Miyajima Ropeway to the Shishiiwa lookout
Miyajima Ropeway to the Shishiiwa lookoutPhoto: redlegsfan21 / CC BY-SA 2.0
The ropeway runs in two legs with a change at Kayatani: small 8-seat gondolas that leave about every minute, then a 35-seat car every 5 to 15 minutes.
- Getting there
- About 20 min on foot, uphill, from Miyajima Pier to Momijidani Station; about 15 min from the shrine exit — our estimates
Checked · Researched, not yet visited · times from official timetables and our estimates · Takumi Yamada
Two legs up Mount Misen: 8-seat gondolas for about 10 minutes, then a 35-seat car for about 4. Cars go up 9:00–16:00 and the last comes down at 16:30; adult ¥2,000 return. Online booking is required on the busy days the operator lists. The ropeway takes no strollers or wheelchairs and stops in high wind or thunder. On a call that sails at noon this lookout is as far as the time allows. On the longest calls walk on to the summit, which looks over the Inland Sea and its islands; Reikado hall on the way keeps a fire the Tourist Association says has burned for over 1,200 years, the one that lit the Flame of Peace in Hiroshima. With the ropeway both ways that needs about four hours from the landing.
- Number 2 of ten on our list for Miyajima.
- On a 4–6h ashore call our verdict is "The lookout only" — up to Shishiiwa and straight down, if your hours ashore fall between 9:00 and 16:30.
- Up 09:00–16:00 — last car down 16:30, as posted by the operator; it stops in high wind or thunder.
- 2 hr 30 min door to door needs a 4.5-hour call: a 2–3 hour stop cannot hold it. Pick something closer instead.
- It is a view, so it is weather. Check the morning sky before you commit the hours.
Things worth knowing
- Check the operator's list of booking days before your call.
- No strollers or wheelchairs: they are left at Momijidani Station.
- The first car goes up at 9:00, so on an early call see the shrine first.
Miyajima Ropeway to the Shishiiwa lookout and your ship
Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.
Where the 2 hr 30 min goes
The hour before all-aboard is not in this bar; it is already set aside. The minutes are our estimates from timetables and maps, not timed on the ground.
If your ship is late, cut the 1 hr 50 min in the middle. Never cut the hour at the end.
Questions
Do I need to book the Miyajima Ropeway?
Only on the days the operator lists as booking days; it posts them for the next three months. On other days you buy a ticket at Momijidani Station.
How long does the ropeway take?
About 10 minutes on the first leg and 4 on the second, with a change at Kayatani. From the landing to the Shishiiwa lookout and back, allow about two and a half hours.
Routes that already include it
Finished days timed from official timetables and our estimates, with this stop in them.
What to put beside it
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.
3 hr 15 min for bothMomiji manju at Fujiiya
Momiji manju are small maple-leaf cakes filled with bean paste, the island’s standard gift.
See the detail
3 hr 15 min for bothThe shore walk and the deer
About 500 wild deer live on the island and about 200 of them in the town, mostly along the shore between the ferry terminal and the shrine.
See the detail
3 hr 30 min for bothSenjokaku and the Five-storied Pagoda
On the hill above the shrine stand the vermilion Five-storied Pagoda and Senjokaku, the large wooden hall the shrine lists as Hokoku Shrine.
See the detail