Hi, What's the best time to go visiting Miyajima-Itsukushima-Jinja from Hiroshima?

From somewhere I read that morning is the best time when the sun rises from the sea and you can ride the boat sailing into the Shrine...

Is that true? If yes, we can get up early and take the train from Hiroshima to Miyajima before the sunrise. Are there early trains from Hiroshima to Miyajima ?

At high tide so the shrine looks like its floating

No trains to Miyajima Island. You have to take a ferry across the street from Miyajima-guchi station. Ferries start early but not that early

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3454.html

Aloha!

I don't know about the arriving in time to see the sunrise and I think you would probably need to stay on the island for that. Nor does the ferry go particularly close to the Shrine. However I would definitely time it so I was there during high tide.

Personally I would much prefer to stay on the island than in Hiroshima anyway.

hawaiiantraveler, you are the first to answer my question again! I wonder how much time you've spent on Fodor's each day ^_^

Well, thank you so much for the timely response and the accurate and detailed information.

How/where can I find the high tide time for April 10 th and 11th, 2009 for Miyajima?

shandy, if the ferry does not get close to that famous O-Torii Gate, is there any other boat you can rent/ride close to it?

Hi, Rimwall -

The ferry goes close enough to the ferry for you to see the shrine. And it is an easy (and pleasant) walk from the ferry station to the shrine. For the tides, check:

http://tbone.biol.sc.edu/tide/tidesh...osima%2C+Japan

Hope that helps!

Thanks, kja!

Sorry Rimwall, I didn't mean to imply that you wouldn't be able to see the shrine from the ferry. It was just that your initial question seemed to imply that you thought that you would get up quite close to it.

I did notice when we were there, people in a small boat that actually went right up to the Shrine itself. It was obviously a small organised tour but I have no idea who or where it was arranged. This was also in the evening, whether they do it during the day as well, I have no idea.

The shrine looks great at any time, but to see lit it up at night is really quite something.

shandy, yes, initially I was thinking the ferry might just sail through the O-Torii Gate or very closely pass by it. Now it seems that's not the case.

Thank you all for providing so much info on this. I know how to plan my visit to Miyajima now.

Cheers!