anandvsamuel@gmail.comDay 9 and 10: Hiroshima
We took a Nozomi (bullet train, Shinkansen) from Shin-Osaka to Hiroshima. Tickets were booked early giving us an advantage.
Hiroshima is a place that holds a lot of significance in history. We stayed only one night in Hiroshima.
Accommodation
Our stay in Hiroshima was at Hiroshima City Bunka Koryu Kaikan. The hotel looked like an apartment from outside, and it is excellent. The bathroom was one of the best and most spacious that we experienced in Japan. Breakfast was included in our stay and that was a traditional Japanese breakfast. The hotel also had decent washing machines and dryers for use.
Peace Park
Upon our arrival, we visited Peace Park. Reading the accounts of the days following the atomic bomb was deeply moving and heartbreaking. I was taken aback when the kids announced that they wouldn’t smile in any of the photos taken at Peace Park and its surrounding areas.
Miyajima
Miyajima Island was the highlight of the Hiroshima trip. After vacating our hotel, we kept our luggage within lockers in Hiroshima station. This was to ensure we travel free to Miyajima. Miyajima has got one of the largest Torii gates. There is a shrine next to the Torii gates. Please try to reach there early and look for early and late tides.
Use the below link for tide timings
When it is low tide, you can take pictures next to the Torii gates and around. Once it is high tide, the Torii gate and the shrine’s buildings are over water (see below).
Once you reach Miyajima, another must see is Mount Misen. It will take around 2 hours or more to reach the summit. There’s a lot of walking to be done during the trail to Mt Misen. There are some deer that you can see, please do not feed them as you did in Nara as these are considered wild ones.
There is a ropeway you will need to take to reach the top.
With all of our planning we kept at least an hour buffer time, this was to ensure we cater for any unexpected events, and I would highly recommend you do the same.
Upon reaching Hiroshima and taking our luggage from the locker, we went to return the ICOCA card, as it needs to be returned to get the deposit back. Please note this can only be returned in JR West. The queue was massive, so please plan your trip accordingly. Also seeing the Shinkansen ticket queue, we were so glad we booked it early, please do the same.
We reached our final stay in Tokyo at around 8pm.