Hiroshima: A 5-Day Itinerary
Five days gives you the same core as the four-day plan, plus a full day in Hiroshima’s sake country before you leave.
Day 1: Peace Memorial Park and the city core
Morning at the A-Bomb Dome and Peace Memorial Park, with proper time in the Peace Memorial Museum (admission commonly cited around ¥200, confirm at the gate). Afternoon at Hiroshima Castle and Shukkeien Garden. Okonomimura for dinner, roughly ¥1,000-1,500 for a plain okonomiyaki.
Day 2: Miyajima
Tram or train to Miyajimaguchi, then the roughly 10-minute ferry (around ¥200 one-way, plus the roughly ¥100 visitor tax). Itsukushima Shrine and the floating torii gate, tide times checked in advance, then the Mount Misen ropeway and a roughly 30-minute hike to the summit. Anago-meshi and momiji manju before heading back.
Day 3: Onomichi
Roughly 40 minutes east by shinkansen. The hillside temple walk, the Senkōji Hill ropeway, and the old town’s alleys fill the day comfortably.
Day 4: Iwakuni
The Kintaikyō bridge, first built in 1673, is the highlight, cross it, walk the riverside park, and take the cable car up to the reconstructed castle above if time allows.
Day 5: Saijō
About 30 minutes east by train, Saijō’s cluster of roughly ten sake breweries sits along a street of traditional storehouse buildings, home to the national tax office’s own brewery research lab. Spend the day walking between two or three breweries for tastings (a modest per-person fee at most), rather than trying to cover all ten, and have a proper sit-down lunch here before heading back to Hiroshima for a final evening, or straight on to the airport or shinkansen if you’re departing.
Five days genuinely rewards the slower pace: the memorial sites, Miyajima, and three distinct day trips (a temple town, a feudal bridge, and a sake district) without repeating the same kind of day twice. For an even longer stay adding Tomonoura or Kure, see our 6-day itinerary , and for the practical planning behind all of it, our full Hiroshima guide .