Getting Around Hiroshima: the Streetcar Network, Buses and Walking
The Hiroden streetcar does most of the work in this city, and the central sights sit close enough that you will walk more than you ride. This page covers which route to take from the station, where you change, and when to stay on foot.
Updated 4 November 2026
In shortGetting around Hiroshima means the Hiroden streetcar: nine tram services, the L loop line among them, with no tickets sold on board and the fare settled as you get off. From JR Hiroshima Station, Peace Memorial Park is about 25 minutes to Genbaku Dome-mae plus a 10-minute walk, and route 2 runs right through to the Miyajima ferry waterfront.
9Hiroden tram services
about 25 minutesStation to Genbaku Dome-mae
5:56-23:09Trams from the station
42 trips a daySightseeing loop bus
Main World Heritage sites of Hiroshima and MiyajimaViewpointsNearby sights and townsVisitor point
The map shows Peace Memorial Park, the Miyajima sites and the nearby places the tours on this site can be combined with.
Getting around Hiroshima starts with the streetcar
Hiroden runs nine tram services, the L loop line among them, and they reach almost everything a visitor wants. From the Hiroshima Station stop, routes 1 and 5 head south for Hiroshima Port, route 2 runs west and keeps going to Hiroden-Miyajimaguchi, and route 6 finishes at Eba. Away from the station, route 3 links Hiroden-Nishi-Hiroshima with Hiroden-honsha-mae, routes 7 and 8 start at Yokogawa Station for Hiroshima Port and Eba, and route 9 is the short northern branch between Hatchobori and Hakushima.
Boarding works differently from a bus in most countries. Nothing is sold on board, and you settle up as you step off rather than when you get on, so have your card or coins ready before the doors open. An IC card needs the reader at both ends of the ride, so tap it on the way in and tap it again on the way out. The same flat fare applies anywhere on the network, whether you ride two stops through the centre or stay on route 2 out to the Miyajima Line terminus, and children pay a lower rate.
Service from the Hiroshima Station stop opens at 5:56 with a route 5 tram for Hiroshima Port. The last departure of the day is the 23:09 on route 2 to Hiroden-Hatsukaichi, and the final route 2 car running the whole way to Hiroden-Miyajimaguchi leaves at 22:31. Those two times are what pin down a late evening on the island or a late dinner in the centre.
Hiroshima tram routes from the station, stop by stop
Read the destination on the front of the car before stepping on, because four different directions leave the same Hiroshima Station stop. For the memorial sites you want anything signed for Eba or Miyajima, which puts you at Genbaku Dome-mae at the top of the park. The alternative, line 1 or city bus 24 to Hon-dori, lands you in the shopping arcades first and leaves a short walk south to the park.
Travel times below come from the institutions' own access pages. Timetables and stop arrangements do get adjusted, so glance at the posted boards on the day.
Where you're going
Route from JR Hiroshima Station
Time
Peace Memorial Park, Atomic Bomb Dome, Orizuru Tower
Tram signed for Eba or Miyajima to Genbaku Dome-mae
About 25 minutes plus about a 10-minute walk
Hon-dori arcades, then the park on foot
Streetcar line 1, or bus 24, to Hon-dori
About 20 minutes plus a five-minute walk
Miyajima ferry waterfront
Route 2, which runs all the way to Hiroden-Miyajimaguchi
Last through tram at 22:31
Shukkeien and the Prefectural Art Museum
South exit A platform 1, 2 or 6, change at Hatchobori onto the Hakushima Line for Shukkeien-mae
The stop is at the entrance
Hiroshima Port, or Eba
Routes 1 and 5 for the port, route 6 for Eba
-
Hiroshima Castle and the Hiroshima Museum of Art
Sightseeing loop bus from the Shinkansen exit
Every 10 to 15 minutes, 9:00 to 18:00
Cover the flat centre by bike
A 3 to 4 hour guided morning on level streets links the park, the river embankments and the castle quarter without a single tram change, with bike, helmet and bottled water provided.
Hiroden issues a one-day pass in two forms: a streetcar-only version, and a combined streetcar and ferry version. The combined one is the useful one if your day ends on Miyajima, because it covers the Miyajima-guchi to Miyajima boat operated by Matsudai Kisen and has the island visitor tax built in, so there is nothing to settle at the island gate.
The exclusions are what catch people out. Hiroden states plainly that the ferry pass is not valid on the JR Miyajima Ferry and not valid on JR West trains, and the two companies share the same piers at Miyajima-guchi, so joining the wrong queue costs you the crossing twice. The pass covers only the Matsudai Kisen run.
A pass earns its keep on a day that crosses the city more than twice and finishes with the ferry. If you are spending the day inside the park, the arcades and the castle quarter, you will ride the tram perhaps twice and walk the rest, and single rides keep things simpler. JR Pass holders are the clear exception: your pass already handles the train to Miyajimaguchi and the JR ferry, neither of which the Hiroden pass touches.
City buses and the sightseeing loop
Buses fill the gaps the trams leave. Bus 24 from the station's south exit reaches Hon-dori in about 20 minutes, the same corridor as streetcar line 1, and from there it is five minutes on foot to the park. No tram serves the castle quarter, which is where the loop bus comes in.
Anyone who travelled here before 18 July 2026 should forget the three colour-coded loops: Chugoku JR Bus merged them into one reorganised route on that date. You pick it up at the Shinkansen exit of Hiroshima Station, which is also where it ends, and the stops come in a fixed order that suits a northern sweep of the city: Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum, Hiroshima Castle, the Hiroshima Museum of Art, Genbaku Dome-mae, Heiwa Koen-mae, then Namiki-dori Iriguchi. It runs daily from 9:00 to 18:00 at intervals of 10 to 15 minutes, 42 trips a day, which makes it the easiest way to chain the garden, the moat and the park without working out a tram change.
If you are arriving or leaving by air, the limousine bus uses Platform 5 at Hiroshima Station's Shinkansen Gate and is scheduled at about 50 minutes to the airport. Departures from the station run from 05:55 to 19:00, and from the airport between 07:20 and 21:55.
The sightseeing corridors and where you change
Three corridors do nearly all the sightseeing work, and the map on this page shows how they overlap. The east-west spine runs from Hiroshima Station through Hatchobori and Kamiyacho to Genbaku Dome-mae and on toward Hiroden-Nishi-Hiroshima, continuing as the Miyajima Line to Hiroden-Miyajimaguchi. The southern corridor is the port and Eba direction on routes 1, 5 and 6. The short northern branch, route 9 between Hatchobori and Hakushima, carries you up to Shukkeien-mae.
Hatchobori is the interchange that matters most, and it is where you swap off the main spine onto the Hakushima Line for the garden and the Prefectural Art Museum. Hiroshima Station itself is the other big one, with the loop bus leaving from the Shinkansen side and the trams from the south side. Hiroden-Nishi-Hiroshima is where the city network meets the Miyajima Line, and Ebisucho and Hatchobori are the stops for the Nagarekawa bar and okonomiyaki district in the evening.
When walking beats riding
The central cluster is tighter than any route map suggests. The Atomic Bomb Dome stands at the north end of Peace Memorial Park, with the Peace Memorial Museum and the National Peace Memorial Hall inside the roughly 122,100 square metres of designed ground between the two rivers. Get off at Genbaku Dome-mae and Orizuru Tower, at 1-2-1 Ootemachi, is about a minute away on foot. The Hiroshima Museum of Art sits at 3-2 Motomachi in Central Park, close to the castle, the Dome and the park, and the Hon-dori arcades are five minutes from the park side. Once you are in that square of streets, waiting for a tram usually costs more time than walking.
Driving is the weak option here. The only car spaces at the National Peace Memorial Hall are kept for visitors with physical disabilities, and the institution itself points everyone else toward public transport. Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium, out at 2-3-1 Minamikaniya, is about 10 minutes on foot from the station's south exit, so the car can stay parked for that too.
Two tours on this site remove the route planning from the central day altogether. Stay on foot for 5 hours through the park and past the Dome on the Hiroshima Peace (Heiwa) Walking Tour at World Heritage Sites, which takes care of the Peace Memorial Museum and Orizuru Tower admissions: from 13,600 yen, 5.0 ★ (1,052 reviews). If you would rather cover more ground without changing trams, the flat city centre reads well from a bike.
Questions people ask
Which IC cards work on Hiroshima trams?
Nine of them are accepted on Hiroden: Kitaca, PASMO, Suica, manaca, TOICA, ICOCA, HAYAKAKEN, nimoca and SUGOCA. Touch the reader twice, once when you board and once when you get off, because the system records both ends of the ride. If you are paying cash instead, remember that nothing is sold on board and you pay on the way out.
Which tram goes to the Museum of Contemporary Art?
Take tram route 5 from Hiroshima Station to Hijiyama-shita, then walk about 500 m uphill to the museum. On foot the whole way from the station takes about 25 minutes, and a taxi about 10. Hours run 10:00 to 17:00, the last visitors are admitted half an hour before that, and the closed days are Mondays plus 27 December to 1 January.
Can I drive to Peace Memorial Park and park there?
Plan on public transport. The National Peace Memorial Hall beside the museum has no public parking except for visitors with physical disabilities, and the institution's own access page recommends coming by tram or bus. From the station that means about 25 minutes to Genbaku Dome-mae plus a walk of roughly 10 minutes.
How long does the bus from Hiroshima Airport to the city take?
The limousine bus to the Shinkansen Gate of Hiroshima Station is scheduled at about 50 minutes and uses Platform 5 at the station; at the airport it leaves from stop 2 on the first floor, which also serves Miyajima-guchi. Departures from the station run 05:55 to 19:00, and from the airport 07:20 to 21:55. Travellers heading for the Hiroshima Bus Center instead should allow roughly 55 minutes on that route.
Five hours on foot through Peace Memorial Park and the World Heritage sites, with the Peace Memorial Museum and Orizuru Tower admissions and lunch included. Meet near the mont-bell store at Nishi Kamiyacho, a minute from the stop.
