We had 4 full days in Tokyo and although we knew there was more than enough to keep us busy in the city, we did want to explore outside of the city as well. We decided to take a day trip and after some research decided on Kamakura. About an hour away by train, we liked the idea of a coastal break from our city explorations.
As I worked on our itinerary, it seemed like it would be relatively easy to add in neighboring Enoshima, a small island about 25 minutes west of Kamakura by train. As I did with all of our daily itineraries, I mapped out everything that we might possibly want to see or do, knowing that we would drop things as we went based on both time and how we were feeling.
I went back and forth on whether to start in Kamakura or Enoshima and I ultimately decided that we wanted to end in Enoshima so that we could see the sunset from its dramatic coastal cliffs. Our final (somewhat aggressive) itinerary is below. (Spoiler alert… we did not make it to Enoshima.)
- Walk down Komachi-dori on our way to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine
- Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine
- Hasedera (Temple of Flowers)
- Kōtoku-in (Giant Buddha)
- Train to Enoshima
- Enoshima-jinja Shrine
- Samuel Cocking Garden
- Enoshima Sea Candle
- Sunset
While I think we could have done the bulk of this itinerary, we really loved Tsurugaoka Hachimangu and spent an unexpected amount of time there and generally lost steam to stay through dinner and sunset. So our actual itinerary ended up being fairly abbreviated but quite relaxed and enjoyable: Komachi-dori, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, Kōtoku-in, Wakamiya-oji Street, and Yuigahama Beach.
