This article was first published in August 2015 and revised in July 2023.
Miyajima, a World Heritage Site. I go there once a year because my home is relatively close.
It is always beautiful and attracts many tourists from Japan and abroad.
The other day, my brother who lives in the Kanto area returned home for the Obon holiday. He wanted to visit Miyajima for the first time in a while, so I went with him.
Since it had been 30 years since my brother had been to Miyajima, we enjoyed a typical Miyajima sightseeing tour together.
Of course, there are many ways to visit Miyajima. I am writing this article in the hope that by describing the course my brother and I followed at that time, you will understand one of the basic patterns of sightseeing in Miyajima.
The entire course takes about 6.5 hours. Please enjoy it with us. (*^^*)
Sunday morning. I met my brother at Miyajima-guchi (on the other side of the mainland) at 10:30.
After buying a ticket and waiting for a while, we boarded the 10:50 a.m. departure of Matsudai Kisen.
There are two companies that offer boats from Miyajima-guchi to Miyajima : JR Nishinippon Miyajima Ferry andMiyajima Matsushiro Kisen. The fare is the same regardless of which company you take.
However, JR takes a route closer to the Otorii Gate on the way there, so first-time visitors may enjoy this route more. On the other hand, Matsudai Kisen may be a little less crowded because of this.
(The fare for both JR and Matsudai Kisen is 180 yen for adults (one-way) and 90 yen for elementary school students (round-trip); 360 yen for adults and 180 yen for elementary school students.
The details of access by boat are described in this article.
⇒Fare and time of ferry and high speed boat to Miyajima, a thorough comparison of 3 routes!
11:00 Arrival at Miyajima Pier
When you arrive at the pier, you will find a pamphlet and a map of the island.
It was Sunday when we went, and there were already many tourists walking around at this time. It was close to high tide, and the Otorii gate was floating on the sea, looking very beautiful.
There were many deer, so I walked toward Itsukushima Shrine, looking at them from the side. Deer eat anything. If you are not careful, they will even eat your money. I had my map given to me at the pier eaten (sweat).
Feeding the deer is prohibited.
11:30 Passing through the Otorii Gate by boat
It takes about 10 minutes from the pier on foot. There is a place to board a oar boat (rokaibune ). This is a rowboat that goes up to the Otorii Gate and passes under it.
The operation depends on the weather, but since the weather was fine and the boat was open that day, I decided to take it for a ride.
It was my first experience to go under the Otorii gate by boat even though I live in the area, and it was fun. I would highly recommend it if it were open!
Fee: Adults 1,000 yen, 4 years old to elementary school students 500 yen
Time required: about 20 minutes
The details of the oar boat are described in this article.
⇒Passing through the Otorii (Grand Gate) of Miyajima by boat! This is a special way to enjoy Miyajima at high tide!
11:50 Oar boat ends and we go to Itsukushima Shrine.
12:00 Itsukushima Shrine
After enjoying the oar boat, we will head for Itsukushima Shrine. On the way, we will pass by the Otorii (Grand Gate). The sight of the large, brightly painted vermilion torii gate floating on the sea is spectacular.
After a 4-5 minute walk, you will arrive at the shrine. At the entrance, there is a place to pay the entrance fee of 300 yen, and enter the shrine through the entrance.
The tide was high that day, and the vermilion-lacquered corridor and shrine pavilions looked very beautiful. We visited the shrine on the way to the entrance, received a red seal, and walked slowly to the exit while looking at the Noh stage.
It takes about 20 minutes here.
(Entrance fee: 300 yen, red seal: 300 yen, red seal book: 1,000 yen)
I wrote about visiting Itsukushima Shrine in this article. There is also a video. (*^o^*)
⇒ Check out all the information about Itsukushima Shrine, including visiting hours and fees! Simulated experience of the corridor in the video.
12:20-13:00 Stroll through the shopping street
We returned to the shopping street through the road behind the shrine. We strolled around the shopping street here for a while. We enjoyed fried momiji (180 yen per piece) and grilled oysters (400-450 yen for 2 pieces).
The deep-fried momiji is like a tempura of momiji manju. It is crispy and delicious. Grilled oysters are a bit expensive, but delicious. We wandered around looking at the stores.
As described later, you can also eat freshly made warm regular momiji manju at the store. We recommend that you try those as well!
*Prices for fried momiji and grilled oysters. are likely to have changed as of 2023.
13:00-13:40 Lunch
We were hungry and decided to eat. There are about 15 cafeterias and restaurants in the shopping area.
However, I thought all of them were expensive because they were in a tourist area. Also, if you don’t go there in advance, it will be very crowded. I had anago (conger eel) udon.
We decided to take the ropeway to Misen (Mt. Misen), so we headed there.
On the way to the boarding area, I visited the five-story pagoda and Toyokuni Shrine (Sentamikaku).
The ropeway stop is at “Momijidani Station. It takes about 15 minutes to walk from Itsukushima Shrine, but we recommend using the shuttle bus that runs from the back of the shrine and in front of Ryokan Iwaso.
The bus will take you to the ropeway Momijidani Station in 4 or 5 minutes (about 30 passengers, free of charge).
14:30 Ropeway from Momijidani Station
From Momijidani Station to Kayatani Station, a small ropeway for 6 people will take you to Shishi-iwa Station, the last stop on the ropeway. On the way, you can look down on the islands of the Seto Inland Sea.
15:00 Arrival at Shishiiwa Station
After getting off the ropeway, we walk up to the top of Mt. It is not a very hard climb, but the summer sun was hot and I was exhausted (laugh). (Laughs.) There are various huge rocks and oddly shaped rocks along the way, so you can enjoy the climb.
After walking for about 20 minutes, you will come to the “Unquenchable Fire Hall. It is said to be very popular among lovers as a place where they can be happy (#^. ^#).
We got a red seal here, too, and headed for the summit in another 10 minutes.
15:40 Arrival at the top of Mt.
At the top, there is an observatory which was reopened in July 2014.
We could see 360 degrees around the mountain, and it was really beautiful on a clear day. Sometimes you can even see the mountains of Shikoku. We took a rest here for a while, enjoying the view, going to the restroom, and so on.
16:20 Leave the observatory and descend
If you have time (and energy), it is fun to walk down through the forest. This time, we took the ropeway and a free bus to get off, just as we did when we came here.
16:50 Wandering the shopping street again
I walked around the shopping street again. I had a freshly baked hot momiji manjuu at Yamadaya. The freshly baked momiji manju is really excellent!
(In addition to Yamadaya, there are also Sakamoto Kashiho, Fujiiya, and many other places that serve freshly baked sweets.)
We then looked at several stores to buy souvenirs. It is important to note that many of the shopping streets on Miyajima close early.
Most of them close at 5:00 p.m. or 5:30 p.m., and many of them were already preparing to close, even on Sundays.
If you want to take your time to browse for souvenirs, it would be better to be in the shopping district by 4:30 or so.
On the way back, the tide was just low enough that we could go down to the beach and walk to Otorii. Many people were walking to Otorii.
It certainly looks more beautiful floating on the sea, but I think walking right under Otorii is also a good memory.
For more details, please refer to this article.
⇒ Walking to the Otorii of Itsukushima Shrine! How to enjoy Miyajima at low tide!
17:30 Return from Miyajima Pier
We took the same Matsushiro Steamship as before.
This course took about 6.5 to 7 hours.
We took our time to wander around the shopping street, have a meal, and go to the top of Yayama, so I think we could have made it in 6 hours if we packed a little more time.
Summary
The places we visited and things we enjoyed this time are as follows.
- Otorii (including oar boats)
- Itsukushima Shrine
- Five-story pagoda, Toyokuni Shrine
- Miyajima Ropeway
- Mt. Yayama (strange rocks, unquenchable sacred fire hall, summit observatory)
- Shopping street (freshly baked momiji manju, fried momiji, baked oysters, souvenirs)
Of course, there are many ways to visit Miyajima, but I think this is a fairly “standard” course (*^^*).
If you are short on time, you may be able to keep the tour to about 3 hours by not climbing Yayama (Mt. Yayoi) and not visiting Toyokuni Shrine.
Additional information
We did not go there this time,
- If it is the season of autumn leaves, it is really nice to add a walk in Momijidani Park.
- If you like hiking in the mountains, it is fun to walk down Mt.
- If you like history, you can visit the Treasure House in front of the exit of the corridor and see many important cultural properties.
- If you have small children, the Miyajima Aquarium (Miyajima Marine) is fun, although it is a bit of a walk. If you visit this aquarium, it would be better to spend an hour and a half separately.
- On the mainland side, at the Miyajima Exit, the “Ueno” restaurant is very famous for its delicious anago-meshi (conger eel rice) and anago bento (conger eel lunch box). However, it is very popular, so the waiting time is long and the bento boxes sell out fairly quickly.
I hope you will use my route as a reference and enjoy the World Heritage Site of Aki no Miyajima!
MacckeyEnjoy your trip!
Here is a list of Hiroshima-related articles on our blog. You can jump to each article from here, including sightseeing spots in Hiroshima, if you like.
Comments