Kon’nichiwa!
Yes, it’s possible to do Kamakura and Enoshima in one day!Β It will be a big walking day!
Many people go to both as a day trip from Tokyo. They are pretty close together, connected by a 20 minute train ride on the classic Enoden train that travels along the coast… aka ocean views! Kamakura and Enoshima are also both well-connected to Tokyo, so it’s pretty easy to manage the train too.
You will have some people say that it’s too much for one day. If you want to take your time and explore more deeply all that each has to offer, and/or if you prefer a more easy-going day and/or you don’t want to walk a ton, then you might prefer to choose just one.
But if you stick to the main sights and donβt mind walking, it’s very reasonable to go to both Kamakura and Enoshima in one day as a day trip from Tokyo.
Tokyo to Kamakura is around 1 hour by train. Kamakura to Enoshima is around 20 minutes. Enoshima to Tokyo is around 1 hour 10 minutes.
I’ll give you an outline of a sample itinerary below to get you started!
π Save this post for later! Save on Pinterest! ππ
There are partner websites included in this post.
You can spend the morning in Kamakura, and then head to Enoshima by early afternoon. This is a reasonable amount of time to spend at each place if you are just looking to see the highlights. It is certainly possible to spend one day in Kamakura and one day in Enoshima, and this will give you more time to slowly take in each place. But if you want to see them both in one day, you can make it happen!
Day trip to Kamakura and Enoshima… from Tokyo
So, what can you see with a few hours in Kamakura and a few hours in Yokohama? Here you go!
The general sequence as far as transit goes:
- Shinjuku Station (Tokyo)
- Kamakura Station
- Hase Station (Kamakura)
- Enoshima Station
- Katase-Enoshima Station or Shonan-Enoshima Station
- Shinjuku Station (Tokyo)
Train: Tokyo to Kamakura Station
Shinjuku Station to Kamakura Station is around 1 hour by train.
Kamakura Station is the gateway to Kamakura, and coming from Tokyo, this will be your first stop in Kamakura.
You can use your IC card to travel between Tokyo, Kamakura, and Enoshima. (You can use the same card like a suica card or pasmo card that you use for local Tokyo trains.) Otherwise, you can buy individual tickets when you arrive at the train station.
π You have several options to get from Shinjuku Station in Tokyo to Kamakura. Compare the train routes. (Make the starting point to your hotel, and also change the departure time to give you a better idea.)
Day trip tours from Tokyo you must consider!
Kamakura and Enoshima day trip from Tokyo
π Bus tour to Kamakura and Enoshima: See the Kamakura highlights of Great Buddha, Hasedera Temple, andΒ Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine, and then you’ll have 2 hours in Enoshima on your own. The meeting point is in Shinjuku.
Hakone day trip from Tokyo
πDay trip to Hakone Ropeway, Owakudani volcano valley, and Lake Ashi (with possible Mount Fuji views!)
Walking from Kamakura Station
Walking from Kamakura Station to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine: 15 minutes
How much time: 30 minutes for a quick walk around, or you can spend much longer
Once you arrive at Kamakura, you can walk to Kamakura’s most famous shrine, which is Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. It’s free to walk around.
From Kamakura Station, you can start off walking the main Kamakura shopping street of Komachi-dori Street (with most shops and food spots opening around 10am), and then make your way over to the pedestrian street of Dankazura Avenue so you can have a grand approach to the shrine. If you walk down Dankazura Avenue to get to the shrine, you’ll be walking straight towards a big red torii shrine gate!
Here is a map for a sample route.
Once you feel happy with what you’ve seen, you can walk back to Kamakura Station.
π Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine is the famous shrine of Kamakura.
π Walking from Kamakura Station, the big red torii shrine gate can be your welcome!
If you want to make time for it, you can continue walking to the Hokokuji bamboo temple. This is the most famous bamboo garden in Kamakura, as well as the most famous place to have matcha tea in Kamakura. From the temple, you can walk 30 minutes back to Kamakura Station, or take a bus. (Google maps works to figure out bus timings and bus stop location.)
Enoden train: Kamakura Station to Hase Station
Kamakura Station to Hase station train: 5 minutes (200 yen)
Note: HASE is pronounced more like ha-say
The Enoden train is the classic train to take between Kamakura and Enoshima, and you can make your first ride within Kamakura!
You don’t want to miss out on going to the Hase Station area, because this is where Kamakura’s most famous landmark is! It’s a 5-10 minute walk to the Great Buddha you’ve seen in pictures, which is at Kotoku-in Temple.
π You can look at google maps to get a general idea of how frequent the train timings are between Kamakura Station and Hase Station. Look for the “also at” when looking at the details of the train route. The train comes frequently enough that you don’t have to plan out your day too carefully.
π YouENODEN TRAIN
Walking from Hase Station
Walking from Hase Station to Great Buddha: 10 minutes
How much time: 15 minutes or less just to look
Walking from Great Buddha to Hase-dera Temple: 5 minutes
How much time: 1 hour
Walking from Hase-dera Temple to Hase Station: 5 minutes
Once you’re at Hase Station, you can follow the signs for the Great Buddha as you exit the train station.
The Great Buddha temple (Kotoku-in Temple) is really just about seeing the Buddha, so this can be a relatively quick visit.
The temple opens at 8am, and it closes at 5pm or 5:30pm depending on the season. You can also go inside the Great Buddha, and the last entry for that is at 4:20pm.
Confirm current information, including opening hours and entry fees.
Once you’re happy with what you’ve seen of the Great Buddha, you can now walk 5 minutes or so over to Hase-dera Temple.
It can be easy to spend an hour walking around the temple grounds, looking at the historical and cultural things to see, including different types of jizo statues and Buddha statues. You will also find a short path that’s lined with bamboo trees. You can also walk inside a small cave with more stone statues, and the entrance is a red torii shrine gate.
The temple opens at 8am, and it closes at 5pm or 5:30pm depending on the season.
Confirm current information, including opening hours and entry fee.
π It’s reasonable to see the famous Great Buddha of Kamakura and go to Enoshima in one day.
π There are lots of great views at Hase-dera Temple in Kamakura.
π You’ll see cute statues walking around the temple grounds.
Enoden train: Kamakura to Enoshima
Hase Station to Enoshima Station is 20 minutes by train.
The Enoden train is the classic train to Enoshima, and this time you can take a slightly longer ride which will also be more scenic.
The 20 minute train ride from Hase Station in Kamakura to Enoshima Station also goes along the coast for scenic ocean views. (You can also get the same train from Kamakura Station to Enoshima, and it’s an extra 5 minute train ride.)
This train is frequent enough, so you don’t really need to be too concerned about planning for train timings (map).
It’s on this route that you can also stop off for the famous Enoden train stop at Kamakura-koko-mae Station (reviews). If you want to get off the train here and walk the rest of the way to Enoshima island, it’s a 30 minute walk to get to the island (map). Keep in mind you will also be walking a lot once on the island! Watch this video to take a look at what the walk from Kamakura-koko-mae Station is like.
π You can look at google maps to get a general idea of what the Enoden train schedule is like between Kamakura and Enoshima (map). The train comes frequently enough that you don’t have to plan out your day too carefully.
π You’ll take the classic Enoden train to get to Enoshima from Kamakura!
Walking from Enoshima Station
How much time on Enoshima island: 2-3 hours… or longer!
And now your time for Enoshima begins! Be prepared to walk a lot!
It’s a 10-15 minute walk from Enoshima Station to the start of the bridge to Enoshima island (map). Your welcome will be stone lantern dragon statues that marks the start of the Benten Bridge!
Once on the island, stop by the Enoshima tourist information center so you can grab a map.
Enoshima is a compact but hilly island filled with shrines and ocean views. You can start by walking up the main path lined with food spots and souvenir shops. From there, one of the most popular things to do on the island is to head up to the top of the Enoshima Sea Candle for more grand views. Another one of the main things to do is to walk inside the Iwaya Caves to see small Buddhist statues and dragon figures tied to local legends. You can end your day walking along the beach once back on the “mainland”! Katase Nishihama Beach is a few minutes walk from the bridge.
The cost to go up to the top of the Enoshima Sea Candle is 800 yen (US$5).
The Iwaya Caves entry fee is 500 yen ($3).
There is also an escalator that will save you some walking to the top, called the Enoshima Escar, for 500 yen ($3).
You can also buy tickets for the sea candle and caves as an “Enoshima set ticket” for 1100 yen ($7), which also includes entry to the garden. The “Enoshima one day” ticket is 1550 yen ($10) and also includes the escalator.
See current ticket prices for “great value tickets” and individual ticket prices, as well as hours.
I spent around 3 hours at Enoshima with my main activity on the island being the caves, and I was quite happy with my time on Enoshima!
π At the start of the bridge to Enoshima island, you’ll see dragon lantern statues! You can see more of a dragon theme while walking around the island too.
π Walking along the coast to get to the Iwaya Caves of Enoshima.
π Inside the cave! You’ll see dragons inside the caves too.
π There are many shrines around the island. This is one of the most notable torii shrine gates. And yes, it’s a hilly island, and there are stairs!
π The bridge to Enoshima island! Notice the Enoshima sea candle sticking out.
Train: Enoshima to Tokyo
Katase-Enoshima Station to Shinjuku Station is around 1 hour 15 minutes.
There are 3 different train stations near Enoshima, which are Enoshima Station, Katase-Enoshima Station, and Shonan-Enoshima Station.
It will require a train transfer to travel between Enoshima and Tokyo, if you take the regular trains. There is a limited express train (aka a little more expensive) between Shinjuku and Enoshima, but it doesn’t save much time.
For the way back, you can put a generic spot as your starting point (like Enoshima Benten Bridge) to get directions to know which train station to go to and how to get there.
For the standard way back to Tokyo, you can get a train from Katase-Enoshima Station (map).
If you want an excuse to take the Shonan monorail that travels above the streets, start at Shonan-Enoshima Station to get back to Tokyo, in part! You can take the monorail for 15 minutes from Shonan-Enoshima Station to Ofuna Station (map), and then from there, transfer to a regular train to Tokyo.
For another monorail that travels above the streets, you can make a day trip to Chiba from Tokyo to take the Chiba urban monorail!
π Going by regular train, it will take 2 trains to get from Enoshima to Tokyo (map).Β
Kamakura and Enoshima in one day itinerary
First in Kamakura, you can do a round trip walk from Kamakura Station to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. Then take the 5 minute Enoden train to Hase Station. Then walk from Hase StationΒ to the Great Buddha and Hase-dera Temple… and back.
Now it’s time for your scenic coastal Enoden train ride from Kamakura to Enoshima Station! And then you can walk around Enoshima island for more amazing views!
Doing this, I think you can be happy with your time in both Kamakura and Enoshima!
Here is a general plan for a day trip to Kamakura and Enoshima with notable train stations:
- Shinjuku Station (Tokyo)
- Shinjuku Station to Kamakura Station: 1 hour
- Kamakura Station
- Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and/or Hokokuji Temple bamboo forest
- Back to Kamakura Station to take Enoden to go to Hase Station. 5 minute train ride.
- Hase Station (Kamakura)
- Great Buddha and Hasedera Temple
- Back to Hase Station to take Enoden to Enoshima Station. 20 minute train ride
- Enoshima Station
- Walk to and around Enoshima island!
- Katase-Enoshima Station or Shonan-Enoshima Station
- Katase-Enoshima for the regular train back, or Shonan-Enoshima to take the monorail!
- Shinjuku Station (Tokyo)
- Enoshima Station to Shinjuku Station: 1 hour 15 minutes
JAPAN TRAVEL > TOKYO MAP
When searching for hotels near Kyoto Station, look for the "view map" option!
Take a look at the Hotel Keihan Kyoto Grande (for a simple hotel near the train station) or Matsumoto Ryokan for a Japanese-style experience.
Visit the homepage on the blog for more Japan itinerary ideas!