Kamakura and Yokohama in one day! Day trip from Tokyo possible!

Kon’nichiwa!

Yes, it’s possible to do Kamakura and Yokohama in one day, as long as you understand that you might not be able to see everything in each place. But you can spend a few hours in Kamakura and a few hours in Yokohama, and this will allow you to get a worthy experience for both of them.

You can even make Yokohama an evening thing, which means you could spend most of your day in Kamakura (and make time for all the top things to do), and then head to Yokohama in the evening.

Of course, it all depends on what exactly you want to do in each city. If you want to see the ramen museums in Yokohama, you’ll need to make sure you get to them before closing time. You’ll also want to make note of the opening time of the Kamakura temples.

From Tokyo to Kamakura is around 1 hour. From Kamakura to Yokohama is around 40 minutes. From Yokohama to Tokyo is around 45 minutes. Your exact transit time will vary based on where you’re starting and ending, but this gives you an idea.

I’ll give you a sample itinerary below to get you started!

 

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For this Kamakura and Yokohama itinerary, I’m keeping it on the easy-going side.

With one day, you can easily see the Great Buddha (iconic landmark) and Hase-dera Temple gardens (a bunch of cute stone statues) in Kamakura, and then take the train to Yokohama to see Chinatown and walk around the streets of the Noge food alley in the evening. You can end your day walking around Minato Mirai, which is known for nights views of the Yokohama skyline.

If you don’t mind a more packed day, it’s possible to add more things in Kamakura (like the bamboo forest tea house and/or the most well-known shrine of the city), and still have time for Yokohama.

You can even make your evening activity in Yokohama a baseball game if the schedule lines up! Yokohama is one of the places you can see a Japanese baseball game in the Tokyo area. (It’s a fun cultural experience!)

 

Day trip to Kamakura and Yokohama… 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)
• Kamakura Station
• Motomachi-Chukagai Station (Yokohama)
• Sakuragicho Station (Yokohama)
• Shinjuku Station (Tokyo)

 

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 Yokohama. (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.

 

👆 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.)

 

 

Kamakura Station to Hase station train: 5 minutes (200 yen)
Note: HASE is pronounced more like ha-say

 

For your time in Kamakura, it can be a worthy trip even if you only do the iconic Kamakura sights that you can see walking from Hase Station.

So when you arrive at Kamakura Station, look for signs to transfer over to the Enoden Line to take the 5 minute train ride to Hase Station. You can also pay for this train ticket by using your IC card, or you can buy an individual train ticket at the ticket machine.

 

👆 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. This is generally the case between the popular places in Tokyo, Kamakura, and Yokohama.

 

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: At least 1 hour
Walking from Hase-dera Temple to Hase Station: 5 minutes

 

So once you arrive at Hase Station, you’ll follow the signs out of the train station for the Great Buddha. It’s an easy walk to both the Great Buddha and Hase-dera Temple, and these are your Kamakura activities of the day if you want to keep it short.

The Great Buddha is the iconic landmark of Kamakura, and it’s located at Kotoku-in Temple. Once you’re through the official entry (there’s a fee), then you’ll see the Great Buddha in front of you pretty quickly. You can walk right up to it, and you can even walk inside of it (for a small fee).

The Kotoku-in Temple is really just about seeing the Great Buddha, and this can be a quick visit.

Kotoku-in Temple opens at 8am, and it closes at 5pm or 5:30pm depending on the season. The last entry to walk inside the Great Buddha is at 4:20pm.

Confirm current information, including opening hours and entry fee.

 

Then you can continue walking to Hase-dera Temple, which is a 5 minute walk away. It will be easy to spend an hour walking around temple grounds. There are a number of historical and cultural things to see, including different jizo statues and Buddha statues. There’s also a small cave that you can walk inside, and at the entrance is a red torii shrine gate. There’s also a short path that’s lined with bamboo trees.

Hase-dera 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.

 

👆 The iconic Great Buddha of Kamakura can be a quick visit.

 

👆 There are lots of things to see walking around Hasedera Temple.

 

👆 You can walk through a small bamboo grove at the temple grounds.

 

Hase Station to Kamakura Station: 5 minute train ride.

 

Once you’ve finished up the Hase Station things, then head back to Kamakura Station. This is where you’ll go for a train to Yokohama.

If you feel you have extra time in Kamakura, then once back at Kamakura Station, instead heading straight for Yokohama, you can walk to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and/or take a bus to the bamboo forest tea house (iconic place to have matcha in Kamakura).

The Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine is the most famous shrine in Kamakura, and from Kamakura Station, it’s a 10-15 minute walk to get there. Walk along Komachi-dori Street (main shopping street of Kamakura with small shops and food spots) and Dankazura Avenue (pedestrian path) to get there. Walking along Dankazura Avenue to get to the shrine means that you will get a grand welcome as you walk directly towards a big red torii shrine gate!

Once at the shrine, you can do a quick walk around of 30 minutes or so (be prepared to walk up stairs too!), or you can spend a lot longer walking around.

If it’s time for food, you might also want to walk down Komachi-dori Street. (Shops typically open at 10am.) There’s also a big red torii shrine just outside of Kamakura Station at the start of the street.

 

Kamakura Station to Motomachi Chukagai Station is around 45 minutes by train.

 

As a big city, Yokohama has a lot of different train stations that you could start your time in Yokohama at. Since we are focusing on Chinatown and Minato Mirai for a shortened time in Yokohama, we will start at Motomachi-Chukagai Station, a gateway to Chinatown and Yamashita Park.

 

👆 It will take 2 trains to get to Yokohama Chinatown from Kamakura. Google maps makes it easy. Just follow what it says! (map)

 

Walking from Motomachi Chukagai Station to Chinatown is a few minutes
How much time: 30 minutes to a lot longer

 

From Motomachi-Chukagai Station, you can walk to Yamashita Park for a nice waterfront stroll and the NYK Hikawa Maru ship (now a museum, it was once an iconic ship that sailed from Japan to the US – check opening times)… or you can head to Chinatown.

You can easily spend 30 minutes walking around Yokohama Chinatown, and it’s possible to spend more time if you visit shops and restaurants.

 

👆 It can be perfect to head to Yokohama Chinatown on your way back to Tokyo from Kamakura. It can be a day of East Asia vibes!

 

👆 Stop by to see a Chinese temple in Yokohama.

 

Within walking distance of Chinatown is Yokohama Stadium, which is where the Yokohama baseball team plays. If the schedule lines up, you can plan to make it in time for the baseball game! Weekday games typically start at 6pm. It’s best to buy tickets before you go, which usually go on sale about a month in advance. Yokohama is the team that MLB pitcher Shota Imanaga used to play for. Read more about how to see baseball in the Tokyo area.

I went to a baseball game in Yokohama when I was staying in Tokyo, and it wasn’t a problem to catch a train back after the game, which will likely end after 9pm, possibly after 9:30pm.

 

Motomachi-Chukagai Station to Sakuragicho Station: 10-15 minutes by bus or train

 

Once you’ve finished up walking around Chinatown, you can head to the Minato Mirai waterfront area.

 

👆 You can take a bus or train from Chinatown to Minato Mirai.

 

Head to the Noge food alley to look for food (reviews), which is a 5 minute walk from the train station. This really comes alive in the evening and it’s known for small izakaya food spots. Most of the food spots and small bars here don’t open until late afternoon or evening.

The well-known Cup Noodles museum is a 20-minute walk from Sakuragicho Station towards the waterfront, and if you want to do this, you’ll want to make sure you leave Kamakura early enough to make it before last admission. See current opening hours.

The Minato Mirai waterfront is known for night city skyline views, so you can go for an evening walk. Get ideas for your Yokohama night walking route. (See #2 for Minato Mirai.)

Day or night, you can do the Yokohama air cabin ropeway that allows you to see the city from high up. There’s a ticket gate right outside of Sakuragicho Station. The hours are generally from 10am to 9pm or 10pm, depending on the day. See the official website for ticket prices and calendar of hours.

 

Sakuragicho Station to Shinjuku Station is around 45 minutes.

 

👆 You have options to take the train from Sakuragicho Station to Shinjuku Station (map).

 

Recap!

First in Kamakura, you can do a round trip walk from Hase Station to the Great Buddha and Hase-dera Temple without feeling rushed. You can see how that goes time-wise and if you’re doing good on time, you can go to the bamboo forest tea house by bus from Kamakura Station and/or walk to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine.

Once in Yokohama, you can walk around Yokohama Chinatown from Motomachi-Chukagai Station, and then head to Sakuragicho Station in the evening to walk to the Noge food alley and Minato Mirai.

Doing this, I think you can be happy with your time in both Kamakura and Yokohama!

 

Here is a general plan for a day trip to Kamakura and Yokohama:

• Shinjuku Station (Tokyo)
  • Shinjuku Station to Kamakura Station: 1 hour
• Kamakura Station
  • Look for transfer to Enoden to go to Hase Station. 5 minute train ride.
• Hase Station (Kamakura)
  • Great Buddha and Hasedera Temple
• Kamakura Station
  • If time, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and/or bamboo forest tea house. If not, train to Yokohama
  • Kamakura Station to Motomachi-Chukagai Station train: 45 minutes
• Motomachi-Chukagai Station (Yokohama)
  • Yokohama Chinatown
• Sakuragicho Station (Yokohama)
  • Noge food alley (evening), Minato Mirai (waterfront)
• Shinjuku Station (Tokyo)
  • Sakuragicho Station to Shinjuku Station: 45 minutes

 

 

JAPAN TRAVEL > TOKYO MAP >
> KAMAKURA | YOKOHAMA