Where to stay in Hiroshima

Three kinds of nightWhere to stay in Hiroshima

The choice is really about what kind of night you want. A hot-spring inn feeds you twice and stops you moving. A city hotel is the right answer if you are arriving late or leaving early.

A ryokan or hot-spring inn旅館・温泉宿

Dinner and breakfast brought to you, a bath, and floor bedding laid out while you eat. The price is per person and includes both meals.

Includes 2 meals Book ahead

See ryokan and onsen inns › How an onsen works

A city hotelホテル

Clean, small, reliable and priced per room. Right for early trains, late arrivals and anyone travelling with a large suitcase.

Per roomNear the station

See hotels in Hiroshima › Getting around

A guesthouse or minshuku民宿・ゲストハウス

Family-run, cheaper, and often the only option in the countryside.

Ask about cashRural areas

See guesthouses and minshuku ›

Our first choice in Hiroshima is named below.

Looking for a room in Hiroshima tonight?

MAP How an onsen works

BookingSix things worth asking before you pay

Ask about these

Meals: Whether dinner and breakfast are included, and what time dinner is served. Inns often serve at a fixed time and will not wait
Tattoos: Ask whether the bath admits them, and ask about a private bath
Private bath: Kashikiri. Many inns have one, and it removes the question of bathing with strangers entirely
Payment: Card or cash. Rural inns are often cash only
Arrival time: Tell them. Inns lock up earlier than hotels
Luggage: They will hold it before check-in and after check-out. Just ask

What a night at an inn is like

Shoes: Off at the entrance. Slippers inside; nothing on the straw matting
The robe: A cotton yukata is provided and is worn to dinner and to the bath. Left side over right
Dinner: Many small dishes, often in your room or a dining room at a set time
Bedding: Laid out on the floor, usually while you are eating
Bathing: Before dinner and again before bed is normal here
Breakfast: Rice, fish, egg, pickles. Ask the night before if you need it early

How an onsen works

Our first choice hereThe one we would book

Iwaso岩惣 — I-wa-so

This is the one to aim for in Hiroshima, and the reason is the evening. It opened in 1854 and it is on the island, in the maple valley behind the shrine. Only 38 rooms. The last ferries take the day visitors back to the mainland, the great gate is lit, and the streets empty almost completely — and if you are staying here, you are still on the island when that happens.

The floating gate is lit after dark and there is no gate and no closing time on the shore. You can walk out to it at ten at night. Almost every visitor to Miyajima leaves before evening, and the evening is the best part of it.
Work the tide, not the clock. High water for the gate standing in the sea, low water to walk out and stand under it — and the two are six hours apart. Staying the night is the only way to catch both.
It is in the maple valley, which is the reason the second half of November is the busiest fortnight of the year here. Book far ahead for that, or come in early summer when the same valley is green and quiet.
The deer are on the island and they are unbothered by people. They will take paper out of your hand. Give them only the crackers sold on the island, and keep tickets and maps in a bag.

Where: On Miyajima island itself, at the entrance to Momijidani (the maple valley) — about three minutes on foot from Itsukushima Shrine
Address: Momijidani, Miyajima-cho, Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima 739-0522
Telephone: 0829-44-2233
Booking: Through the official site, or the booking services below

Worth knowing

Bring what you need onto the island. There is no large shop and the last ferry matters if you plan to eat on the mainland — do not. Eat here. The grilled oysters on the front and the maple-leaf cakes made in front of you are the local things. One of the two ferry operators is JR, so a Japan Rail Pass covers that crossing.

Checked 2026-08-17

MAP Call Official site

Where to stay & onsen