This was such an incredible day. If anyone is reading the comments while watching this, we barely scratched the surface on Miyajima. There are a wide variety of temples, hikes, and even an onsen on the island. You could very easily spend a whole day or even a night on the island. Also, the Peace Museum was way busier than expected, so maybe get there early.
Definitely! You could climb Mt. Misen, visit the Daisho-in Temple Complex, take the ropeway, feed the deer, sample fresh oysters, or stay at the Iwaso Ryokan and Onsen which is part of the "Three Great Views of Japan."
I would never have guessed that. It was honestly a ton of effort to get all the way out there, and I can't imagine doing it before google maps and google translate.
We left some time between 6:00 and 8:00 am. It's roughly a 2 - 3 hr train ride, so we probably arrived somewhere between 9:00 and 11:00 am. However, doing it all over again, we probably would have skipped Arashiyama in Kyoto and just spent 1.5 - 2 days with a dedicated half day/day to the Peace Park/city and a whole day for Miyajima Island since we barely scratched the surface of everything to do there. There's also some really nice ryokans and onsens on the island that would have been fun to stay at.
