Hiking in and around Hiroshima by Simon
There are many hikes around Hiroshima. To do them all and see all the famous attraction around Hiroshima you’d have to spend at least a week in the city.
I’ll describe three nice hikes here. All of them can be done in half a day and easily accessible.
Mitaki
If you want to get a good overview of the city head up to Mitakiyama. It takes about an hour from the entrance of Mitaki temple.
The entrance itself is just an easy 40 minute walk away from the hostel. The whole hike will most likely take around 3 hours, but even if you don’t feel like hiking up a hill Mitaki Temple itself is worth checking out.
To get to the start of the trail to the top of the mountain walk around the last temple and up the stairs. You’ll soon end up a in a beautiful bamboo forest. Perfect for a little photo session.
Continue to follow the trail until the path splits. Follow the sign that tells you to walk to the right towards Mitakiyama. Pretty soon you will reach the top and be rewarded with a great view of Hiroshima and the bay.
Mount Shiraki
If you need a little more exercise Mt. Shiraki is a good destination. To get there take the train from Hiroshima station to Shirakiyama station. (There’s no IC Card reader at Shirakiyama station so you have to buy a physical ticket)
After arriving at the station turn left across the tracks and follow the road. Soon you’ll see a sign and stairs on your right. Just follow these to the top. The path is easy to follow though relatively steep at times. Most people will probably take two hours to reach the top. If you are fit you can do it in an hour, but it’s not a race.
For the way back you have two options. Either you back down the way you came or follow the ridge towards Naka-Fukawa station. The latter route is not signposted so you should have a map at hand.
Mount Noro
Mt Noro is about one hour away by train, but a little easier than the hike up Mt Shiraki.
From Hiroshima Station catch the train to Hiro and change there to another train bound for Takehara and Mihara. Get off the train in Aki-Kawajiri. The ticket should be around ¥770 and you’ll need a paper ticket since the IC card readers are probably not in service at your final destination.
From the station turn left and you’ll see a sign pointing you towards Mt Noro. Helpfully, this sign is written in Japanese and English! Remember the Kanji for it because the following signs will be written in Kanji.
After around 30 minutes walking through the town you’ll get to the trail head. Just keep following the signs through the forest and up the hill until you reach the top. Parts of it will be a little steep but the view from the top on clear day is amazing!
