Hiroshima: A 7-Day Itinerary
Seven days is enough to slow down completely: the city core, Miyajima as its own day, and five distinct day trips, without repeating a single kind of day twice.
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
Ferry from Miyajimaguchi (around ¥200 one-way, plus the roughly ¥100 visitor tax). Itsukushima Shrine and the floating torii gate, checking tide times first, then Mount Misen’s ropeway and a roughly 30-minute hike to the summit. Anago-meshi for lunch, momiji manju to take away. Consider staying overnight on the island for one night if your route allows it, seeing the torii lit up after the day-trippers leave is worth the logistics.
Day 3: Onomichi
Roughly 40 minutes east by shinkansen. The hillside temple walk connecting roughly 25 temples, the Senkōji Hill ropeway, and the old town’s alleys and small cafes fill the day comfortably.
Day 4: Iwakuni
The Kintaikyō bridge, first built in 1673, the riverside park on the far bank, and the reconstructed castle above by cable car if time allows.
Day 5: Saijō
A day of sake tastings across two or three of the district’s roughly ten breweries, along a street of traditional storehouse buildings, with a sit-down lunch worked in between.
Day 6: Tomonoura
An old tidal port town with its circular harbor and Heian-era temples largely intact. A slow morning walk, a seafood lunch, and a genuinely unhurried afternoon, the calmest day of the whole trip.
Day 7: Kure and departure
Kure, a straightforward rail trip from central Hiroshima, is home to the Yamato Museum, focused on the battleship Yamato and the city’s naval shipbuilding history, worth a couple of hours for anyone with an interest in that period. Head back to Hiroshima Station with real buffer before your onward shinkansen or a bus out to Hiroshima Airport.
Seven days is more time than most guides suggest for Hiroshima, and that’s exactly why it works: the memorial sites are never rushed, Miyajima gets treated as the full day it deserves, and the day trips cover a temple town, a feudal bridge, a sake district, a preserved port, and naval history without doubling up on any single theme. For the shorter versions of this same plan, see our 3-day and 5-day itineraries , and for the complete practical planning, our full Hiroshima guide .