Hiroshima was my personal must city when planning my first trip to Japan. I wanted to revive the history of this city and I didn’t care that I wasn’t following the traditional touristy Japan’s tour. Once there, I’ve also visited the most famous torii in Japan, which is located in the tiny island of Miyajima.
How many days do you need to visit Hiroshima?
In my case, I spent two days and one night in Hiroshima and I had enough time to visit the historical part of the city, which is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the Hiroshima castle.
If you want to spend more days in this city is okay, but if you don’t have a lot of time and you want to visit it, you’ll have enough with one day.
Where to stay in Hiroshima?
I stayed at The Evergreen Hostel and I paid €28 per night. I was sharing my bedroom with, at least nine other women, but all of them were very respectful and very quiet. This hostel was a bit old, but well maintained.
The only thing I complained about was that they don’t offer free towels and I had to go to one 7eleven to buy a small towel to dry myself after showering. Apart from that, everything was good and the location was exceptional, just a few minutes away walking from the Memorial Park.
What to do and to visit in Hiroshima?
The main touristic spot in Hiroshima, unfortunately, is the Memorial Peace Park and the Museum where you’ll find a deeper explanation of the nuclear bomb attack. «Little Boy», the name of the deadly weapon, was dropped by American planes over Hiroshima on the 6th of August, 1945.
After 75 years, you can still see the consequences of this awful attack. Thousands of people lost someone in this nuclear attack and others have physical injuries or malformations due to the high radiation.
I started my rout at the Atomic Bomb Dome where the atomic bomb was dropped. After that, I wandered around the Peace Park and I finished at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. There, you’ll understand why Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the chosen cities, how was that moment and testimonial videos explaining the consequences of this awful attack in 1945.
I’ve also had time to visit the Hiroshima castle and the parks surrounding it. I didn’t get inside, but I loved the outside. Under my point of view much more beautiful than the one in Osaka.
Where to eat in Hiroshima?
If you go to Hiroshima, you have to have okonomiyaki. Yes, as you read it. Hiroshima and Osaka, both consider okonomiyaki their traditional dish. I can’t decide which one is better, but the main difference for me is that the Hiroshima style contains noodles on it.
The best restaurant to have okonomiyaki in Hiroshima is Lopez Okonomiyaki. The owner is a man from Guatemala married with a Japanese woman who has received several awards for cooking one of the best okonomiyaki in Japan. Be careful, because he closes on Saturdays and Sundays!
If you can’t visit Lopez Okonomiyaki because is closed, the best alternative is Nagata-Ya Okonomiyaki. There was a huge line when I arrived, but the waiting was worthy. However, I found excessive the amount of scallions and soy sprouts on the okonomiyaki.
If you’re looking for breakfast, I highly recommend you Bakery Roti. A traditional bakery with a huge range of savoury and sweet pastries, perfect for breakfast or lunch.
If you are interested to know where to eat in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Miyajima, you can read this post.
How to get around Hiroshima?
I walked around everywhere, but you can use the trolley car which roam through the main avenue connecting the Hiroshima train station to the Memorial Peace Park. There’s also trains and buses.
Best season to visit Hiroshima
As in any Japanese city that I’ve visited, I would say the best seasons to visit Hiroshima are: spring and autumn. The weather is very nice, during the day is hot and cooler when the sun goes down. In summer, you can have temperatures of 30ºC and in winter 4ºC.
Hiroshima meant a lot to me because it helped to live in first person the disaster, but I’ve also seen how capable the humans are to rebuild everything again and start from scratch. The only thing that we still need to learn is how not to repeat the bad things we did in the past and try to progress, always, in peace and respect.
