Ten day trips from Hiroshima,
ranked, priced
and dated.
Miyajima is the obvious one and it has its own section. This page is about the other nine — with the prices most pages ranking for this query leave out, and the dated changes they miss: Iwakuni's bridge fee went up 61% on 1 September 2026, and Onomichi's ropeway shuts 7–25 December 2026.
If you have two days, spend them on the Peace Park and Miyajima and take no day trip at all. From day three, the strongest call is Kure — the Yamato Museum and the submarine museum next door, about 40 minutes out on the JR Kure line, and invisible in every English listicle. Iwakuni is the best half day (the bridge has been ¥500 since 1 September 2026), Onomichi the best full one (ropeway ¥500 one way, shut 7–25 December 2026), and Sandankyo is free to enter and costs about ¥3,340 return in bus fare.
Prices in every row, and two dates most pages miss
Read this before the tableThis is, as far as we can establish, the only day-trips comparison for this city that carries admission prices and forward-dated closures in the same table.
The two dates. Since 1 September 2026 Iwakuni City has charged ¥500 to cross the Kintai Bridge, up from ¥310 — a 61% rise — and the bridge-ropeway-castle set ticket is ¥1,550. And Onomichi's Senkoji ropeway is closed 7–25 December 2026 for annual inspection and repair; you can still walk up in about 30 minutes. Miyajima's aquarium also closes 1 December 2026 to 31 March 2027.
Where we still have gaps, we say so in the cell. Rail fares out of the city, the Tomonoura bus fare and the Sandankyo bus timetable are not verified. Journey times in this section are indicative rail-line estimates, not timetable readings. Rail fares are left blank on purpose: we have not verified them against JR West's published table. Fares we did confirm with an operator — ferries, buses, ropeways, admissions — are printed and sourced at the foot of each page. A page that tells you a fare is unverified is more use than a page that guesses it.
Hiroshima is a comfortable, well-run, entirely ordinary mid-size Japanese city. The bomb took the old fabric and the rebuild was practical rather than picturesque. Come for the Peace Park, the island and the food — not for the streetscapes. The mistake almost everyone makes is giving the important part four hours and the ordinary part none.
The pass advice, which has changed. Do not reach for the national JR Pass on a Hiroshima-centred trip — it loses. A Tokyo⇄Hiroshima return in cash is ¥36,760–39,520 against ¥50,000 for the 7-day pass, so you drop ¥10,480–13,240. The instrument that does win for most people coming from Kansai is the Kansai–Hiroshima Area Pass at ¥17,000 for 5 days, which costs less than a cash Osaka⇄Hiroshima shinkansen return and includes the JR Miyajima ferry. See the pass comparison and the JR Pass math. Dollar prices convert at ¥157.7 = $1, the rate when we last checked it (2 October 2026). Treat every $ figure as a snapshot and the ¥ figure as the real price.
Every day trip from Hiroshima, priced and dated
The comparison nobody publishesJourney times are one-way from Hiroshima Station and indicative. Time needed is door-to-door including travel. Prices are what you pay on arrival — rail fares out of the city are the gap we could not close. Every destination links to its own page.
| Destination | Journey time | What it costs on arrival | Time needed | Best for | Date to watch | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miyajima | ~30 min rail + 10 min ferry | Ferry ¥200 each way + ¥100 tax (outbound leg only) | Half day to overnight | Everyone, once | Aquarium shut 1 Dec 2026–31 Mar 2027 | WORTH IT |
| Kure — Yamato Museum | ~40 min, JR Kure line | Yamato Museum ¥1,000 · submarine museum reported free | 5–7 hours | Naval history, engineering, ships | Yamato Museum closed Tuesdays | WORTH IT |
| Iwakuni — Kintai Bridge | ~50 min, JR Sanyo line | Bridge ¥500 · set ticket ¥1,550 | 4–6 hours | One outstanding object, then lunch | Fares rose on 1 September 2026 | WORTH IT |
| Onomichi | ~1h30 local, faster via shinkansen | Ropeway ¥500 one way / ¥700 return (¥450/¥630 with a JR-WEST pass) | Full day | Temples, slopes, cats, sea | 🔴 Ropeway shut 7–25 Dec 2026 | WORTH IT |
| Okunoshima — Rabbit Island | ~1h20 rail + ferry | Ferry ¥360 one way · bring pellets, not vegetables | Full day | Rabbits, and the gas plant under them | Last ferry back — check at the pier | DEPENDS |
| Tomonoura | ~25 min shinkansen + ~30 min bus | Temple admissions in the low hundreds of yen — unconfirmed | Half to full day | A working port, no crowd | Bus fare still unverified | DEPENDS |
| Shimanami Kaido | Starts in Onomichi, not Hiroshima | Bike hire roughly ¥2,000–3,000/day — indicative | Full day or two days | Cyclists with a whole day free | Toll waiver reported to March 2028 | DEPENDS |
| Sandankyo Gorge | ~1h15 by bus from Kamiya-cho | Entry free · Kurobuchi ferry ¥500 return · express bus ¥1,670 each way | Half to full day | Late-October and November colour | Season late Apr–late Nov; ferry shut Wed–Thu | DEPENDS |
| Saijo sake town | ~40 min, JR Sanyo line, under ¥700 | Kamotsuru free entry · ¥500 cash-only 3-sake tasting | 3–5 hours | Sake, five minutes from the station | Sake Matsuri 10–11 Oct 2026 | WORTH IT |
| Nagasaki | ~3h by rail, two changes | Rail about ¥13,870 one way · museum ¥200 | Overnight, not a day trip | A second memorial city, done properly | Ceremony 9 August | SKIP |
Two navigation traps in that table. The shinkansen station called Higashi-Hiroshima is not the station for the sake district — the breweries are at Saijo on the JR Sanyo Main Line, five minutes' walk from the platform. And the Miyajima ¥100 visitor tax is charged on the outbound leg only, so it is ¥100 for the day, not ¥200. The Nagasaki SKIP is a SKIP as a day trip, not as a destination — six hours of trains to give a city like that one afternoon is the same mistake people make with Hiroshima itself. Journey times in this section are indicative rail-line estimates, not timetable readings. Rail fares are left blank on purpose: we have not verified them against JR West's published table. Fares we did confirm with an operator — ferries, buses, ropeways, admissions — are printed and sourced at the foot of each page. A page that tells you a fare is unverified is more use than a page that guesses it.
The order we would actually do them in
Ranked- 01
Kure — the Yamato Museum and the Iron Whale
Two serious museums a few minutes apart: the Yamato Museum, built around a large-scale model of the battleship, and the JMSDF submarine museum next door, where you walk through a decommissioned submarine on land. It is the best day out of Hiroshima and it appears in almost no English listicle. Both are entirely indoors, which makes this the trip to hold back for rain. The Yamato Museum reopened on 23 April 2026 after a renovation; adult admission is ¥1,000 and it closes on Tuesdays.
- 02
Iwakuni and the Kintai Bridge
Five wooden arches over the Nishiki River, a castle on the ridge above and a ropeway between them — one great object rather than a town full of things, which makes it the right length for an afternoon. Since 1 September 2026 the adult fee has been ¥500 (it was ¥310) and the bridge-ropeway-castle set ticket ¥1,550. The bridge itself can be crossed at any hour — when the office is unstaffed you pay into a night fee box.
- 03
Onomichi — slopes, temples and the ferry across
A hillside port town of stone stairs, small temples, bookshops and famous cats, with a ropeway up to Senkoji — ¥500 one way, ¥700 return — and a walk back down through the Temple Walk. It is also where the Shimanami Kaido begins, which is exactly why so many people misplan it. The ropeway is closed 7–25 December 2026 for inspection; you can still walk up in about 30 minutes.
- 04
Okunoshima — Rabbit Island, and the plant beneath it
Hundreds of feral rabbits on a small island that was erased from Japanese maps because it manufactured poison gas. Both facts are the island. Go if you have a full day and children who will remember the ferry; do not go expecting a petting zoo, and read the museum before you decide it was a cute morning.
- 05
Tomonoura — the port that became Ponyo
Hayao Miyazaki stayed here and the town shows up all over Ponyo. It is a genuinely old working harbour with a stone lantern tower, temple halls with sea views and very few coaches. The catch is the transfer: shinkansen to Fukuyama, then a bus, and the bus fare is one we could not verify.
- 06
Sandankyo Gorge
A river gorge north of the city with a walking trail along the water, and no admission charge — the cost is the coach, about ¥3,340 return on the express (¥1,670 each way). Main entrance to Kurobuchi is 2.7km and about 50 minutes each way; the ferry across the pool there is ¥500 return and closed Wednesdays and Thursdays. Late October to late November is the reason to go, and the season shuts after that.
- 07
The Shimanami Kaido
Seventy kilometres of island-hopping cycleway from Onomichi to Imabari. It is not an afternoon out of Hiroshima, it does not start in Hiroshima, and treating it as a bolt-on is the single most common planning error in this region. Read the page before you book anything.
- 08
Saijo — the sake brewery town
Breweries with red-brick chimneys inside a few hundred metres of Saijo Station — the easiest short trip on this list and the one needing the least planning. Kamotsuru is the reliable anchor: free to enter, and a ¥500 cash-only three-sake tasting. The navigation trap: the shinkansen station called Higashi-Hiroshima is not the station for the sake district. Take the JR Sanyo Main Line to Saijo. Sake Matsuri is 10–11 October 2026.
- 09
Nagasaki — go, but not for the day
The other atomic-bombing memorial city, about three hours away by rail with two changes. As a day trip it is six hours of trains for a truncated afternoon. Our comparison page sets out the honest split between the two cities and when doing both is right.
Guided versions of the trips above
Booking and getting thereA guide is worth most where the transfers are worst — Okunoshima and Tomonoura — and worth least at Iwakuni, where one bus does the whole job. We do not publish tour prices or ratings here because we have not verified them; open the link for live pricing.
Where every one of these starts
Plan your visitDay trips from Hiroshima — the questions people actually ask
Straight answersWhat is the best day trip from Hiroshima?
Miyajima, and it is not close — 30 minutes of rail and a ¥200 ferry, plus the ¥100 visitor tax. Once you have done Miyajima, the best of the rest is Kure, roughly 40 minutes out on the JR Kure line, for the Yamato Museum and the submarine museum beside it. Allow 5–7 hours for Kure door to door.
How much does a day trip from Hiroshima cost?
It depends which, and this page is one of very few that will tell you at all — most pages ranking for Hiroshima day trips print no fares. On arrival: Miyajima is ¥200 ferry each way plus a ¥100 tax on the outbound leg; Iwakuni's bridge is ¥500 (since 1 September 2026); Onomichi's ropeway is ¥500 one way; Okunoshima's ferry is ¥360 each way; Kure's Yamato Museum is ¥1,000; Sandankyo is free but the bus is about ¥3,340 return. Rail fares out of the city are the gap we could not close.
Do I need a JR Pass for day trips from Hiroshima?
No — the national pass loses on a Hiroshima-centred trip. A Tokyo⇄Hiroshima return in cash is ¥36,760–39,520 against ¥50,000 for the 7-day pass, so you drop ¥10,480–13,240. If you are coming from Kansai, the Kansai–Hiroshima Area Pass at ¥17,000 for 5 days costs less than a cash Osaka⇄Hiroshima shinkansen return and includes the JR Miyajima ferry. The math is on the pass page.
Can I do the Shimanami Kaido as a day trip from Hiroshima?
Not really, and this is the most common mistake in the section. It is 70km, it starts in Onomichi rather than Hiroshima, and a proper crossing is a full day with an early start or two relaxed ones. Read the Shimanami Kaido page before you commit — 70km of bridges is not an afternoon.
Is Kure or Iwakuni the better trip?
Kure if you have 5–7 hours and any interest in ships or engineering; Iwakuni if you have 4 and want one beautiful object. Iwakuni's bridge, castle and ropeway sit in one place and do a long afternoon; Kure needs both museums to justify the ~40-minute ride each way. Two tie-breakers: Kure is indoors, so it wins any wet day, and Kure closes on Tuesdays while Iwakuni's bridge can be crossed at any hour.
Are any day trips from Hiroshima closed or changing in 2026?
Four dates. Iwakuni's Kintai Bridge went from ¥310 to ¥500 on 1 September 2026, and the set ticket to ¥1,550. Kure's Yamato Museum reopened on 23 April 2026 after a renovation. 🔴 Onomichi's Senkoji ropeway is closed 7–25 December 2026 for annual inspection — you can still walk up in about 30 minutes. And Miyajima's aquarium closes 1 December 2026 to 31 March 2027. Sandankyo's season ends in late November.
Which day trip works in the rain?
Kure — both museums are indoor and you can spend 3 hours inside without going out. Onomichi and Sandankyo are the two that rain ruins outright, since both are walking trips. See the rainy-day page for city options, and note that June to mid-July is tsuyu, the rainy season, and September is typhoon season.
When should I not take a day trip at all?
On 6 August, and on any trip shorter than three days. Two days in Hiroshima are fully spent on the Peace Park and Miyajima; the third day is the first one you can spare. If your dates land on 6 August, the ceremony runs 08:00–08:50 and the lanterns float 18:00–21:00 — that is the day, and a train to Kure is not.
Where this fits in the trip
Keep goingSources
Where these facts come from- Iwakuni City — Kintai Bridge fees from 1 September 2026 city.iwakuni.lg.jp
- Senkoji Ropeway — 7–25 December 2026 closure notice mt-senkoji-rw.jp
- Yamato Museum — admission, hours policy and closing days yamato-museum.com
- Takehara City tourism — Okunoshima ferry and feeding rules takeharakankou.jp
- Hiroshima Bus Center — Sandankyo fare table (revised 1 Feb 2026) h-buscenter.com
- Sake Matsuri — official 2026 dates sakematsuri.com
The prices, dates and rules on this page that come from these sources were checked against them on . Operators change prices without notice — the official page wins if it disagrees with us. Spotted something out of date? Tell us — it gets fixed.