Our last stop in Kamakura was Yuigahama Beach. Kamakura is a popular day trip from Tokyo not just for tourists looking to visit its temples and shrines but also for locals looking for a weekend beach getaway.
There are three main beaches in Kamakura – Zaimokuza, Shichirigahama, and Yuigahama. Zaimokuza is a great option for water sports, with paddle boarding and windsurfing ranking among its top activities. Shichirigahama boasts views of Enoshima and Mount Fuji but swimming is not allowed due to water conditions. Yuigahama is the most convenient, popular, and family and swimming friendly of the beaches.
We didn’t go to Kamakura to have a beach day but we stopped by Yuigahama, mostly just to see what a beach in Japan was like. Our visit was probably not the greatest representation. It was cloudy and there weren’t any views to speak of. It wasn’t technically beach season yet so none of the beach amenities were setup. Although it was late June and we were on our summer break, school was not out in Japan yet. So 4:00 on a Tuesday before the start of summer was not prime beach time.
Even with that understanding, I didn’t find the beach itself all that impressive. It was relatively wide and flat. The surf was calm and looked like it would be nice for swimming. But the sand was sort of blackish brown with lots of sticks and beach debris and was not really soft to walk on. Overall it just wasn’t an especially pretty beach at the time we were there. But I suspect it is cleaner, livelier, and more scenic on sunny summer days. You are obviously not going to find a tropical beach an hour outside of Tokyo, and the fact that there is a beach at all is a huge benefit to the area. I can understand why Kamakura is such a popular getaway from the city.
