Sakuraya, Hotel Makoto, Seaside Hotel, Mikuniya: Miyajima Inns

Besides the big ryokan, Miyajima has a handful of smaller places to stay. Four on the island are often looked up by name: Miyajima Seaside Hotel (a seafront inn with kaiseki dinners and a free shuttle), Sakuraya (room-only, 3 minutes from the ferry, with an oyster bar), Miyajima Hotel Makoto (a six-storey Japanese inn 5 minutes from the pier, with kaiseki and a free private bath) and Miyajima Guesthouse Mikuniya (an English-speaking guesthouse near Momijidani with breakfast and a vegan curry dinner included). Across the water, Grandvrio Hotel Miyajima Wakura in Miyajimaguchi has a natural hot spring with an open-air bath looking towards Miyajima.

*This article contains advertising (affiliate links).

The details below come from each inn’s own website, checked in October 2026; we have not stayed at them. Only Hotel Makoto lists prices (its kaiseki plans start at 20,350 yen per person); for the others, look up prices for your dates on a booking site. Times and rules change, so confirm anything that matters with the inn.

The five at a glance

Miyajima Seaside Hotel

Miyajima Seaside Hotel is a Japanese inn on the shore, a short ride from the island pier rather than in the shrine-side town, with the sea directly in front: in summer guests can swim there, and the hotel rents out mats and parasols. It is the choice for a quiet evening with dinner included and a view of the Seto Inland Sea from the lobby.

• Getting there: a free shuttle runs between the pier and the hotel from 8:00 to 10:00 and from 15:00 to 18:00. There is no need to book; ask the driver when you arrive. As it is away from the town, try to arrive during shuttle hours.
• Rooms: sea-view Japanese rooms in the main building (36 m²), a sea-view Japanese-and-Western room (60 m²), Japanese rooms without a view (22 m²) and sea-view Japanese rooms in the annexe (30 m²). The whole building, balconies included, is non-smoking; there is a smoking area.
• Dinner: plans with a deluxe or standard kaiseki, and in winter an oyster kaiseki or an oyster miso hot pot; there are menus for children. Dinner starts at 18:00, 18:30 or 19:00 and, depending on the plan, is served in the room, a banquet hall or the restaurant. Tell the hotel about allergies at least three days ahead. Some plans do not include dinner, so check yours.
• Bath: separate men’s and women’s shared baths with a bubble bath, open 15:00–23:00 and 6:00–9:00. There is no private family bath; rooms have their own bath. A tent sauna can be booked by phone for two hours between 10:00 and 17:00 (10,000 yen for one or two people up to 16,000 yen for four).
• Times: check-in 15:00–18:00 (call if you will be later), check-out 10:00. You cannot move a booking to other dates; it has to be cancelled and rebooked.
• Car: there is free parking for 20 cars in front of the hotel if you bring a car on the ferry.

Address: 967 Miyajima-cho, Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima 739-0501. Tel. +81-829-44-0118 (9:00–17:00).

Sakuraya

Sakuraya (“Miyajima no Yado Sakuraya”) is a 22-room inn about 3 minutes’ walk from the ferry terminal and 7 minutes from Itsukushima Shrine. It is a room-only inn: it does not offer meal plans and gives guests a map of local restaurants instead. Since most of the island’s restaurants close early in the evening, plan dinner before you check in (see Miyajima at night). On the ground floor its Oyster & Sake Bar serves grilled oysters, beer and sake from 10:00 to 17:00.

• Rooms: 22 rooms for one to six people. Sea-side rooms look over the Seto Inland Sea: a Western-style room (18 tatami in size, one to four people) and Japanese rooms (12 tatami, one to three). Mountain-side rooms face Mount Misen and the town: Japanese rooms from 6 tatami (one person) and 7.5–12 tatami (one to four) up to 20 tatami (one to six). Every room has a toilet and air conditioning; some rooms share a bathroom, so check when booking.
• Bath: one large shared bath in the basement, 15:00–23:00.
• Times: check-in 15:00–22:00 (tell the inn if you will arrive late), check-out 10:00. Luggage can be left before check-in and after check-out.
• Good to know: there is no elevator, so contact the inn first if stairs or heavy luggage are a problem. Free Wi-Fi throughout, a coin laundry, and the building is non-smoking (smoking area outside the entrance). Cancellation: 30% from three days before, 50% the day before, 100% on the day.

Address: 853-1 Miyajima-cho, Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima 739-0588. Tel. +81-829-40-2805.

Miyajima Hotel Makoto

Miyajima Hotel Makoto is a six-storey Japanese-style inn with 50 rooms, about 5 minutes’ walk from the pier and 10 minutes from Itsukushima Shrine, and has been open for more than 30 years, the hotel says. It is the most “ryokan-like” of the five: tatami rooms, yukata, a kaiseki dinner and a Japanese breakfast, and it takes school groups as well as families.

• Pickup: on the day, phone the hotel with your ferry’s departure time and staff will meet you at the island pier. If you want to sightsee first, it can collect just your luggage, and it can bring your luggage to the pier after check-out.
• Rooms: all 50 rooms are Japanese-style and non-smoking. The 35 A-type rooms on floors 4–6 are on the sea side, from where you see the Great Torii but not the shrine itself. The hotel’s FAQ says it assigns rooms, so a room facing the mountain is possible. One top-floor corner “Special Room” with twin beds, renovated in 2022, looks out on the Great Torii, the five-storey pagoda, the sea and the mountains.
• Meals: three kaiseki plans, Isaribi, Unkai and Ebisu, from 20,350, 22,550 and 24,750 yen per person on weekdays (two sharing, tax included), and a plan with breakfast only, for eating out in the evening. Meals are served in the dining hall on the second floor, not in your room. Dinner is between 17:30 and 19:30 and breakfast, a Japanese set meal, between 7:00 and 8:30; you choose the time at check-in. The hotel says it does its best for allergies, vegetarian, vegan and religious diets.
• Baths: the men’s bath “White Plum” and women’s bath “Red Plum” (each 88 m², for 40 people) are indoor baths with no open-air bath, open 16:00–24:00 and 6:00–9:00; bring the towels from your room. The small private bath “Koume”, with a sauna, is free for 40 minutes in three slots (17:00, 20:00 and 22:00), first come, first served. The hotel does not take day bathers.
• Times: check-in 15:00, check-out 10:00. Cancellation: 30% from three days before, 50% the day before, 100% on the day.
• Good to know: non-smoking throughout (smoking area beside the building); Wi-Fi throughout, though weak in some spots; wheelchairs on request and an accessible toilet in the lobby. Infants sharing a bed without meals stay free, and the family plan halves the rate for children up to primary school age. There is no hotel parking at Miyajimaguchi; use the paid car parks by the ferry.

Address: 755 Miyajima-cho, Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima 739-0518. Tel. +81-829-44-0070.

Miyajima Guesthouse Mikuniya

Mikuniya is a guesthouse opened in 2013 by the manager’s father, a former social studies teacher, and run by English-speaking hosts. The main building is a renovated villa that the Japan Mint once used as a holiday house for its staff, with a Japanese garden; the separate annexe is a 100-year-old house, renovated in 2020 and listed as an important traditional building, that can be rented whole. It sits on the lane up to Momijidani Park, about 5 minutes from Itsukushima Shrine and 15 minutes from the Mount Misen trails. The guesthouse cat, Miku, is billed as “the owner”; the cats do not go into guest rooms, and can be kept in the manager’s room if you ask.

• Rooms: private tatami rooms for up to three (a superior room for four), a 20-tatami family room (33 m²) for up to eight that can be split in two, a dormitory room for up to four, and the private annexe for up to six with its own shower, toilet and kitchen. Other guests share shower rooms and toilets on each floor.
• Meals: breakfast and dinner are included. Breakfast is a self-service spread of toast, cereal with dairy-free milk, oats and soup, from 5:30 to 9:30; dinner is the guesthouse’s own plant-based curry, also self-service. Both suit vegetarians and vegans, and gluten-free can be arranged if you ask ahead. Guests can use the kitchen.
• Bath: besides the showers there is a Japanese bath; you sign up for a time at check-in, first come, first served.
• Times: check-in 15:00–21:00 (later costs 1,000 yen per hour; tell them in advance), check-out 10:00, no curfew.
• Getting there: there is no shuttle. From the pier it is a 15–20 minute walk: turn right towards the shrine, follow the signs to Daisho-in temple as far as the Iwamura Momijiya shop (about 5 minutes), then turn left uphill towards Momijidani Park; Mikuniya is under 2 minutes up. With heavy bags, take a taxi.

Address: 327 Miyajima-cho, Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima 739-0523. Contact through the guesthouse website.

Grandvrio Hotel Miyajima Wakura (Miyajimaguchi)

Grandvrio Hotel Miyajima Wakura is a 210-room hotel on the mainland in Miyajimaguchi, about 12 minutes’ walk from JR Miyajimaguchi Station, with a free shuttle bus (about 5 minutes; the 8:05–10:05 departures from the station do not run at weekends and on holidays). The ferry pier is about 3 minutes’ walk from the station. It is the pick if you want a natural hot spring with an open-air bath and free parking, and do not mind taking the 10-minute ferry in the morning. On the island, only a few inns have a natural spring (see the Miyajima onsen guide).

Since July 2026 Miyajimaguchi also has KAI Miyajima, a 54-room Hoshino Resorts ryokan west of the pier with its own hot spring and a partner boat to the island from its jetty (no shuttle; about 18 minutes on foot from JR Miyajimaguchi Station). See the official site.

• Bath: “Nihon Sankei Miyajima no Yu”, fed by the Miyajimaguchi spring (a strongly salty, weakly radioactive cold spring), with indoor and open-air baths and a sauna; the open-air bath looks out on the island scenery and the Meoto-iwa rocks, open 15:00–2:00 and 5:00–10:00. Children who are not yet toilet-trained cannot use it.
• Rooms: Western-style rooms with a Japanese design, from doubles and twins to family rooms and suites, on the sea side or the hill side.
• Meals: dinner at the ground-floor “Miyajima Hakkei”, 17:30–21:00 (last entry 19:30), either a Japanese set meal or a Western buffet; breakfast 6:30–9:30 (last entry 9:00), a Japanese set with freshly fried tempura. Book meals in advance.
• Extras: a free sea taxi to the island pier twice a day, morning and evening (reservation needed, and it is suspended on some maintenance days), free drinks, bicycles and Wi-Fi.
• Times: check-in from 15:00, check-out 10:00.

Address: 1-1-37 Miyajimaguchi-nishi, Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima 739-0412. Tel. +81-50-5576-8002 (24 hours). More hotels on this side are in Miyajimaguchi.

Which one to choose

• Dinner included, Japanese style: Hotel Makoto (close to the pier, with pickup) or Miyajima Seaside Hotel (quieter, on the sea, oysters in winter).
• Eating out, close to the ferry: Sakuraya, the shortest walk from the boat; book dinner somewhere early.
• Solo, groups or vegan: Mikuniya, with a dormitory, a guest kitchen, English-speaking hosts and both meals included; the annexe works for a family or group who want a whole house.
• A natural hot spring and a car: Grandvrio Wakura in Miyajimaguchi.
• A grand ryokan instead: Iwaso, Kinsuikan or Miyajima Grand Hotel Arimoto; beds and a buffet by the pier: Hotel Miyajima Villa.
• Other island inns: Hotel Kikunoya, Itsukushima Iroha, Morinoyado, Watanabe and Yamaichi Bekkan are compared in Miyajima inns: Kikunoya, Iroha, Morinoyado, Watanabe and Yamaichi.

None of the four island inns mentions tattoos on its website, so ask before booking if that matters. Hiroshima Prefecture’s accommodation tax (200 yen per person per night on rates of 6,000 yen or more) is added at all of them, and everyone pays Miyajima’s 100-yen visitor tax with the ferry fare. Every place to stay on the island and in Miyajimaguchi, with addresses, is in Miyajima hotels and ryokans compared, and the island-or-mainland question is in where to stay in Miyajima.

Getting to the island

All four island inns are reached by the 10-minute ferry from Miyajimaguchi (200 yen plus the 100-yen visitor tax); trains from Hiroshima Station and a timed plan for the day are in our day trip guide. Sakuraya and Hotel Makoto are within a few minutes’ walk of the island pier, Hotel Makoto and the Seaside Hotel offer pickup, and Mikuniya is the longest walk. Leave a car in Miyajimaguchi unless your inn has parking (parking guide).

Frequently asked questions

Is it worth staying a night on Miyajima?

Yes, if you can: the day-trip crowds leave by early evening, the Great Torii is lit after sunset, and you can walk to the shrine early the next morning before the first ferries arrive. The trade-off is that most restaurants close by 17:00–18:00, which is why an inn with dinner, or a dinner plan, matters more here than in a city (Miyajima at night).

Is it better to stay in Hiroshima or on Miyajima?

Stay on the island for the evening and morning atmosphere; stay in Hiroshima for more choice, lower prices and restaurants, and visit Miyajima as a day trip. Miyajimaguchi, where Grandvrio Wakura is, sits in between. The comparison is in where to stay in Miyajima.

Does Sakuraya serve dinner?

No. Sakuraya offers rooms only and provides a map of local restaurants. Its oyster and sake bar is open 10:00–17:00.

Does Hotel Makoto pick you up from the ferry?

Yes. Call the hotel on the day with your ferry’s departure time and staff will meet you at Miyajima Pier. It can also collect only your luggage.

Does Mikuniya have private bathrooms?

Only the private annexe has its own shower and toilet. Rooms in the main building share showers and toilets on each floor, and the Japanese bath is booked by time at check-in.

Which of these has a hot spring?

Grandvrio Hotel Miyajima Wakura in Miyajimaguchi has a natural hot spring with an open-air bath. Hotel Makoto calls its indoor baths hot-spring baths without naming a spring; Miyajima Seaside Hotel and Sakuraya have shared baths. For natural springs on the island itself, see the Miyajima onsen guide.

Sources: Miyajima Seaside Hotel (official website: rooms, cuisine, bath and sauna, access, FAQ); Miyajima no Yado Sakuraya (official website: rooms and facilities, oyster bar, FAQ); Miyajima Hotel Makoto (official website: greeting, rooms, cuisine and prices, bath, FAQ, access); Miyajima Guesthouse Mikuniya (official website: about, rooms, dining, access, FAQ); Grandvrio Hotel Miyajima Wakura (official website: hot spring, rooms, access, dining, services). Checked October 2026. Compiled from official information; we have not stayed at these inns.