Kon’nichiwa!
The most famous shrine in Kamakura is the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine.
The way to get there starts at Kamakura Station. It’s an easy walk of around 10 to 15 minutes.
The best walking route is to by way of both Komachi-dori Street and Dankazura Avenue to get there!
You’ll likely start on Komachi Street even without trying (it’s the most obvious street once you leave Kamakura Station) in the direction of the shrine. But you also want to get yourself over to Dankazura Avenue on your way to the shrine too! You’ll get a grand approach and be walking towards a big red torii shrine gate as you approach Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine!
This route is not difficult to figure out. You just need to know to take it! Below I’ll show you a bit of what you can see.
There are partner websites included on this blog. I may earn a commission.
So you’ll want a minimum of an hour to do a round trip walk from Kamakura Station to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. It’s ideal to have at least 30 minutes to walk around the main part of the shrine grounds, and it’s possible to spend a lot more time.
If you want to do the top 3 sights in Kamakura, you can go to the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, along with the Great Buddha and Hase-dera Temple.
So the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine can be done walking from Kamakura Station, while the other 2 can be done walking from Hase Station, which is a 5 minute train ride from Kamakura Station.
Another place you can walk to from Kamakura Station is the bamboo forest tea house. (There’s a bus too.) This is also something you can walk to after your time at the shrine. It’s one of the best places to have matcha tea in Kamakura.
Kamakura is most commonly done as a day trip from Tokyo. It’s also quite reasonable to combine a day trip to Kamakura with Enoshima or Yokohama. If you do want to do Kamakura and Enoshima in one day or Kamakura and Yokohama in one day, it can be best to keep your time in Kamakura focused around the main sights near Kamakura Station and Hase Station.
If you want to stay overnight, the Kamakura Hotel, (that’s what it’s called) is a few minutes walking from Kamakura Station. Read the reviews on booking.com or on expedia.
I’ll show you below a bit of how to figure out train directions from Tokyo to Kamakura Station, along with pictures of the highlights of what you can see walking from Kamakura Station!
Kamakura walking tours to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and more
You can easily walk to the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine on your own. But as a former samurai capital, Kamakura is a city full of history and having a guide can help you understand more of what you’re seeing instead of just wandering the shrine grounds without context. To get a deeper appreciation for its past, here are some tours worth considering! These both get high praise and meet near Kamakura Station.
City of Shogun Kamakura walking tour (3.5 hours) – This starts off with Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and Komachi-dori Street, and also goes to the other famous spots in Kamakura of the Great Buddha and Hasedera Temple. Read the reviews.
Kamakura half day walking tour with Japanese sweets (4 hours) – You’ll start off by going to see the Great Buddha (Kotoku-in) and Hasedera Temple, and then head to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. It will end with you being guided around the food and shopping street of Komachi-dori Street! Read the reviews.
Tokyo to Kamakura Station
Depending on where you’re coming from, the best train to take will be the Shonan-Shinjuku Line (from Shinjuku Station) or the Yokosuka Line (from Tokyo Station).
You may also be able to get a direct train depending on your timing. Otherwise, there will be a transfer involved but it will be manageable. Just follow what google maps tells you to do!
To get from Tokyo Station to Kamakura Station is right around 1 hour, maybe slightly less. To get from Shinjuku Station to Kamakura Station is just around 1 hour.
You can use your IC card (like suica card or pasmo card) to get from Tokyo to Kamakura Station. Otherwise, you can buy individual tickets when you arrive at the train station.
👆 You have several options to get from Tokyo to Kamakura Station. Google maps makes it easy to figure out what train to take! 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!
From Tokyo to Kamakura and Enoshima
👉 Bus tour to Kamakura and Enoshima: See the Kamakura highlights of Great Buddha, Hasedera Temple, and Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine, and then you’ll have 2 hours in Enoshima on your own. The meeting point is in Shinjuku.
From Tokyo to Hakone
👉 Day trip to Hakone Ropeway, Owakudani volcano valley, and Lake Ashi (with possible Mount Fuji views!)
Read the reviews on getyourguide or viator.
From Tokyo to Kamakura and Yokohama
👉 Day trip to Kamakura and Yokohama with driver: It’s a big day, and you have the chance to go to the Kamakura highlights of the Great Buddha, Hasedera Temple, and the bamboo forest tea house, along with a couple of famous Yokohama places. (There’s a list of places possible, and you won’t be able to do them all, so you’ll need to choose!) See the list and reviews.
Walking to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine
Once you arrive at Kamakura Station, you will follow the signs to exit the train station. You will see signs specifically for Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine to know which way to go. You will be walking towards the Kamakura Station east exit. From there, once outside the exit, you can look for the big red shrine gate, and start walking along Komachi Street towards the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine!
👆 This is a general walking route that you can take (map). You don’t need to do this exactly, in the sense that you can cross over from Komachi Street to Dankazura Avenue at another spot. But this gives you a general idea of how to get from Kamakura Station to Komachi Street to Dankazura Avenue to Tsurugaoka Hachimachu Shrine!
👆 Arrival by train to Kamakura Station!
👆 Once you get off the train, you’ll very soon see signs that will direct you towards Tsurugaoka Hachinmangu Shrine. You’ll go down to the east exit. If you have luggage, you can look for signs for the elevator. You don’t need to struggle with luggage down the stairs.
👆 Once you’re outside the Kamakura Station east exit, you’ll look for the big red torii shrine gate to find Komachi-dori Street!
👆 Another notable thing you can look for to find the big red torii shrine gate is the McDonald’s. Yes, there’s a McDonald’s in Kamakura. McDonald’s in different countries often have some country-specific menu items, so you can go as a small cultural experience! 🤪
👆 This is a sign for Komachi Street. This is also an intersection where you can cross over to Dankazura Avenue. It’s best to go after 10am if you want to explore the shops.
👆 Choose the walking route that includes walking the pedestrian path on Dankazura Avenue! Because…
👆 The Dankazura Avenue pedestrian path leads straight to the big red torii shrine gate!
👆 It’s right in front of you and makes for a dramatic entrance!
👆 Keep walking around the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine grounds.
👆 Stairs up to explore more!
👆 Looking down!
👆 There are also other areas to explore around the shrine grounds with no stairs necessary.
My itinerary with Kamakura Station and Tsurugaoka Hachimangu
I took 2 days to go from Tokyo to Kyoto. After staying a few nights in Tokyo at the Grand Prince Hotel Shin Takanawa near Shinagawa Station, this is what I did on the way to Kyoto Station.
Day 1: I arrived at Kamakura Station in the afternoon and walked to Kamakura Hotel to get settled a bit. Then I went and did the things to do near Hase Station, then back to the hotel.
Day 2: The next morning, I did an early morning beach walk. It was a 20-30 minute walk to the beach, and you can take also take the train to minimize walking. I returned back to the hotel for the light Japanese-style breakfast that was provided, then checked out and left my luggage at the Kamakura Station coin lockers. From Kamakura Station, I walked to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, and then onwards to the Hokokuji Temple bamboo forest tea house. After that, I took the bus back to Kamakura Station, and then onwards to Enoshima Station to walk to Enoshima Island and the caves there. After that, I went to Odawara Station to walk to Odawara Castle! Then, back to the train station to go to Kyoto by shinkansen! I used the coin lockers at the train station for luggage storage in Kamakura, Enoshima, and Odawara.