knycx_journeying

A Day in Sanyo…

If you are planning a trip to Hiroshima, spend a day outside the city in Iwakuni and Miyajima – and it is what I did.

After approximately an hour JR ride from Hiroshima (plus another 20-min bus ride), we arrived the famous Kintaikyo (bridge) in Iwakuni. Once I walked out the Iwakuni station, there was a sign for the bus to the bridge – easy.

I was originally expecting nothing else but a wooden bridge (A very famous bridge, though). Surprisingly it was much more GINORMOUS than I thought; the moment I got off the bus I saw the five magnificent wooden arches spanning across the running, crystal-clear Nishiki River.

It was the cherry blossom festival at that time and the view was breathtaking~ Flowers were blooming and birds were soaring over our heads. Paid 500 yen to cross the bridge, and we saw lots of exciting food stalls in the carnival; an ice-cream stall that offered over 100 different flavors! A food stall that was grilling Hiroshima Oysters! And turnip-cake-shape-like Iwakuni Sushi!

Go halfsies with a friend to buy a bento box and have a picnic on the riverside, kids were chasing in the water and the Iwakuni castle was standing at the peak of the nearby hill. The wonderfully fulfilling experience ended with a bag of clay-oven cookies to be shared with loved ones at home ~ Yeah!!

After a pleasure picnic light lunch, we took the JR back to the Miyajima station. Again, we just followed the crowd getting off the train and reached the pier. In a short time, we landed on the world-known UNESCO World Heritage Site & the Japanese National Treasure – the Itsukushima Shrine (厳島神社. We were super, super lucky that day to experience both tidal levels in one afternoon. We took a boat ride through the giant Torii gate, and spent around 1 hour inside the shrine, admiring the magnificent architecture. After that, we had a late afternoon meal at a nearby restaurant, and just in time to walk down and took some close up shots with the Torii and the gorgeous sunset. On our way back to Hiroshima, we grabbed some snacks (yummy steam buns) and souvenir from the Omotesando Shopping Street and we still have time to do shopping and dinner in Hiroshima shopping district at night. PPERFECT~~~~~~~~~


Some notes:

1. I did Kintaikyo first because I checked the tidal changes and it was on the evening that day, feel free to move your schedule around because tides change every day.

2. if you have a JR pass – the ship ride to Miyajima is included so it’s free!

Adastra2200

Both Iwakuni and Miyajima are very good cherry blossom spots, though the former especially is mostly unknown except to the locals.

localbites

There is a week JR pass for international travelers I believe.

Adastra2200

There are many passes - it all depends on where you are traveling and for how long. You'd need to cover a lot more ground to make a 7 day JR Pass pay off though.

knycx_journeying

There are many JR Passes in terms of period and coverage.
If you only cover Sanyo, you could consider the Sanyo Pass.

Mara

Thanks for the information on Iwakuni. I am hoping to stop there to see the bridge, park with its adjacent small museums and samurai house as well as taking the ropeway up to the castle. Do you think all that is possible in a couple of hours? I am planning to stay over as well.

I will be coming from Kyoto but I am stopping in Fukuyama on the way to see its castle and calligraphy museum. Because of my fixed schedule I won't have any other day to do all of that....thanks!

knycx_journeying

In terms of schedule, yes it's possible to cover these places, beware of the crowd because the area could be busy during cherry blossoming season or long holidays.
The queue for buses, food and cable cars could take more time than you think

knycx_journeying

Wow that' amazing!