Name: 4 Side Trips from Hiroshima for Every Traveler
Uploaded: 2026-03-04T01:28:05.000Z
Duration: 9 min 40 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Today we're going to look at four different side trips you can easily do from Hiroshima and what kind of traveler they each suit to get your bearings.

Here's the side trip you probably already know.

But our first side trip for the history buffs is just a little bit further out in Imakuni.

Trip number two is for the adventurer in the forest forests of Sandankyo.

Number three for the culture lovers, a day at the beautiful Shimose Art Museum.

And four is for the foodies, the atmospheric sake town of Saijo.

Even if you don't really like sake, I really recommend this town because I instantly fell in love with it.

Each of these trips take about an hour to reach from Hiroshima center, with three of them easily connected to Hiroshima Station by JR Trains and SanDankyo via bus.

And we're starting with the historic spot of Iwakuni.

So it's over to you, history buff Cassandra.

Behind me, you can see the iconic Kintaikyo Bridge.

The bridge design dates back to the 1600s, when the clan lord of Iwakuni wanted to connect the castle town to the castle and residence, but

Inspired by an illustration of a six arched bridge in China, the clan lord ordered a bridge with four pillars connected by five arches to be made with the idea that it would be flood proof.

And a year later, it was swept away by a flood.

But they kept careful record of the structure, so over the years, whenever it was rebuilt or renovated, it kept its original arched shape.

Is there anything else to do in the area?

Yes, there are a few local cafes and restaurants around, so I'm going to grab something at Kofudo Cafe.

Of course, when the castle was first built, there was no ropeway, which made it the perfect natural defense spot on top of the mountain and with a natural moat of the Nishki River.

A funny fact about this castle, though, is that the modern reconstruction has far outlasted the original.

The castle took five years to build in 1608, but

was ordered to be torn down by the Shogun just seven years later.

This reconstruction that we see today, however, came about in the 1960s and is still going.

It was so cold up there, and the next place was actually pretty cold too.

But we were doing so much exercise that I warmed up pretty quickly.

And that's because this is the adventure trip and this is Sandang Kyo.

These days I just love a good hike just as much as a city break.

It's just good to get the blood pumping, you know.

And you know those beautiful Chinese landscape paintings.

This gorge got its name San Dankyo when a famous photographer visited and was reminded of those atmospheric paintings, creating the name from two natural Chinese landmarks.

If you like to hike, then you can basically choose how little or how long you want to hike for as there are various walking routes going from the 20 minute return all the way up to a proper five hour return hike.

If you're wondering, I did the two hour return.

If you're looking for something that's not too crazy, it's also the minimum that you need to do if you want to go on the scenic 10 minute boat ride.

Not far from Miyajima, the Shimose Art Museum opened just a few years ago in 2023 and houses an ever changing collection of temporary exhibitions.

This is definitely a day for taking it slow because the Shimose Art Museum has quite a spacious area to explore.

A big part of what makes this museum special is the movable gallery.

These colorful containers actually contain exhibition rooms and are inspired by the islands of the Seto in the sea.

The movable galleries and reflective glass concept were designed by one of Japan's most famous architects, Ban Shigeru.

He also found inspiration from the museum's collection of Emile Galle pieces to create the atmospheric movable galleries and garden to the north.

I will admit that our winter visit doesn't give the most colorful impression of the garden, but

And they have different flowers and trees that bloom throughout the year.

And there is even a restaurant nearby facing the sparkling sea.

And because it's me and I love food culture, I can't resist introducing you to the sake town of Saijo.

I visited before for our Hiroshima island hopping video and it was one of the most memorable towns I visited this year.

I'll be honest, I'm actually not much of a sake expert myself, but

sake is such an important part of Japanese food culture that it's great to learn a bit about it while exploring a cute town.

Last time I visited Kamotsuru and its mini museum, so this time I decided excited to try out Fukubijin Shuzo.

I'm so happy I get to Drink alcohol for work.

Definitely good for if it's your first time drinking sake and you like sweeter ones.

That's definitely a lot drier than this one.

But still, like, overall a very sweet sake.

It kind of has like a fruity finish, I would say.

So if you don't like super sweet alcohol, but

it's your first time with sake, then maybe the shizuku.

And if you like sweet sake, you like sweet alcohol, and

it's your first time drinking sake, then whatever.

And this area is known as a sake brewery street because of its concentration of seven main breweries still going strong today.

As you walk around, you'll notice the white walls, red tiled roofs, and giant chimneys.

These are markers of the breweries themselves.

Even if you don't like drinking straight sake, then there are a bunch of restaurants and shops where you can try sake in food instead.

Let's see what sake snacks we can find in here.

But this one that I just had was a cannellini bean.

I think it's because probably this outside is made with sake leaves.

We had Sandankyo for the adventurers, Shimose Art Museum for the culture lovers, and Saijo for the foodies.

I think if I had to choose just one, I would be pretty torn between San Dankyo and Saijo.