Japan 🇯🇵 - Hiroshima

Tips 👏

• The Peace Memorial Museum is essential but emotionally heavy. Plan something lighter afterwards to decompress.
• Booking the museum in advance (like we did via Klook) is smart to avoid lines.
• Okonomiyaki is a specialty here, make sure to grab one during your stay!

🏠 Accommodation

We stayed at the Hotel Granvia Hiroshima South Gate and was amazing. Very comfy and modern room, lots of space, fantastic location (on top of the train station) and great price.

🍽️ Restaurants

• Okamoto: Located on L6 of the building, this was our first taste of Okonomiyaki. Delicious, friendly and fast!
• Lucky Bakery: A perfect spot for a mid-morning snack and to experience a Japanese/French spot.
• Okonomimura: The "Okonomiyaki Village." We went to the 3rd floor for dinner. The specific stall doesn't matter much as the standard is high everywhere in the building.

🚲 Getting there

We took the Shinkansen direct from Osaka and was perfect as always. The city is very well connected.

⏱ Duration

We spent one full day in Hiroshima which felt like enough time to cover the major historical sites and get a feel for the city's modern vibe.

Castle and Shrine 🏯

We started our day with a taxi ride to Hiroshima Castle. The original was destroyed in 1945, so this beautiful reconstruction stands as a symbol of the city's resilience. We also visited the Gokoku Shrine close to it. It was a calm and peaceful way to ease into the day before heading toward the more intense historical sites.

The Atomic Park 🕊️

From the castle, we walked toward the atomic site, stopping at Lucky Bakery on the way for a morale-boosting croissant. We walked through the Peace Memorial Park, taking in the Atomic Bomb Dome, the skeletal remains of the only building left standing near the hypocenter. We also visited the Peace Monument and various statues scattered throughout the park, including the Children's Peace Monument filled with paper cranes.

We then visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. This is a must-do experience. It offers a harsh, informative truth about the events of 1945. It is incredibly moving and difficult, but necessary to understand the scale of what happened here. Note that it was packed so maybe better to do so early morning.

Cheering Up & Shopping 🦉

After the heavy museum visit and depressed state of mind, we needed a serious mood lift, so we headed to "Owl de Base" for an hour to hang out with some owls. Very unusual but very Japanese (there's cafe of everything). We then explored Hondori Street for some shopping, including a stop at the chaotic and fun Don Quijote, before heading for a last amazing Okonomiyaki at the Okonomimura building.

Hope this was helpful, you can ask us any questions on Instagram.