Miyajima Island, Hiroshima

Miyajima Island

The famous floating shrine and deers

Table of Contents

1 About Miyajima Island
2 5 Top things to do on Miyajima Island
3 Miyajima Food
4 Access
5 Information

About Miyajima Island

If you’re staying in Hiroshima then we’d recommend spending a full day on Miyajima Island. .
Miyajima (宮島) is a small island that takes less than an hour to arrive from Hiroshima.
It is most famous for its giant torii gate, which at high tide seems to float on the water. The sight is ranked as one of Japan’s three best views.

The island is officially named as “Itsukushima”, but the name “Miyajima” is more commonly around the people.
Miyajima means in Japanese “Shrine Island”.

5 Top things to do on Miyajima Island

Itsukushima Shrine

With a history of 1,400 years, Itsukushima Shrine is a World Heritage Site, as well as one of the Nihon-sankei (3 most scenic views of Japan).
The shrine and its torii gate are unique for being built over water, so during high tide, it looks like it is floating on the sea

The Floating Torii

The highlight of the shrine, is the floating gate, which in low tide you can walk under it, on the low tide you can take a beautiful pictures, and in the night at has a magical atmosphere.

Deers

There are deer all over the island. Like in Nara Park, they are tame and friendly .
If you animal lover, you would enjoy taking picture of them.

Five-storied Pagoda

The bright red and beautiful Five-storied Pagoda located on top of a hill in Miyajima is one of 22 five-storied pagodas in Japan. It was built in 1407 and restored in 1533 and its height is 27.6m

Mt. Misen

Mt. Misen is the island’s tallest mountain. It gives you great views of the island and sits amongst the forest of trees. You can hike to the top or ride the ropeway to the observation deck. There are three different hiking paths you can take on this island:
The Momijidani Course,
the Daisho-in Course
The Omoto Course
Each of the courses takes you up Mount Misen and is about a two hour hike.

When we visit there it was pretty much bad weather so we choose the ropeway.
The ropeway costs ¥1,010 one-way or ¥1,840 return, running between 9 am and 4 pm, with some seasonal changes.

Miyajima Food

Hiroshima Style Okonomiyaki

Try the Hiroshima Style Okonomiyaki!
There are two major types of Okonomiyaki: Osaka Style Okonomiyaki and Hiroshima Style Okonomiyaki.
In Hiroshima, okonomiyaki is thin layered savory pancake with fried noodle and lots of veggies

Momiji Manju

These small treats are made from a batter, stuffed with any number of delicious fillings and cooked in a maple leaf shaped. Anko(red bean paste), is the typical filling but you can also find flavors like cheese, pumpkin, chestnut, chocolate and custard

Deer poop ice cream?!

This special frozen treat is called the Deer Poop Ice Cream.
No, it is not a real poop, you can relax. It is only a fun name for an normal ice cream that describe a poop deer , chocolate balls that really looks like it.

Access

Miyajima can be reached from Hiroshima in about a hour by train & ferry .
From Hiroshima Station, you can use JR Sanyo Line to Miyajimaguchi Station (which takes 25 – 30 minutes, and costs about ￥420 for one way).
From Miyajimaguchi station, cross the road to the ferry stop. The JR ferry takes 10 minutes to make the crossing and costs ￥180.

Information

Ferry Time:
6:00-22:00
※May be different by time to time so please check before.
You can check the ferry time schedule here

Access:
You need to use train & ferry.
From Hiroshima station you use the JR Sanyo line to Miyajimaguchi Station. From there, you can use ferry to Miyajima Island. It costs about ￥180 for one way.

Recommended time to be on Island :
We recommended to sleep in the area if you have time.
If you don`t have time, we recommend to be at least full day there.