Hiroshima Peace Park & Miyajima Day Tour by Coach

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

At 8:15 in the morning on 6 August 1945, the first atomic bomb used in war exploded above Hiroshima and destroyed most of the city. Peace Memorial Park was created afterward on the Nakajima district, once a busy commercial quarter close to the hypocentre, and opened in the 1950s as a place of remembrance and a call for a world without nuclear weapons.

Your guide leads you past the arched Cenotaph, which holds the names of the victims and frames the Peace Flame and the Dome in one line, the Children's Peace Monument hung with colourful paper cranes sent from around the world, and the Peace Bell, which visitors may ring. The park is open at all hours and free to enter, and with a guide beside you every monument gains its meaning.

The Atomic Bomb Dome

The Atomic Bomb Dome was completed in 1915 as the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, a modern European-style building on the bank of the Motoyasu River. It stood almost directly beneath the explosion, and part of its walls and the steel frame of its dome remained standing when nearly everything around it was lost.

Preserved as it was left, it became a symbol of the destruction and of the hope for lasting peace, and it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996. The building cannot be entered, but you walk around its fence while the guide explains its history. The view across the river from the park is quiet and moving, and visitors are asked to keep a respectful tone.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

The Peace Memorial Museum opened in 1955 and was renovated in 2019. Through personal belongings, photographs, letters and the testimonies of survivors, it tells what happened to the people of Hiroshima on that day and in the years that followed, and explains the city's work for peace since then. Your museum ticket is included in the tour.

The museum is factual and calm in tone, but some displays are emotionally difficult, so parents of younger children may want to guide them through. Allow about an hour inside. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum opening hours start early in the morning and run into the evening, varying by season, and the museum closes only at the very end of December.

Miyajima and Itsukushima Shrine

Miyajima, officially Itsukushima, is a sacred island about ten minutes by ferry from Miyajimaguchi on the mainland. Its shrine was founded according to tradition in the sixth century and took its present form in the twelfth century, built on the tidal flats so that at high tide its vermilion halls and corridors seem to float. Together with the forest of Mount Misen behind it, the shrine was listed by UNESCO in 1996.

In the bay stands the great torii gate, about 16 metres tall, the present one dating from 1875 and resting on its own weight without being buried in the sea bed. At high tide it appears to float; at low tide you can walk out to its base. Tame deer wander the island, and Omotesando's shops sell maple-leaf cakes and local crafts. Allow about two hours.

Okonomiyaki lunch in Hiroshima

On the default option lunch is Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, the city's signature dish: a thin crêpe layered with cabbage, bean sprouts, noodles and egg, cooked on a hot iron plate and finished with a rich sauce. The standard version contains pork; a vegetarian version without pork can be requested at booking.

Halal, vegan, gluten-free and allergy-free meals are not available on this tour. Guests who need halal food can choose the option without lunch, which follows the same day, and eat on Miyajima, where seafood and vegetarian snacks are easy to find, or bring their own food. Hiroshima has some halal restaurants in the city centre, and our team is happy to suggest places for dinner after the tour.