Anyone done both towns in one day trip? I’m taking my elderly father and he is kinda slow (walking stick 72 years old). I was wondering if it was a good idea to split to 2 day trips. Or should we stick to 1 day trip?
Thinking leave Shinjuku to Kamakura arriving 10am. See the buddha, then go to the shopping street get some lunch, finish kamakura at the temple. Then 2-3pm go to Enoshima, spend few hours up the island, then 2-3 hours at enoshima onsen/spa. Then get dinner and go back to Shinjuku.
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How busy is your itenary so far?
I think both towns will be a bit much to do in one day – especially with a 72yr old. Enoshima has paid escalators that bypass (most) of the stairs going up the island but there is still an awful lot of stairs to traverse (that go both up and down) around the island. You’ll literally be going down 5 stairs to walk a few steps just to go back up some stairs and then down a few more stairs later and there’s no escalators to get down the island like there is going up. Though coming down there is a bit of a sloped access road you walk down but in between that road and the escalators there’s still decent amount of stairs you have to go up/down around the island..
I have hip pains after walking a while and walking around Enoshima was brutal with the stairs on the west side of the island.
Kamakura also has spread out public transportation and requires a bit of walking but is probably the easiest out of the two. But when you’re traveling with someone in their 70’s with a cane I think less is more.
Enoshima is a lot of up and down. There’s an escalator system for going up but he’ll have to walk down himself.
We went there this past June and took the ferry to the back of the island. It drops you off at a very scenic spot, but it’s straight up from there to the top of the island. From the bridge side, you can at least take advantage of the escalators.
I always encourage redditors to plan a one night stay instead of daytrips of main cities like Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima. Regardless the age of the travelers, the vibe before the crowd comes in or after they leave is different for each area is worth taking it slow for.
For example, my husband and I did Enoshima/Kamakura in 2018. Day 1, We took the Odakyu Romancecar to Enoshima and took the Enoden to the stop of the buddha. Afterwards, we went to Kamakura. Around nearing sunset, we walked across Enoshima bridge to our ryokan on Enoshima. The vibe when all people leave is marvelous, I would akin it to Mayajima, very quiet and all you hear is the sound of the waves (and maybe falcons above us flying around). We had a kaiseki dinner and onsen and had a good rest. That was day 1 for us.
Day 2, we got a delicious local breakfast and then we slowly went up to the shrine before the crowd came, visited the lighthouse at the very top and by afternoon we were at the back of the island with all the rocks. By late afternoon we took the boat back to the mainland and then went back to Tokyo.
2 days trip or an overnight would be more ideal so you get a bit more breather in between and able to enjoy things at a more leisure pace. Kamakura has a lot of walking involved, where you’ll see the buddha, go to the shrine (which is directly after the shopping street). I don’t think 5 hours is enough (including lunch, and the wait time can be rather long sometimes) for Kamakura itself.
Enoshima is also very nice but as others has said, lots of up and down. Honestly Enoshima is a day trip in itself, but I’m not sure if I would recommend for you to go back to Enoshima the second day directly from Shinjuku considering it’s sort of far.