A Second Trip to Hiroshima (2026): The Setouchi Islands & Quiet Coast

On a first trip to Hiroshima you do the Peace Park and Miyajima, and rightly so. On a second trip you discover that the prefecture’s best days were the ones you didn’t have time for — the slow port of Onomichi, the design hotels and lemon groves of the Setoda islands, and Tomonoura, the tidal harbour that time and tourism largely passed by. This is the Hiroshima of the Seto Inland Sea, a long necklace of bridges, ferries and small islands that almost no foreign visitor reaches, and it suits the traveller who has already ticked the headline sights and now wants sea air, space and somewhere beautiful to sleep. This guide maps the second-trip route, drawing on our Onomichi and Setoda islands itinerary and our quiet Tomonoura itinerary.

At a glance: for a repeat visitor who has already done the Peace Park and Miyajima · the eastern, island side of Hiroshima · Onomichi and Setoda for design and cycling, Tomonoura for a quiet onsen coast · 3–4 days, with a car helpful east of Fukuyama · spring and autumn are ideal, summer best for the islands.

Why the second trip goes east

Hiroshima’s famous sights sit in the west of the prefecture; its quietest pleasures lie in the east, along the Inland Sea toward Onomichi, the islands and Fukuyama. This is the Setouchi the cycling world knows through the Shimanami Kaido and the art world is starting to know through nearby island projects, but the Hiroshima stretch remains genuinely uncrowded. The appeal is not a single attraction but a register — hillside ports, citrus terraces dropping to the water, retro ferries, and a handful of exceptional small hotels that have opened among the old houses. It rewards a slower clock and a willingness to take the boat.

Onomichi: the hillside port

Onomichi is the gateway and the place most second-trippers fall for first. It is a hillside port of tiled rooftops, temple lanes, well-loved cats and a famous literary walk, and it is where the Shimanami Kaido island-cycling route begins. Arrive for a bowl of the town’s distinctive ramen — a clear soy broth on a small-fish stock from the Inland Sea, topped with squares of pork back-fat — then ride the little ropeway up Senkoji-yama for the view over the strait and walk back down the temple lane through some twenty-five temples and old stone alleys. The 806-founded Senkoji, its red main hall clinging to the rocks, is the landmark.

What makes Onomichi a second-trip base rather than a day stop is where you can sleep. LOG is a 1960s apartment block on the temple slope reworked by the Indian studio Studio Mumbai into a six-room boutique hotel of hand-finished plaster, with a café and a bar over the rooftops. For cyclists, ONOMICHI U2 is a converted 1940s harbour warehouse with a cycle-friendly hotel, a bakery, a bar and a bike shop — and the place to rent a bicycle for the islands. You do not have to cycle the whole 70-kilometre route to Imabari; even a short ride out over the first bridge gives you the sensation of the sea route.

The Setoda islands: design and lemons

From Onomichi, cross to Ikuchijima — by the bridge-hopping Shimanami route if you cycle, or a fast ferry if you don’t — for the island village of Setoda. Its centrepiece is Kosanji, an extravagant temple complex built from the 1930s by a steel magnate turned priest in memory of his mother, recreating famous temples from across Japan in vivid colour, with a winding ‘Thousand Buddhas’ cave beneath and the startling white-marble hilltop of Miraishin no Oka above. Nearby, the Hirayama Ikuo Museum of Art honours the Setoda-born master of modern Nihonga whose Silk Road paintings made him one of Japan’s most beloved 20th-century artists — a calm hour after the temple’s exuberance.

The reason to stay rather than day-trip is Azumi Setoda, the debut property of the Azumi brand from Aman’s creator Adrian Zecha: a restored 140-year-old merchant compound with around 22 rooms and an onsen bathhouse, Yubune, across the lane. It is the finest stay in the islands and a destination in its own right, set among the lemon groves that the island is known for — try the Setoda-lemon gelato at the marble hilltop café while you are here. A night in Onomichi and a night at Azumi Setoda is the spine of the island half of a second trip.

Tomonoura: the quiet coast

Further east, past Fukuyama, lies the quietest place of all: Tomonoura, a tidal port of stone lighthouses and Edo merchant houses that inspired the film ‘Ponyo’ and still moves at the pace of the tides. This is the second trip at its most restful. Walk the old harbour on foot — the 1859 Joyato lighthouse on the quay, the temple hall of Fukuzenji Taichoro that Korean envoys called the finest sea view in Japan, the Ota Residence of the families who brewed the town’s medicinal liqueur, and the little museum of the Irohamaru, the reformer Sakamoto Ryoma’s steamship that sank offshore in 1867. Stay at Migiwatei Ochi Kochi, a small onsen ryokan with around 17 ocean-view rooms, each with its own open-air hot-spring bath over the harbour.

From a Tomonoura base, the next day takes the retro ferry to the wild little island of Sensuijima for a morning walk among its banded ‘five-coloured rock’ shore, then the coast to the cliff-edge Abuto Kannon hall, perched over the sea, and the great rebuilt Fukuyama Castle, whose keep was restored for the city’s 400th anniversary in 2022. A hire car makes this coastal stretch far easier than the sparse buses, and it is the difference between seeing one sight and stringing the coast together.

Making it one trip

The natural shape is three to four days: a night in Onomichi, a night at Azumi Setoda for the islands, then over to Tomonoura for a night on the quiet coast, finishing at Fukuyama for the bullet train onward. If you have already based in Hiroshima city on a previous trip, you can skip the west entirely and run this as a self-contained Setouchi loop, arriving by train at Onomichi or Fukuyama. The one logistical note worth carrying: Japan’s international departure tax rises from ¥1,000 to ¥3,000 from July 1, 2026, included in your outbound fare. Beyond that, this is a route that rewards leaving room in the day — for a second coffee over the harbour, a longer ride along the sea, or simply the ferry timetable, which here is part of the pleasure rather than a problem to solve.

FAQ

Is the Seto Inland Sea worth visiting on a second trip to Japan? For many repeat visitors it is the highlight. The Hiroshima stretch — Onomichi, the Setoda islands and Tomonoura — offers hillside ports, design hotels, a famous cycle route and a genuinely uncrowded coast, all within easy reach of the bullet-train network. It suits travellers who have done the headline sights and want space and sea air.

Do I need to cycle the Shimanami Kaido to enjoy the islands? No. The Shimanami Kaido is a wonderful ride, but you can reach Ikuchijima and Setoda by fast ferry from Onomichi and still see Kosanji, the marble hilltop, the Hirayama museum and Azumi Setoda. Even a short ride over the first bridge from Onomichi gives a taste of the route without committing to the full distance.

How many days do I need for Onomichi, Setoda and Tomonoura? Three to four days is comfortable: a night in Onomichi, a night at Azumi Setoda on Ikuchijima, and a night in Tomonoura, finishing at Fukuyama. You can compress it to two nights if you skip one base, but the slow pace is the point of this route.

Do I need a car for Tomonoura and the eastern coast? A car helps a great deal east of Fukuyama, where rail and buses thin out and the best spots — Sensuijima’s ferry, the Abuto Kannon hall, the coast itself — are spread along the shore. Onomichi, Setoda and Tomonoura’s old port are walkable, but the coastal stretch is far easier with a hire car.

When is the best time to visit the Setouchi islands? Spring and autumn are ideal for mild weather and clear sea views, and summer is the classic island season, lush and bright, though warm. The Setoda lemon groves are green year-round; if you cycle, avoid the peak of summer heat and check the weather, as the bridges are exposed to wind.

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