amachen

Hello -

As part of a 7-day Japan trip, myself and 4 others are travelling to Hiroshima from Tokyo for a one-day visit to the peace park and anything else that we can see. From the train schedules that I have found, we should get there before noon. Can someone please suggest a "doable" schedule for the remainder of the day? Thanks in advance.

laurieco

I assume you will also be going to the museum, which should not be missed. You can also go to Miyajima Island, a short ferry ride, but I would recommend staying a night there at a royakan for a truly unique experience.

mrwunrfl

Figure a half hour getting to and waiting for the train in Tokyo. Then 5 hours of travelling. Then a half hour in Hiroshima finding the street car and riding it and walking to the PP. That's about 6 hours. Figure about the same coming back and it is a 12 hour trip, door-to-door. That's 12 hours.

You're right, you could get to JR Hiroshima station at the shinkansen tracks at 11:33 AM. The other limiting factor is the return trip. I'll get into that in a bit.

Off the shinkansen at JR Hiroshima station and go down the escalator and go straight, show your JR Pass, follow the crowd to the right, across a bridge over the local tracks, then down the steps, turn left, go straight to find the street car that goes to Genbaku Dome Mae. Walk from that stop over to the PP. After the museum you will see a main road just to the south (face it with your back to the PP). Take that to the left, left at the main road and you will see another streetcar line stop that will get you back to the JR station.

Oh, just go here: http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/RTG/PTG/index.html
and click on the link "Hiroshima & Miyajima (PDF:300KB)". There is a map there.

Getting the first Hikari from Tokyo, changing at Shin Osaka, you can get to Hiroshima at 11:33. In order to use the shinkansen for the trip back, you would have to catch the 18:10 train from Hiroshima to connect in Shin Osaka to Tokyo arriving at 23:20. This is travel on trains available with the JR Pass (7-day pass is 28,300 or so).

That gives you about 6 hours in Hiroshima. Not enough time to go to Miyajima.

You could buy Nozomi shinkansen tickets for 37000 roundtrip to squeeze out a few more hours getting there earlier and leaving later while also getting back to Tokyo earlier.

Another option is to fly. You could fly from Tokyo Haneda (HND) to Hiroshima (HIJ) arriving about 8:30A. If you decide to fly, then TAKE THE BUS to Hiroshima main bus terminal.

Take the bus even if you have a JR Pass. There is an option of taking a bus from the airport to a JR station nearer to the airport and then taking JR from there to Hiroshima station. I did this and waited probably 45 minutes for the bus to JR, watching several of the other buses arrive and depart. Take that bus, to the main terminal which happens to be a short walk from Genbaku Dome. It would be an excellent place to arrive, esp. if you wanted to go to Hiroshima castle.

You should be able to get roundtrip fares of 20,000 to 24,000 yen on JAL or ANA. Both have special fares for vistiors.

amachen

We'll stay the night in Hiroshima. I've found a hotel in city center with rooms running about 7500 per night. Could you please give me directions to Miyajima island from the Genbaku Dome?

mrwunrfl, my goal in life is to have as much Japan knowledge as you. Let me know if you're hiring

mrwunrfl

You have three options for getting to Miyajima.

Go back to JR Hiroshima station and get the train to Miyajimaguchi, then walk two blocks or so to the ferry terminal. Take the JR ferry, free with your JR Pass.

From Hiroshima, I think that there is a streetcar that goes to Miyajimaguchi, or maybe it just goes to another JR station closer to Miyajimaguchi where you would catch the train coming from Hiroshima station.

There is a boat from Hiroshima port to Miyajima. This is not a JR boat, so you would pay for it. From GBD, I think that you'd have to go back to Hiroshima station to catch the train to the port (destination is Ajina, I think).

Follow the link I gave you earlier and take a look at the pdf for Hiroshima. I think that it explains things.

Now that you are staying overnight, you have time to make a stop at Himeji to visit the magnificent castle there.

gard

Hi

My wife and I did a day trip to Hiroshima from Kyoto when we went there in May this year. We checked out the peace park and the museum connected to it. I have posted a trip report with pictures from the trip on my personal homepage http://gardkarlsen.com. Maybe you can find some useful info there

Regards
Gard

amachen

Thanks Gard, your website is very nice, I've sent the link to our group.

Thanks again mrwunrfl for your help.