Kamakura and Enoshima: The Easiest Day Trip from Tokyo

Kamakura was the seat of government for a century and a half from 1185, which is why a small seaside town an hour from Tokyo has sixty-five temples and shrines, a 13th-century bronze Buddha, and hiking trails that run between them along the ridges.

It is the easiest day trip from Tokyo: one train, no reservations, no pass required. It is also one of the most popular, so the whole question is the order you do things in.

Two ways in

JR Yokosuka line from Tokyo Station or Shinagawa, direct, about 55 minutes. It stops at Kita-Kamakura first, which is where you should get off — the big Zen temples are there and the walk into town runs downhill from them.

Odakyu from Shinjuku to Fujisawa, then the Enoden tram. The Enoshima-Kamakura Freepass costs 1,640 JPY and covers the round trip plus unlimited tram rides, which is good value if you are starting in western Tokyo and want Enoshima as well as the temples.

→ Tokyo trains explained: which line, which ticket, which exit

The route that works

Walk it north to south and you stay ahead of the day visitors, who arrive at Kamakura station around eleven and work outwards.

1. Kita-Kamakura, from about nine. Engakuji is beside the station; Kenchoji, the oldest Zen training monastery in the country, is fifteen minutes down the road. Both charge a few hundred yen.
2. Walk to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu. Twenty-five minutes along the old road, arriving at the shrine’s long approach. The grounds are free.
3. Lunch on Komachi-dori, the narrow street between the shrine and the station. Busy, good, and the only place in Kamakura where you will queue for food.
4. Take the Enoden to Hase for the Great Buddha and Hasedera, which are a ten-minute walk apart.
5. Stay on to Enoshima for the last hour of light, or turn back if your legs have gone.

The Great Buddha and Hasedera

The Buddha at Kotoku-in is 11.4 metres of bronze, cast in 1252, and has sat in the open since the hall around it was destroyed by a tsunami in the 15th century. Admission is 300 JPY, and for another 50 JPY you can climb a short stair inside the hollow statue, which is a strange and quite memorable five minutes.

Hasedera, up the hill, costs 400 JPY and is the better temple of the two: a hillside garden, a view over the bay, a cave of small carved figures, and the hydrangea path that in June draws a numbered-ticket queue of several hundred people. Come at opening in June or come in another month.

Enoshima

The Enoden runs the four kilometres to the coast on single track, through back gardens and across level crossings, and the stretch where it emerges beside the beach at Shichirigahama is the reason people photograph the line rather than the sea.

Enoshima itself is a small island joined by a bridge, with a shrine up a stepped lane, a lighthouse observation tower, and sea caves on the far side. On clear winter afternoons Fuji sits on the horizon behind it, which is the best free view of the mountain within an hour of Tokyo.

→ Mount Fuji day trips from Tokyo: which one, and how to get there

The temples nobody walks to

The east side of town is almost empty on the days the Great Buddha has a queue. Hokokuji has a bamboo grove with a tea house at the back of it, Sugimotodera is a mossy stone stair under cedars, and Zuisenji has a rock garden built by a Zen monk in the 14th century. A bus from the station or a twenty-minute walk gets you to all three.

Walking between them

Two ridge trails cross the hills. The Daibutsu trail runs from Kita-Kamakura to the Great Buddha in about ninety minutes of wooded up-and-down; the Tenen trail goes east from Kenchoji towards the quiet temples. Neither is difficult, both are muddy after rain, and both are the way to see why a military government chose a site ringed by hills with the sea in front of it.

When to go

• Best: weekday mornings in any month. April for the shrine’s cherry avenue, November for maples.
• June: hydrangeas, which means timed tickets at Hasedera and crowds at Meigetsuin.
• Avoid: fine summer weekends, when the beach traffic and the tram queues combine.

Questions people actually ask

Is one day enough for Kamakura?

Yes for the main sights. Two half-days — one for the temples, one for the coast — is better if you are staying in Tokyo for a week.

Do I need a pass?

No. Buy a pass only if you are coming from Shinjuku and plan several tram hops; otherwise tap in with an IC card.

Can I combine Kamakura with Hakone or Fuji?

Not comfortably in one day. Kamakura and Enoshima fill a day on their own, and Hakone deserves its own.

Is it good with children?

Very. Short train rides, a beach, a tram, caves on Enoshima, and a statue you can climb inside.

How does Kamakura compare with Nikko?

Kamakura is closer, cheaper and gentler; Nikko is grander and twice the travelling. For a first trip with one spare day, Kamakura wins.

What should I eat?

Shirasu — tiny whitebait, raw or boiled, over rice — is the local dish, and the restaurants along the coast serve it looking at the sea it came from.