Getting around Hiroshima:
flat ¥240, and PASPY is dead.

Hiroshima kept its streetcars when every other Japanese city tore them up, which is why the network is unusually good and unusually confusing to look at. The fare structure, at least, is now the simplest in Japan.

Hiroden went to a flat ¥240 adult / ¥120 child fare on 1 February 2025, its first revision since 2017, replacing a ¥220 flat fare in the city and a distance scale on the Miyajima line. Since 1 July 2026 IC-card riders tap on and off. The all-day streetcar pass is ¥700, so it pays from your third ride — which is exactly what a Peace Park, castle and station day comes to.

Here is the counter-intuitive part nobody reports: the flat fare made short hops dearer and the long ride cheaper. Before it, the city lines were already a flat ¥220 and only the Miyajima line was priced by distance. A city hop went from ¥220 to ¥240, but the long run out to Miyajimaguchi fell from ¥270 to ¥240 — which means the February 2025 revision was, for visitors specifically, a fare cut. Children are ¥120. Cash fares are paid as you get off. And there is no Line 4, whatever a route map you found online says.

The second change is where you get on. Hiroshima Station's tram terminal moved onto the 2nd floor of the JR building on 3 August 2025, level with the JR central ticket gate, with trams arriving over a new 1.1km viaduct. It is the first tram line in Japan to run into a station building at this level, the transfer is flat and step-free, and Hiroden puts the saving to the city centre at over 4 minutes. Any route description written before August 2025 describes the old ground-level terminal and is now wrong.

Third, the cards, and this is the fact most guides get backwards. Suica and ICOCA still work and were never discontinued. PASPY ended on 29 March 2025, and since 1 July 2026 national IC cards — ICOCA, Suica, PASMO, Kitaca, TOICA, manaca, SUGOCA, nimoca and Hayakaken — are read by the new MOBIRY DAYS readers. WAON was added the same day and PiTaPa was dropped. Four gotchas: tap on when you board and again when you get off, waiting for the completion tone; you cannot top up on board, so charge at a JR machine or a convenience store first; there is no IC discount — you pay ¥240 while a MOBIRY DAYS app user pays ¥220; and child fares are not automatic, so tell the crew before you tap off. MOBIRY DAYS itself is Hiroden's app ticketing system and saves only ¥20 a ride — skip it on a short trip. Do not confuse it with MOBIRY TRAVEL, which is the tourist ticket shop and is useful.

Fourth: the Maple-loop (Meipuru~pu) sightseeing bus was consolidated on 18 July 2026. The Orange, Green and Lemon routes are abolished — there is now one unified route, and it no longer stops at Kamiyacho or Hatchobori. Much English-language coverage still describes the old colour routes; if you have read about picking a colour, that page is out of date. One ride is ¥240 (child ¥120), a 1-day pass is ¥600 walk-up or ¥400 bought online 2+ days ahead, IC cards work, and it is free with a Japan Rail Pass or a JR-West rail pass valid in the Hiroshima area — show the driver. The operator, JR Bus Chugoku, runs 42 services a day, every 10–15 minutes between 09:00 and 18:00, departing Hiroshima Station's Shinkansen (north) exit. There is no "blue route" to Hiroshima Port — that only exists in stale third-party sources; use trams 1, 3 or 5.

Fifth: Hiroshima is flatter and more walkable than its map suggests. The Peace Memorial Park to Hondori is under ten minutes on foot; Hondori to Hatchobori is five. Since 28 March 2026 the Hondori stop carries the official subtitle 「平和記念公園東」, "Peace Memorial Park East", added to help visitors find the park. If your day is park, shopping and dinner you may not need a single tram fare.

Hiroden numbers its lines rather than colour-coding them, and the numbers are what is announced. There is no Line 4. The five you will actually use:

• Line 2 (Miyajimaguchi) — Hiroshima Station → Kamiyacho → Genbaku Dome-mae → onward to the Miyajima ferry, 65–75 minutes for the full run. The single most useful line on the network.
• Line 6 (Eba) — also serves Genbaku Dome-mae. If a line 6 arrives first, take it; the stop is the same.
• Lines 1, 3 and 5 — down through Hatchobori and Hondori, and lines 1, 3 and 5 are how you reach Hiroshima Port. The Maple-loop bus does not go there, whatever a "blue route" listing tells you.
• Hakushima line — north to its Hakushima terminus, a two-minute walk from the Teishin Hospital annex that opened on 1 May 2026 and is not in the Peace Memorial Park.
• Loop line — opened 28 March 2026, a roughly 7km, 45-minute circuit of the centre run in both directions. The reason to care: Hiroden runs hibaku densha — A-bomb survivor cars that were running on 6 August 1945 — on it. Check Hiroden's loop-line page for which days and times they are out.

For Hiroshima Castle get off at Kamiyacho-nishi or Shukkeien-mae and walk about 10 minutes. Hiroshima Castle's keep closed to the public on 22 March 2026 — after 68 years — because the 1958 reinforced-concrete reconstruction had deteriorated and could no longer be kept open safely. A wooden rebuild is the city's leading option but has not been decided — the surveys alone run to about FY2030. The grounds, the moat, the bomb-scarred stone walls and the Ninomaru reconstruction are all still open, and all still free. The tower you came to go inside is not.

For Shukkeien, the Hakushima line stop Shukkeien-mae puts you at the gate. For Hondori and the covered arcades, ride line 1 or 2 to Hondori or Kamiyacho and walk.