata, Kumamoto and Kagoshima in this post.
jprail.com
2014.05.27

If you have extra day in Osaka or Kyoto, you may consider to add Hiroshima and Miyajima day trip.

Comments

  1. Michael says:
    August 17, 2017 at 9:30 pm

    Hello Takeshi san,

    I understand that there are 3 direct shinkansen from Kyoto to Hiroshima, but no direct to return to Kyoto.

    Are there any direct that pass Kyoto and Osaka, for example, we are going to Hiroshima from Kyoto, so it is fine as we will have a direct shinkansen, but when we leave Hiroshima 3 days later, our next destination will be Nagoya – do we have to stop in Osaka and catch another shinkansen to Nagoya, or can we find direct from Hiroshima to Nagoya?

    Cheers.

  2. rakefet saar says:
    August 13, 2017 at 6:28 am

    12.9.17 landing in narita travel to shin-okubo (the hotel is there)
    12.9.17 short trips in Tokyo
    13.9.17 travel from shin-okubo to Disneyland round trip
    14.9.17 travel from shin-okubo to Disneyland round trip
    15-27.9.17 short trips in Tokyo
    28.9.17 traveling from shin-okubo to Nikko round trip
    29.9.17 traveling to Kyoto from shin-okubo
    29-3.10.17 short trips in Kyoto
    3.10.17 traveling from kyoko to Osaka
    4.10.17 traveling from osaka to Hiroshima round trip
    traveling in hirosima to: mazda plant & museum(starts in 10:00 ends in11:30), hirosima peace memorial, miyajima,

    what is the best ticket to buy?

  3. Reza Taheri says:
    August 8, 2017 at 11:00 pm

    Takeshi-san,
    Thanks for all the info. My wife and I will be visiting Hiroshima and Miyajima at the end of September. What I am trying to decide is whether it makes more sense to stay in Miyajima for two nights and commute back and forth to Hiroshima for sightseeing, or switch to a Hiroshima hotel for the second night, and accept the hassle of packing/unpacking, checking out/checking in?? Our tentative itinerary is:
    26/9: arrive in Hiroshima on the train from Osaka. Take the train+ferry to Miyajima. Spend the rest of the day and night in Miyajima
    27/9: spend the day in Hiroshima. Spend the night in ???
    28/9: head to Kaga/Kanaswa
    (I am going to have to make the same decision about Kaga and Kanasawa: stay in Kaga and take the train to Kanazawa for sightseeing and restaurants, or switch to a Kanazawa hotel)

    Thank you!
    Reza

    • Takeshi / JPRail.com says:
      August 9, 2017 at 5:52 am

      Hi Reza san,

      It takes 50 to 60 minutes from Miyajima to Hiroshima by ferry and train, and including transfer time at Miyajimaguchi. If you stay in Miyajima, you will spend this time to get Hiroshima. If you stay in Hiroshima on 2nd night, you can save one hour. And also Hiroshima has many more hotels and cheaper choice than Miyajima. So you can decide which one is better choice for you.

      Regarding Kaga-Onsen and Kanazawa, it’s similar situation. But it take only 30 minutes by train. It’s closer than Miyajima-Hiroshima.

      Cheers,

      Takeshi / JPRail.com

  4. Dulce says:
    August 4, 2017 at 11:12 pm

    Hi Takeshi!
    We will be traveling to Osaka on December 28-January 1. We have been to Kyoto and Kobe already. I have some inquiries.
    1) What are the other places we can explore for a day trip from Osaka? I was thinking of Hiroshima.
    2) Are the places in Hiroshima open from December 29-31?
    3) We are staying at Swissotel – what is the best train to go to Hiroshima with less transfer? I have 3 children with me ages from 5-10yrs old.

  5. Fab says:
    July 22, 2017 at 6:44 pm

    Hi Takeshi-San,

    We are a bit confused. We have JR Passes and I read on the internet (http://www.japanrailpass.net/en/purchase.html#step_03) we need to pay an additional charge for taking ”Home liner” or other ”Liner”, I guess it means a direct Shinkansen? For example, you mentionned in this article that JR Pass holders can take the Hikari 491, 493 or 495 Kyoto-Shin Osaka (direct Shinkansen) and no additional charge seemed needed.

    If we decide to take Shinkansen Hikari 463 running from Tokyo to Kyoto, do we have to pay an additional charge ? Moreover, it seems that Nozomi or Mizuho could be taken with an additional charge ?? (“Nozomi” and “Mizuho” trains and the trains marked with ★ in this table require the payment of an additional charge. From : http://www.japanrailpass.net/en/purchase.html#step_03)

    Thanks for the time you are taking for helping us,
    Fab

    • Takeshi / JPRail.com says:
      July 22, 2017 at 8:54 pm

      Hi Fab san,

      Just forget about Home liner and Liner. These are not Shinkansen. It means express trains for commuters. You cannot even find these trains.
      Hikari is covered by JR pass fully without any extra charge.

      Nozomi and Mizuho are not covered by JR pass at all. If you take these trains, JR pass does not cover anything. Even base fare is not covered. Just take other than Nozomi and Mizuho.

      Cheers,

      Takeshi / JPRail.com

  6. karen says:
    July 17, 2017 at 6:59 am

    Hi

    I am wondering if it is worth getting a JR Pass to go Tokyo, Kawaguchiko (on Sat/Sun Holiday Rapid) to climb Fuji, Kyoto, Osaka – Hiroshima – Osaka – airport.

    thanks
    Karen

    • Takeshi / JPRail.com says:
      July 17, 2017 at 12:47 pm

      Hi Karen,

      You can get the worth of 7 days JR pass by your trip plan. 14 days is too expensive.
      You don’t need to cover whole part of your trip by 7 days pass. As long as it covers from leaving Tokyo to arriving Osaka, 7 days pass works.

      Cheers,

      Takeshi / JPRail.com

  7. Vii says:
    July 11, 2017 at 9:11 am

    Hi. I wonder if Seishun 18 valid for 5 days in a row or 5 times used only (by 1 person)?
    I plan to hop around to Kansai area, for example get off in Osaka, walk around, and continue using the ticket to Ise on the same day, will that be counted as ‘2days’ use?

  8. Diana says:
    July 5, 2017 at 1:57 am

    Hi,

    I was wondering if it was possible to travel from Kinosaki to Miyajima, stay in Miyajima one night, then head back to Hiroshima the next day and head to Osaka after that. I’m hoping to see the Torii in that afternoon and check out Mt. Misen the next morning, then head to the peace park in Hiroshima afterwards. Maybe get some okonomiyaki for early dinner. Then head to Osaka for the evening.

    Thanks in advance!

  9. James Hadfield says:
    June 15, 2017 at 1:52 pm

    My family and I will be travelling through Japan this Summer. We will be in Kyoto and are going to go to Hiroshima and Miyajima before heading back to Osaka for three days. Would we be better using a JR Pass or would a simple return ticket from Kyoto to Hiroshima, then a single to Osaka be better value?
    Arigato.

  10. Ca says:
    June 14, 2017 at 7:28 am

    I appreciate your advice on how to get around Japan, especially transportation and how much time to allot for this while sightseeing.

    It will be my first time to visit Japan and plan to see a little bit of the Kansai-Hiroshima region. I have 4 nights and 4 days in Autumn.

    I did not realize that it will be National Thanksgiving Holiday weekend so how will that affect transportation? It will also be cooler so how might that increase “baggage” in terms of extra clothing and need for storage while sightseeing? Is rain expected in this region at this time of the year?

    Arriving very late at KIX, I decided to stay within the KIX area first and start early the next day.

    Day 2 Nov 23 Friday
    Travel to Kyoto, half day sightseeing if this is practical on a holiday.
    Travel to Himeji, Stay overnight in Himeji
    The Himeji Castle and Mt. Shosha/Engyo-ji Temples are target sightseeing areas.

    Day 3
    Travel to Hiroshima/Miyajima. Stay overnight in Miyajima. The Hiroshima Peace Museum and Memorial Park Area, Mt. Misen et are target sightseeing areas.

    Day 4
    Travel to Ohara or Kyoto. Stay overnight in Ohara or Kyoto. Do sightseeing in Ohara or Kyoto. This depends on how realistic it will be with respect to transportation.
    *Open to what is realistic.

    Day 5 Travel to Kibune/Kurama. Head to KIX for 10:45 pm flight.
    Target sightseeing areas are Kibune Shrine/Kurama Temple/Onsen, and Kyoto Station and Kyoto Museums (railway, manga).

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