Miyajima is the name given by the Japanese to an Island just off the coast of central Japan, minutes away from the large city of Hiroshima. It is most famous for the Itsukushima Shrine, home to the famous floating torii gate that is famous enough to be replicated at Epcot as a symbol of Japan. Considered sacred, the island is protected from any destruction of nature and therefore is known for it’s beautiful fall colors and cherry blossoms in the spring. This time around I was lucky enough to visit at the end of March for cherry blossoms and it was one of the best days of my trip.

How to get to Miyajima

Getting to Miyajima may sound complicated but it is actually very straight forward. Follow these 3 steps and you will be there! And the best part? The entire journey is covered by the JR Rail Pass.

1. Take the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Hiroshima Station.
2. Transfer to the JR San-yo Line and take the next train towards Miyajimaguchi Station. The ride should take about 30 minutes on this local train (no reservations).
3. Walk outside from Miyajimaguchi Station to the Miyajima Ferry Dock. There is an underground passage to get around the road and then it’s only a 2 minute walk to the dock. There is a chance to buy snacks and drinks at convenience stores along the street.

There are 2 ferries that operate here – one is operated by JR and one is private. If you have your JR Pass you just get in line for the next ferry and flash your pass at the worker boarding the ferry. If you don’t have a JR pass, there are ticket windows to purchase tickets for either ferry company to Miyajima. They run as often as every 15 minutes, so you won’t have to wait long to get on a ferry! And it’s only about a 10 minute ride across the water to the island.

Due to the journey to get to Miyajima, and the fact that trains from Miyajimaguchi don’t run that late, I highly suggest spending one night on the island. In the fall it’s possible to see sunset and still depart Miyajimaguchi thanks to early sunsets, but in the spring you want to stay and explore longer. Plus, by staying all day and overnight, you get to see Miyajima and the Itsukushima Shrine during multiple tide cycles when the experience is very different! Lastly, this allowed me to drop my luggage at the hotel once I got to the island and explore freely.

Miyajima Town and Omotesando Shopping Street

Once you get off the ferry, there is a large plaza with shops, cafes, and most of the budget hotel options. To the right is the main road leading into your first stop, the small town in Miyajima. The road initially leads you along the water, and you may see deer freely roaming along the sidewalk and shops. Don’t worry, they are super friendly! As you make your way into the center of town, it gets quite a bit larger and there are multiple streets you can explore. One street over from the water is the main shopping street named Omotesando. It is mostly covered and full of cafes and souvenir shops. It’s always packed and you can’t miss it.

I went straight for one of the snacks Miyajima is known for – Momiji Manju. These are small leaf shaped pastries filled with various kinds of custard. I went for cheese and custard to give me two different types of flavor, kind like sweet and savory! They can be found at various vendors along the shopping street and you won’t miss the smell of them being baked. Needing something to wash it down, there are lot of interesting drink shops and I found one that was basically a berries and cream milkshake and it was delicious.

One more street over from Omotesando is a quieter alley that quickly goes from touristy to local. This actually used to be the main street of town, and leads up to the 5-story pagoda on the hill above. The walk towards the pagoda is very photoesque so be sure to also walk around this alley. As you reach the end of the shopping street, you will have a decision to make – go left up to the pagoda or go right along the water towards the shrine.

PRO TIP – if you need an ATM, the only one that works for international cards is in the post office on Omotesando Shopping Street. You’ll find it at one of the busy corners. A lot of the street vendors in Miyajima only accept cash.

Five-Story Pagoda Cherry Blossoms

My hotel gave me a map of the best spots for cherry blossoms in Miyajima, and one of them was the hilltop area around the five-story pagoda so I headed there first. While you can reach it from the shrine side, it’s a lot easier to access by walking up the street tunnel or stairs at the base of the pagoda from the alley behind Omotesando street. Once up there, there are various pockets of beautiful cherry blossoms to photograph with the pagoda in the background. It’s stunning! Even in the fall you may find some gold leaves and it’s worth the short climb for the views all around Miyajima on either side. Make sure you don’t miss the stone steps behind the pagoda that have a nice “tree tunnel” above them. Once done exploring around the pagoda, I continued down the hill towards the Itsukushima Shrine.

Miyajima Ropeway

I started exploring around 10am, and it was now 11am, and I wanted to experience Itsukushima Shrine at high tide at 2pm. Therefore I walked behind the shrine and towards the mountain to spend a few hours enjoying the Miyajima Ropeway. The walk is about a kilometer and goes up through a beautiful park called Momijidani. There are also shuttles but they get lines and aren’t frequent – almost anyone can do the walk. Once I got to the station, there was a lengthy queue with a sign stating a 45 minute wait, which was very accurate.

Since I had time to kill I waited anyways and in exactly 45 minutes I made it to the cable car where you buy tickets on the spot right before you board. A round trip journey is 2000 yen. There are two sections to the cable car – the first is a traditional continuous sky bucket cable car that holds a small group and a car comes around every couple of seconds. The second cable car is an aerial tram, with 2 larger cars on each end that counter balance each other. However since the only way to get on it is the first cable car, there isn’t much of a line to board the second cable car. During busy times they run consistently and during slower times there may be a 10 minute wait.

The day I visited, I narrowly missed a terrifying 20 minute ordeal in the aerial tram cars right after me. The next ride paused halfway across the cable, and stayed suspended there over the steep drop off with no movement for what seemed like an eternity. In face I was able to explore the entire lookout area at the top of the cable car before they even got it to move again! I enjoyed the views, but couldn’t help but wonder what was going on with announcements made only in Japanese. If you don’t want to hike, it’s a small area to explore but the views are nice – with islands in one direction and the Hiroshima metropolis in the other. Therefore I was quickly ready to head down, and the queue was growing due to the delay. I jumped in the queue and it was another 45 minutes before anyone got to board heading down – they shut down 1 side of the aerial tram! So they let everyone at the middle station to come up, and then started letting everyone down. They didn’t let anyone else up the rest of the day after the breakdown! Thanks to this event, my quick 15 minute experience at the lookout turned into a 2 hour cable car adventure.

Note – if you want to hike further, or enjoy a smaller queue, I recommend getting to the island even earlier! Or if you stay on the island the night before, you can be the first one in line. There is a nice hike from the top of the cable car to the highest peak of Miyajima, with views down to the shrine and other side of the island. It takes about 30-45 minutes one way with an elevation gain of about 50 feet. Next time visit Miyajima I really want to do this hike, but with the breakdown I had no time to even consider it.

Itsukushima Shrine

Once back at the bottom, it was already time for high-tide so I walked from the ropeway station back towards the Itsukushima Shrine. There are more street vendors behind the shrine, so I grabbed an early afternoon snack consisting of grilled pork on a stick and refreshing purple potato ice cream. I made my way around to the front – the entrance to the shrine is on the side of the five-story pagoda where we originally walked from. The lengthy queue moved fast and it was only a couple hundred yen (cash only) to enter the shrine.

The shrine is fun to visit at high tide because it is almost entirely over water – if the tide is high enough. On the day I visited it wasn’t a super high tide, so water only just made it to the edge of the platform. Either way, it’s a beautiful place to walk around and enjoy the architecture, lanterns, and views to either side. However the main goal is to get the straight-on view of the giant floating torii gate over water. When high tide is in, this is the ultimate vantage point. There was a long queue to get the best photo, but thanks to the tide I was able to just stand over a few feet and get a similar photo on the sand without waiting in line. When the tide is low, you can actually walk all the way out to the torii. No matter when you visit, this is going to be a fun experience.

More Cherry Blossoms Viewing

The second large area for cherry blossom viewing on Miyajima is on the hill south of the shrine, right near the exit opposite from the side of the entrance. There is another, smaller pagoda on this hill called Jinja Tahoto. There is a narrow stone stairway at the base that will take you to the top, quickly engulfing you in a tunnel of cherry trees! Keep following the path to the right to the Torin Park, which is a large collection of cherry trees. The atmosphere here was purely magic – with thick coverage of sakura, falling pedals, kids and families playing in the park, and even a peak of the shrine through a gap in the trees. Grab a drink and sit down to enjoy the cherry blossoms Japanese style, better known as Hanami.

Hotel for Dinner and Rest

The one thing about visiting Miyajima is the crazy amount of walking you will do on this day. It was now about 3:30pm so I walked back to town to rest up before dinner. Even on the walk around the back of the shrine there were beautiful canals and cherry trees to enjoy. I followed the path along the water until I made it back to the plaza across from the ferries and checked into my room at Yamaichi Bekkan. This is a small family run hotel with Japanese style rooms and dinner included! It is still pricey compared to a typical hotel in Japan (I paid about $250 to stay here) but the convenience and hospitality was so worth it. When I dropped my bag the family made me a map, asked me my preferences for dinner, and the entire time they served me it was so kind and reminds me why I love coming to Japan.

I rested on my bed for a bit and enjoyed the view of the plaza from my large window. Around 5pm I went downstairs for dinner and they served me so many courses! I shared I wasn’t too fond of seafood but enjoyed shrimp, so they made me unique dishes along the way (including shrimp sushi lol) and prepared me delicious wagyu for the main course. I wasn’t expecting this at all from this small inn, but it ended up being one of the best meals I had in Japan.

Sunset Visit to the Shrine and Cherry Blossoms

After dinner and feeling refreshed, I made the walk back to the shrine for sunset at 6:30pm. I made it there just as the sun was disappearing behind the mountains across from the floating torii and it was incredible! Both times I have been here the colors at sunset have been the best I have ever experienced. And this time, it was now low tide, so it was possible to walk completely around the torii gate. There were some small puddles of water left over, which made for beautiful reflections. It does stay somewhat muddy so make sure you wear shoes that can get dirty. Whether you do a day trip in the shorter season (fall) or stay on the island to enjoy the sunset on the longer days (spring) it is a sunset you cannot miss.

As it began to get dark, the cherry blossom location adjacent from the shrine began to light up with soft pink lanterns. It was worth another quick trip up the steps at the Jinja Tahoto Pagoda to enjoy the tunnel of trees. This time I was completely alone thanks to all of the day trippers that had to leave before sunset to catch the last trains from Miyajimaguchi. I walked back behind the shrine and even the five-story pagoda for more peaceful views at dusk. The last part of my journey, now along a completely shuttered Omotesando Street, was highlighted by deer walking around the main street. Perhaps they were thirsty or looking for leftovers from the days busy market? We walked together in peace and I settled into my room for a great night of sleep.

I hope this can help you plan a trip to Miyajima in the future! With the shopping streets and photoesque alleys, multiple hillside pagodas, famous shrine and floating torii, ropeway and hiking opportunities, and amazing foliage it’s a destination you can’t miss in the fall or spring.