When we first were looking at tours for the trip, we tried to book a day tour from Osaka with a guide. We booked something, but they emailed to say they had not updated their availability and couldn’t do it the day we wanted, which was really the only day we had available for a full day trip based on other things we wanted to do in/near Osaka.

After reading up on it a bit, I realized it was easy to plan and execute a day trip on our own. As I mentioned previously, we had the 5 day Kansai Hiroshima rail pass. I was able to book the Shinkansen (bullet train) tickets directly on the JR website after I bought the pass. There’s a bit of a trick that some of the trains have 2-2 seating instead of 2-3 seating between Osaka and Hiroshima as they were originally rolled out as sleeper trains. Thus, these cars have a bit more space than the rest of the trains. I managed to book one for our outbound train around 8am and return train around 5pm.

Because it was hot and humid, I decided to reverse the order of the sights we would see. We started at Miyajima and then went to Hiroshima in the afternoon. Miyajima is an island off the coast of Hiroshima with several interesting sights including the above torii gate, an historic town and a scenic ropeway (cable car).

To get to Miyajima from Osaka, we first took a quick taxi to Shin-Osaka station which is a bit further out than the main Osaka station. We found our Shinkansen track pretty easily and hopped on the train. The seats were very comfy.

After a 186mph ride through the Japanese countryside, we arrived at Hiroshima station. We switched to the local train for about 30 minutes to Miyajimaguchi station. From there, it’s a quick walk to the ferry terminal where we boarded the 10 minute ferry to Miyajima Island. The whole trip took a little over two hours, but it was all included in the rail pass and fairly seamless.

There were some nice views of the island as we got closer to the ferry dock.

When we reached Miyajima Island, we found the local deer, which were pretty chill and not as aggressive as those in Nara. This is likely because you can’t feed them here.

We walked around the town and slowly made our way over to the shrine with the famous torii gate.

At that point, we started up the hill to the ropeway entrance. My wife made it about 3/4 of the way and then decided she didn’t want to walk the last part which was pretty steep. There is a shuttle bus, but it doesn’t run all that often. She went back down to the beach area to hang out for a bit while I went up the rest of the way with our daughter.

We got to the first cable car which was a rather hot and small old-style cable car with six seats.

From the intermediate station, we boarded a more modern, larger car which was standing room only for the final push to the top.

At the top, there was a small two story building with a bathroom on the lower floor and some vending machines and seats on the upper floor. I climbed up the nearby rocks and got some great views of the islands in the Inland Sea.

We grabbed a drink and cooled off in the air-conditioning upstairs before making the whole trek back down again. The whole process took just over an hour round trip from the start of the ropeway.

We found my wife near the torii gate and walked back toward the ferry terminal with a stop for some shaved ice on the way. Then we took the fast ferry back to the center of Hiroshima near the museum. It was blessedly air-conditioned.

We docked near the famous monument and not too far from the Peace Museum. We made our way over to the museum.

The museum doesn’t allow pictures in the main exhibit area, but it was a very moving and well-documented telling of the atomic bomb and it’s aftermath. Of course, it conveniently leaves out the four years that led up to the decision to drop the bomb. There’s a window in the museum where you get a view to the memorial arch and the Atomic Bomb Dome, which was left as a ruin for future generations to view the effects of the bomb.

There’s also a clock marking the date and time of the bomb.

There were a couple more things I would have done in Hiroshima, including trying their version of okonomyaki (made with noodles), but everyone was hot, tired and ready to head back at this point.

We took a cab to the station rather than trying to figure out the bus schedule. I was able (with some help) figure out how to change our shinkansen tickets at the machine although we were split up by a couple of rows. We had time to each grab an ekiben (a bento box for the train). I got some eel and rice and I also bought a beer to enjoy.

We got back to Hiroshima around 5pm, just in time for my wife to suggest some more shopping!

Organizing this ourselves was fairly easy. The rail pass helped reduce the overall cost and there are lots of other blogs that can give you more details about how to plan and execute this trip from Osaka (or Kyoto if you leave earlier).

Up Next: Half Day Trip to Arashiyama

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