Our original itinerary had us spending the night on Miyajima. But after a wasted overnight in Hakone and a growing tiredness of changing hotels, we decided to extend our hotel in Hiroshima and visit Miyajima as a day trip.
I wanted to be flexible with our itinerary on Miyajima, leaving us time to explore unexpected places or spend more time at places that particularly drew us in. But roughly we wanted to include the following:
- explore the town
- visit Itsukushima Shrine (preferably at both low and high tide)
- visit the Five-Storied Pagoda and Senjōkaku Hall
- take the Miyajima Ropeway to the top of Mt. Misen
- visit the Mt. Misen Observatory
- hike down, with stops at the Eternal Flame of Reikado Hall and Daisho-In Temple
- watch the sunset over the floating torii gate
But our change in overnight plans wasn’t the only thing that ended up changing. About a month before our trip, Reikado Hall was destroyed in a tragic fire. (Thankfully the eternal flame was saved.) We figured the views and the hike would still be worthwhile. However, when we got off the boat and asked for directions to the ropeway, we were told that it was closed for repairs. So the only way we would be walking down would be if we walked all the way up first, which was no easy (or quick) feat. And finally, we had to pivot yet again when we saw that the Five-Storied Pagoda was covered in scaffolding and closed to the public.
Although our actual day on the island didn’t include many of the original sites on our itinerary, we still had an amazing visit. The Daisho-In Temple was an unexpected highlight and because several of our stops had been eliminated, we had plenty of time to thoroughly explore the fascinating grounds. And we were so lucky to get to see the floating torii gate at both high and low tides and even to get to walk out to it at low tide. Yes, we missed a few of the highlights (which gives me an excuse to go back!) but I wouldn’t change anything about how our day turned out. Our visit to Miyajima was a great example of the importance of maintaining flexibility in your travel plans and being open to different experiences.
