Hiroshima Travel Tips for First-Timers
Most of what trips up first-time visitors to Hiroshima is ordinary Japan-wide practical stuff, currency, tipping, cash, plus one genuinely local point: how to carry yourself at the Peace Park. Here’s what actually matters.
Behave respectfully at the Peace Park and Itsukushima Shrine
The Peace Memorial Park, the A-Bomb Dome and the Peace Memorial Museum are places of remembrance, not photo backdrops; keep your voice down, dress reasonably, and treat the memorials with the same register you’d bring to any solemn historic site. Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima is an active site of worship as well as a sight, so the same respectful behavior applies there too.
Carry cash, even in 2026
Japan remains comparatively cash-reliant despite its reputation for high-tech convenience. Cards and IC cards cover a lot of ground, but smaller okonomiyaki counters, older guesthouses and some shrines still prefer cash. 7-Eleven and Japan Post ATMs reliably accept foreign-issued cards for yen withdrawals, so they’re the easiest backup if your hotel doesn’t take cards.
Get an IC card on day one
An ICOCA (or Suica/Pasmo) card taps onto the Hiroden trams, city buses, the JR ferry to Miyajima, and most convenience stores, letting you skip individual ticket purchases for the length of your stay. Pick one up at Hiroshima Station as soon as you arrive.
Never tip
Tipping isn’t practiced in Japan and can genuinely confuse or mildly offend restaurant and hotel staff; service is already built into the price. Leave it out entirely and say a simple thank you instead.
Know the shinkansen and JR Pass gotcha
The Japan Rail Pass does not cover Nozomi or Mizuho, the fastest Sanyō Shinkansen services; pass holders ride the slightly slower Hikari, Sakura or Kodama instead, or pay a supplement to board the faster train. It’s a well-known trap for first-time visitors booking their Tokyo-Osaka-Hiroshima route.
Time your trip around the season, not just the calendar
Spring (roughly late March to early April) and autumn (especially November) bring the best weather and scenery, cherry blossoms and foliage respectively. Summer is hot, humid, and brings both the tsuyu rainy season and typhoon risk into September, so check forecasts if you’re traveling then. The 6 August anniversary of the atomic bombing is a solemn, ceremonial day in the city; if your dates land near it, expect a different, more reflective atmosphere at the Peace Park rather than a typical sightseeing crowd.
Mind ordinary transit etiquette
Keep phone calls off trams and trains, queue in the marked spots on platforms, and take your shoes off where indicated, at temples, traditional inns and some restaurants. None of this is unique to Hiroshima, but it’s consistently enforced by everyone around you, which makes it easy to pick up fast.
For the fuller planning picture, see the main Hiroshima travel guide or the things to do guide . One concrete tip: buy your IC card and a little cash the moment you land, before you’ve even found your hotel; it removes two small frictions from every single day that follows.