In shortThe short hop from Miyajima-guchi is the crossing most people mean: about 10 minutes afloat, two companies sharing the same piers, and a midday pattern of about one boat every quarter of an hour that widens to 20 or 30 minutes at either end of the service day. Hiroden route 2 trams and JR trains both reach that waterfront. There is also a direct option: the World Heritage Sea Route boat casts off at the Motoyasu Bridge pier next to Peace Memorial Park, about 45 minutes of water each way with no train or tram involved. A visitor tax is collected on arrival.
about 10 minutesMiyajima-guchi crossing
about every 15 minutesmidday ferry departures
about 45 minutesboat from the park pier
8 hoursguided day with both legs
How to get to Miyajima from the city centre
The island sits a short stretch of water off the mainland at Miyajima-guchi, and the ferries from that waterfront are the shortest and most frequent link to it. Count on ten minutes or so afloat, and on a boat about every quarter of an hour at midday. Two companies work the same piers, the JR Miyajima Ferry and Miyajima Matsudai Kisen, so the real decision is how you reach Miyajima-guchi rather than which boat you step onto.
One option skips the land leg. Aqua Net Hiroshima's World Heritage Sea Route boat leaves the Motoyasu Bridge pier beside Peace Memorial Park and lands on Miyajima in about 45 minutes each way, while a separate high-speed boat crosses from Hiroshima Port in about 30 minutes, roughly hourly.
Make the Miyajima-guchi ferry your default and treat the longer boats as sightseeing. The prefectural tourism board's one-day plan for the two World Heritage sites spends 45 minutes of its roughly 220 minutes of stops on the water, time that could go to the Peace Memorial Museum or to the island itself.
The Hiroshima to Miyajima ferry from Miyajima-guchi
Both operators cross in about 10 minutes. Departures sit roughly a quarter of an hour apart while the island is busy; first thing and late on, the interval stretches to 20 or even 30 minutes, which is where a tight return plan comes unstuck, so read the posted sailings for your date. The piers sit a few steps from both the tram terminus and the JR station.
Getting there from the city takes one vehicle. Hiroden route 2 runs from the Hiroshima Station tram stop through to Hiroden-Miyajimaguchi without a change. No tickets are sold on board a Hiroden tram and you pay as you get off, with a single flat fare anywhere on the network including the Miyajima Line; nine IC cards (Kitaca, PASMO, Suica, manaca, TOICA, ICOCA, HAYAKAKEN, nimoca, SUGOCA) are touched both on boarding and on alighting. JR trains run to the neighbouring JR Miyajimaguchi station instead.
Pass coverage decides which queue you join. Hiroden's own information states that the 1 Day Streetcar & Ferry Pass is valid only on the Miyajima-guchi to Miyajima boat run by Matsudai Kisen; it does not cover the JR Miyajima Ferry or JR West trains. The Miyajima Visitor Tax is built into that pass.
Otherwise the visitor tax is collected separately as you enter the island, on top of the boat ticket, with preschool children exempt. Several of the guided days on this site carry it for you.
One day, both legs handled
If you would rather not stand on a tram platform working out which pier your pass covers, this 8-hour day builds the round-trip ferry and the island admissions into a single schedule from Hiroshima Station.
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The direct boat from the pier beside Peace Memorial Park
Aqua Net Hiroshima works from the pier at Motoyasu Bridge, beside Peace Memorial Park, and its World Heritage Sea Route boat sails from there to Miyajima without stopping, about 45 minutes in each direction. With no land leg at all, it suits a morning spent at the Dome and the museum.
Use it one way, outbound, after the museum, and come back by ferry and tram. The arithmetic is plain: 45 minutes afloat each way against about 10 minutes from Miyajima-guchi, and the river stretch through the city is worth seeing once rather than twice. Timetable, frequency and whether places need reserving are worth confirming with the operator on the day, because those details are not published on the official access pages this site works from.
Anyone staying near Hiroshima Port has a third door. Setonaikai Kisen's high-speed boat crosses to Miyajima in about 30 minutes, roughly hourly, with the island visitor tax charged per person on arrival.
Which crossing suits where you are staying
Near Hiroshima Station, route 2 and the Miyajima-guchi ferry are the obvious pairing: one tram, one short boat. From the Peace Park area the sea route becomes genuinely convenient for the outbound leg. If you would rather not time any of it yourself, a guided day puts both legs and the island admissions inside one schedule.
| Option | Departure point | Time on the water | Notes |
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| Peaceful Hiroshima & Miyajima UNESCO 1 Day Bus Tour — 8 hours, from 19,488 yen, 5.0 ★ (9,528 reviews) | Hiroshima Station 2F, in front of the Shinkansen ticket gate, North Gate, 10:00am | Round-trip ferry included | English-speaking local guide plus multilingual bus audio; admissions for the Peace Memorial Museum, Miyajima Island and Itsukushima Shrine |
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| Hiroshima & Miyajima Guided tour with Itsukushima Shrine & Ferry — 8 hours, from JPY 7127, 4.9 ★ (740 reviews) | Hiroden-Miyajimaguchi Station, or Hiroshima Station Shinkansenguchi bus berth between stops 8 and 9 | Round-trip ferry included | Bilingual guide in English and Spanish; entrance to Itsukushima Shrine; round-trip bus |
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| Hiroshima and Miyajima Full Day Bus Tour from Hiroshima — 8 hours 20 minutes, from 25,000 yen, 4.6 ★ (520 reviews) | Hotel Granvia Hiroshima 1F lobby, north (Shinkansen Plaza) side of the station | Included in the bus day | National government licensed English guide interpreter; Miyajima visitor tax and other admissions included |
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| Hiroden route 2 tram to Miyajima-guchi, then the Matsudai Kisen boat | Hiroshima Station tram stop, route 2 toward Hiroden-Miyajimaguchi | About 10 minutes | Pay as you get off on the tram, no tickets sold on board; the 1 Day Streetcar & Ferry Pass covers this boat and includes the visitor tax |
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| JR train to Miyajimaguchi, then the JR Miyajima Ferry | JR Hiroshima Station | About 10 minutes | Roughly every 15 minutes mid-day, 20 to 30 minutes early and late; the Hiroden pass is not valid on this ferry or on JR West trains |
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| World Heritage Sea Route boat, direct to Miyajima | Motoyasu Bridge pier, beside Peace Memorial Park | About 45 minutes each way | No land leg; the prefecture's own one-day model course allows 45 minutes for the boat |
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| High-speed boat from Hiroshima Port | Hiroshima Port | About 30 minutes | Roughly hourly; island visitor tax charged separately per person |
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Last boats, last trams and the shrine's closing hour
Two clocks matter at the end of the day. On the JR ferry's regular timetable the final sailing off Miyajima is in the 22:00 hour, around 22:14, with the last crossing out to the island around 22:42. The last route 2 tram that runs the whole way to Hiroden-Miyajimaguchi leaves the Hiroshima Station stop at 22:31; the first departure from that stop in the morning is 5:56 on route 5.
Work the outbound leg back from Itsukushima Shrine. Opening is 6:30am all year, and the closing hour is the figure your last useful boat has to respect. From 1 March to 14 October you have until 6:00pm; between 15 October and 30 November, and again from 4 January to the end of February, that falls back to 5:30pm; through December it is 5:00pm. Autumn colour season, with Japanese maple usually turning around 22 November, gives you the shortest afternoons of the year on the island.
Check the Miyajima Tourist Association's daily tide table before you fix a sailing. The table gives two different sets of times: the hours when the shrine reads as floating, and the hours when the sand in front of the Great Torii can be walked. Plenty of dates carry no walkable window whatsoever. A fixed-departure day cannot promise either view, so read the tide table first and pick your crossing afterwards.
Questions people ask
Can I get to Miyajima-guchi from Hiroshima Airport?
Yes. Airport buses are arranged by destination on the first floor, and stop 2 serves both Hiroshima Station and Miyajima-guchi. The limousine bus to the Shinkansen Gate of Hiroshima Station is scheduled at about 50 minutes, with services from the airport running between 07:20 and 21:55.
How often do the ferries run early in the morning and late at night?
Less often than at mid-day. JR's published timetable keeps a quarter-hour rhythm while the day is busy, then spaces boats 20 to 30 minutes apart at the two ends of the service. If you are aiming for a first boat or a last boat, confirm the day's sailings at the pier rather than assuming the 15-minute pattern.
Is the Miyajima visitor tax included in the tours on this site?
Several of them list it. The Hiroshima and Miyajima Full Day Bus Tour from Hiroshima and the two escorted bullet train days from Osaka and Kyoto include the Miyajima visitor tax along with other admissions and transport, and the Peaceful Hiroshima & Miyajima UNESCO 1 Day Bus Tour includes admission for Miyajima Island, the shrine and the Peace Memorial Museum. The private walking day lists the tax as a cash extra you pay on the island.
Does the sea route boat drop you at the same place as the ferry?
Both land you on Miyajima, but they are different journeys. Aqua Net Hiroshima's World Heritage Sea Route runs direct from the Motoyasu Bridge pier beside Peace Memorial Park and takes about 45 minutes each way, against about 10 minutes from Miyajima-guchi. Its timetable and seasonal frequency are not published on the official access pages used here, so confirm them with the operator.
Which crossing works best if I am also going up Mt. Misen?
The quick one from Miyajima-guchi. Ropeway cars run uphill only from 9:00 to 16:00 with the last descent at 16:30, so every minute spent on a 45-minute boat leg eats into the mountain. Take the 10-minute ferry out in the morning and keep the longer boat for a day when the island is your only stop.
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