Hello!
I am planning to visit Japan in November this year (everything is refundable).
Because I have some tattoos I had mostly written off being able to have an onsen experience but thanks to recent posts I was excited to learn about Kinosaki Onsen, which hadn’t been on my radar before.
Now the dilemma:
Currently, I only have one day available for either visiting Kinosaki Onsen or Miyajima, which is my current plan.
We will be staying at a ryokan in either location and my travel companion is excited about getting to experience wandering around town in a yukata at night. The morning that I will head to Miyajima/Kinosaki Onsen I will be in Himeji so it’s convenient either way timing wise.
What are your thoughts? Would you choose one over the other and why?
Thank you so much!
9 comments
Both are super awesome to visit, and both are well worthwhile.
One thing though that might sway you- the floating torii gate off of Miyajima is currently under restoration, and no timeline has been given for when it will be complete. Maybe it’ll be done by November, but maybe not! If that particular view is part of why you want to go to Miyajima, then you may want to consider Kinosaki instead.
In fact, I would say that if you don’t have any other onsen stops I’d go for Kinosaki. I love Hiroshima and Miyajima, so I won’t say you’d have a bad time there at all. But a trip to Japan with no onsen is missing something important and wonderful!
If this would be your first time going to an onsen, I’d probably go for Kinosaki. Depends on your preferences of what you enjoy more though. Miyajima is pretty cool and definitely worth checking out, but I don’t know if it would beat having your first onsen experience when you reflect on your trip memories.
Miyajima: You should really know what you like when doing tourist things.
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It is a GREAT spot, but also very over touristed. If you love more intimate experiences, then Miyajima is an easy skip IMO. If you love to sight see, and don’t mind thousands of other people doing the same thing you are, Miyajima is worth doing.
November, then you are in season for crab in Kinosaki (should start around Nov. 7), so if you go, you might want to investigate a bit on the menu at the ryokan where you stay. The other expensive food option in Kinosaki is Tajima beef.
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I think it depend on what else you have in your itinerary and how Miyajima and Kinosaki are unique compared to the other things you plan, but personally I would probably go toward Kinosaki. The atmosphere with all the people walking in the streets in yukata is great. November can be a bit cold, so you might want to wear a t-shirt under your yukata, yes there is also a kind of “coat” you can put on top of the yukata, but still it is not really warm. Also wear socks with the slippers of the ryokan (unless you prefer to use your shoes).
If you go, I would probably think about the whole schedule of the day, like what time do you plan to leave Himeji to Kinosaki. If you are there before check-in (likely around 2pm), what do you plan to do (you will need to check in to get your yukata and pass for the onsen). Next morning, when do you plan to leave, you cannot go super early as there is usually breakfast at the ryokan and you can still go to the onsen. When I checked out of my ryokan, I asked them to keep my luggage and they had a service for a couple of hundred yens to send it to the info center next to the station, then I had the option to keep my onsen pass after check-in (if I remember correctly, there is a return box either at the info center or train station), of course, you will not have the yukata after check-out.
I am not sure how people like to plan they move, but if you plan to sleep in Himeji, one option is to go to Himeji (I guess from Kyoto/Osaka) at the end of the day, sleep there, then visit in the morning, get lunch then hop on the train (make sure to take the Hamakaze as it’s the fastest). On the other hand, if you visit Himeji, then sleep ther to go to Kinosaki in the morning, you will likely have to spend 2-3 hours doing something like ropeway on top of the mountain ang go check Onsen-ji temple.
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While it is true that the public onsen in Kinosaki are tattoo friendly, the ryokan might not be, so if you want to use the onsen at the ryokan too, you might want to confirm it with them it’s ok. There is also tattoo friendly onsen all around Japan, yes it might require a bit more research, but you do not have to rule it out, even if you want to do it in another part of Japan or do it again in the trip after.
Kinosaki >> Miyajima, IMHO. I visited both in November a couple years ago and found Kinosaki very charming, peaceful, and relaxing – if you can incorporate a night in a ryokan I highly recommend doing so.
Miyajima was nice to see, but more of a high-traffic tourist spot than Kinosaki, so overall not quite as interesting or peaceful.
They’re very different places; it’s hard to compare them!
Kinosaki is a tourist town, but it’s almost exclusively Japanese tourists. If you’re from outside the country it can feel quite special to be part of that. Miyajima is much better-known and you’ll see more westerners there. The wandering-around-outside-in-a-yukata thing in Kinosaki is touristy but charming, and great fun. Everybody joins in. There are so many public onsen in that town – your ryokan stay should net you free entry to any of them.
The momiji in Miyajima are absolutely spectacular in November; it’s a gloriously beautiful place and there’s a reason it’s so popular. I hope the restoration of the tori gate will be finished by the time you visit. I’ve stayed at Iroha and Iwaso there. Iwaso just has the edge for me – it’s right on the edge of the mountain park and a little more traditional. Iroha is on a very fun souvenir shopping street – there’s a restaurant with tables there rather than private tatami rooms with a low table, but both places offer kaiseki meals.
Both towns have local speciality foods. In Miyajima it’s the oysters (also, check out the unagi don at the restaurant to the right of the ferry port on the land side); and in Kinosaki in November it’ll be snow crab, which, if you’re in a ryokan, will be an absolute standout. We stay at Nishimuraya Honkan, which has a superb kaiseki chef; the all-crab menu we ate there a few years ago is probably one of the best meals I’ve ever had. The Tajima beef is also hyper-local and extraordinarily good.
Nishimuraya Honkan in Kinosaki is one of my favourite places in the world. The gardens are otherworldly, the food is insanely good, and the whole place has such a peaceful and calm atmosphere.
Honestly, I don’t think you can go wrong with either location.
Kinosaki has a good onsen town vibe. At night it feels like there is more to do. Lots of public baths and you’re generally encouraged to go out and experience the town. The way the town is setup and make you really feel like you’ve stepped back in time. In contrast Miyajima feels like there are more activities to do during the day. Things are a bit more spread out and while there were night activities like evening boat rides we needed to take a shuttle to get to them. It also felt a little bit dead at night.
I have been to kinosaki Onsen town and stayed in their Ryokan, so I whole heartedly recommend it.
They have an arrangement that you get to onsen hop with a badge the ryokan gives you so you can go to all the other onsens, and its just a tourist zone with a bunch of people wearing Yukatas you are provided.
Lots of shops and games and very scenic.
See if you have a onsen in you’re ryokan, the one I stayed at had a private one for guests and I loved going at 2 or 3 in the morning just to be alone and really soak it in.
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I’m already assuming you have done your due diligence regarding verifying tattoos are ok, and everything.
Thats the one I stayed at:
[https://goo.gl/maps/EFt3CtTyq3cmnwmr9](https://goo.gl/maps/EFt3CtTyq3cmnwmr9)
I have stayed in Morizuya hotel in Kinosaki in 2017 or so. It was very nice, awesome food and pretty yukata to choose from for walking around in town. I can only recommend it.
I have also been to Miyajima which was awesome. I could not pick between the two 😀 But maybe there is another onsen town that is more conveniently located for you so you still could do both things?