Miyajima is not planned around opening times.
It is planned around how many centimetres the tide is.

This article contains promotional content (PR). We include affiliate links to Klook and Rakuten Travel Experiences for booking admission tickets. If you book through these links, we may earn a commission to help run the site (at no extra cost to you). Prices, opening hours and closing days are compiled neutrally from each venue's official information, and venues we have no partnership with are listed on exactly the same basis.

Read the tide as "how many centimetres", not "high or low"

The Miyajima Tourist Association publishes the thresholds as numbers. Below 100 cm you can walk out to the great torii; above 250 cm the shrine and torii appear to float on the sea.

• The association's tide table states plainly that "below 100 cm you can walk out" and "above 250 cm it appears to float" (as of 31 August 2026)
• At the same time, the association writes clearly that "the shrine is on the sea because it is high tide" and "you can walk to the torii because it is low tide" are wrong explanations. It is decided not by the words high and low tide but by the tide level in centimetres at that hour on that day
• Reading the table takes three steps. 1. Open the day you want. 2. Find the hours below 100 cm. 3. Find the hours above 250 cm.
• The association's tide table is based on tide data for the Port of Hiroshima and covers all 365 days of the year

This article does not print a tide table for specific dates. It would be out of date the moment we did. What we want you to take away are two numbers, 100 and 250, and the three steps above.

Days when you can see both are rarer than you think

Counted against the 2026 forecast, both "under 100 cm" and "over 250 cm" occur on the same day on 302 of 365 days (83%). But the number of days where both fall between 8:00 and 17:00 drops to 89 (24%).

This is the result of counting all 365 days of the 2026 and 2027 forecasts in the tide tables published by the Japan Meteorological Agency (Hiroshima, station code Q8).

Furthermore, of the 89 days when both fall within daylight, 82 run in the order "floating, then walkable". In other words, on nearly all of them the shrine floats in the morning and you can walk to the torii in the afternoon; the reverse order (walk in the morning, float in the afternoon) happens on only 7 days.

• There is a monthly pattern too. In the 2026 forecast, April, May and September have 11 such days each, while December has 2. In winter there are almost no days when both fall within daylight
• The figures here are JMA forecasts (astronomical tide). Actual levels shift with air pressure and wind. On the day itself, always check the Miyajima Tourist Association's tide table

→ The conclusion for a large family: if you want the floating shrine, cross in the morning; if you choose walking out to the great torii, cross in the afternoon. That is the most reliable structure the 2026 and 2027 tide data supports.

The Peace Memorial Museum publishes no official age guidance

The museum publishes neither an age limit nor a recommended age. That is what we found, and it is the fact. So this article will not write "suitable from age X" either. Instead, we will tell you how the building is divided. What gives you something to decide on is the structure of the building.

• The permanent exhibition is laid out as East Building 2F "The Path of Hiroshima" / East Building 3F "Hiroshima Before the Bombing", "Lives Lost", "The Danger of Nuclear Weapons" and the survivor testimony video corner
• East Building 1F is a free zone with the information desk, shop and ticket counter. This is what matters for a large family
• In other words, it is not a choice between "everyone goes in" and "whoever doesn't waits outside". There is a place inside the same building, on the ground floor, where you can wait without a ticket. In a Hiroshima summer, that means not leaving a small child outdoors

Admission is 200 yen for adults (university students and above), 100 yen for high-school students and free for junior-high students and younger. Over-65s pay 100 yen and holders of a disability certificate are free. For a family of six — two adults, one high-school student and three primary-school children — that is 500 yen. The money is barely the issue.

The practicalities with children (all from official sources)

• Four pushchairs are available to borrow (and six wheelchairs), by asking at the information desk on East Building 1F
• They will look after your pushchair while you go round. Again, at the information desk
• Breastfeeding is handled case by case rather than in a permanent nursing room. Ask at the information desk or a security guard and you will be shown to a room in East Building B1F or the Main Building
• The accessible toilet with a nappy-changing table is on East Building 3F. The toilets in the Main Building and on East Building B1F and 1F are equipped too
• East Building 1F has 96 coin lockers with a returnable 100 yen coin, so you need not carry your bags round

Booking matters not because it is cheaper but because you cannot change the number of people

The early-morning and evening slots require advance online booking, and on the day tickets are sold neither at the machines nor at the counter. And once booked, you can change neither the number of people nor the date and time.

• Each slot is capped at 300 people
• Individuals can book 1 to 29 people in a single reservation (30 or more counts as a group and uses a different form). Whether six or eight, you will not be split across bookings and the family will not end up entering at different times
• Bookings open at midnight 90 days before your visit. Payment is by credit card, PayPay or deferred payment
• During normal opening hours you can also buy at the counter on the day. However, the museum recommends booking online because it gets busy and buying on the day takes time
• Closing days are 30 and 31 December, plus the exhibition changeover period in mid-February

→ The bigger your family, the more care this needs. If you book for seven and one person falls ill, you cannot reduce the number. If you are taking an early-morning or evening slot, think first about whether everyone can reliably be on their feet at that hour. If in doubt, a same-day ticket in normal hours gives a large family more room to manoeuvre.

You can buy and book web tickets from the museum's official information page. The museum splits its sales channels: "Asoview" for the domestic market and Klook for overseas visitors.

Somewhere for the children who won't go in — outside the park

There are two places, both free and both within walking distance of the Peace Memorial Park, for a child who is not going into the museum.

On Miyajima the family sums go wrong because every age cut-off is different

Each venue defines "adult" differently. The same 12-year-old pays the adult price at one place and nothing at another.

• Itsukushima Shrine also sells a combined ticket with the Treasure Hall (500 yen adult / 300 yen high school / 150 yen primary and junior high). For the family above, that is 1,750 yen. Senjokaku is separate, at 100 yen for adults and 50 yen for primary and junior-high students
• Opening and closing: 6:30-17:30 from 4 January to the end of February, 6:30-18:00 from 1 March to 14 October, 6:30-17:30 from 15 October to 30 November, and 6:30-17:00 in December. The Treasure Hall is 8:00-17:00 year-round and Senjokaku 8:30-16:30 year-round
• The museum and Itsukushima Shrine alone come to 1,600 yen for six. Add the ropeway and it is 10,600 yen. The dominant cost of the day is the Mount Misen ropeway

→ Write down the four cut-offs. "Age 12 / high school / primary school / pre-school". Japanese venues each choose a different one of these four, so the more people in the family, the further your estimate drifts.

Before you go up Mount Misen

• The Momijidani line gondolas hold eight (one every minute, about a 10-minute ride). A family of six fits in one car; seven or more will be split. The Shishiiwa line beyond it holds 35 (every 5-15 minutes, about 4 minutes) and requires a change
• You cannot board while using a pushchair or wheelchair. You will leave it at the station
• Fares are 2,000 yen return / 1,100 yen one way for adults (12 and over) and 1,000 yen return / 550 yen one way for children (6 to under 12). Pre-school children aged 1 to under 6 travel free, one per accompanying adult; a second child pays the child fare. Operating hours are 9:00-16:00 (last descent 16:30). A free shuttle bus to Momijidani station runs from 9:50 at roughly 20-minute intervals
• On "designated days" in busy periods, advance booking is compulsory. Most weekends and public holidays in the autumn-leaf season are designated (in 2026, 19-22 September, 11 October, and the weekends and holidays in November, among others). Booking opens three months ahead. If you want to secure places for the whole family together, check the official service information as soon as your dates are set
• Every year there is a long closure of the whole line for scheduled maintenance. Trails near the summit are sometimes closed too. Always check the official service and suspension notices before you go
• The official guide allows about an hour for the ropeway return trip and the area around the summit station, and about another hour to walk to the summit of Mount Misen and back. Allow about two hours in total

The deer eat paper — do not let children carry the tickets

"Don't feed the deer" is not enough on Miyajima. What gets targeted is the paper in a child's hand.

• According to the Miyajima Tourist Association, about 500 deer live on the island, of which about 200 are in the town
• The association states that "much of today's paper is chemically treated, and the deer eating it repeatedly is dangerous to their lives". Paper is poison to the deer
• On plastic, too, the association writes that "they eat plastic by mistake, and it does not digest in the stomach but hardens like a stone". It asks visitors not to "casually feed the deer" and to "please take your rubbish home"

→ What this means for a large family: children want to hold their own ferry ticket, leaflet, map and shrine entry slip. To a deer, those look like food. One adult holds all the paper tickets. That alone removes almost every small mishap on the island.

There is almost nowhere to shelter on the island in the rain

The standard fallback of "the aquarium if it rains" does not work in winter. Miyajima Aquarium is closed from 1 December 2026 to 31 March 2027.

• When open, hours are 9:00-17:00 (last entry 16:00). Admission is 1,420 yen general (including high-school students), 710 yen junior high, 710 yen primary school, 400 yen for children aged 4 to pre-school and free under 4
• A family visiting Hiroshima in winter cannot put the aquarium in the plan. There are not many indoor alternatives on the island. Shifting rainy days to the city side is the realistic answer
• The Miyajima side is mostly outdoors. Do not count on buying rainwear there — bring one set per person from your accommodation

On the city side, the fallbacks are concentrated in the Motomachi area, within walking distance of the Peace Memorial Park. Besides the free Children's Museum (closed Mondays), Hiroshima Motomachi Aquarium opened in October 2025. It is on the 7th floor of Pacela at 6-78 Motomachi, Naka-ku, walkable from the park. Hours are 10:00-19:00 (last entry 30 minutes before closing) and admission is 2,000 yen for adults (junior-high students and above), 1,200 yen for primary-school children, and free for one child aged 3 or over per adult, 500 yen from the second child, and free under 3. This is the place that means you need not give up on an aquarium during the winter when Miyajima Aquarium is closed.

How to build the day (two versions, by tide)

"Floating shrine in the morning, walking to the torii in the afternoon" is the most natural order on a day when both fall within daylight. On any other day, pick one.

How to cross to Miyajima (ferry and World Heritage Sea Route fares and journey times) is set out in our transport guide from Kansai to Hiroshima and Miyajima. We do not repeat those figures here.

FAQ: the Peace Memorial Park and Miyajima in one day

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