Enoshima

What the guides say about Enoshima

From here the afternoon depends on your appetite. Ride the Enoden west to Enoshima, a shrine island reached by a long footbridge, with shrines stacked up its slopes and Fuji floating above the bay on clear winter days. Or ride it east back to Kamakura station, eat shirasu-don (a bowl of whitebait, raw or boiled, over rice, the local dish) on Komachi-dori, and walk up to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, the shrine that anchors the town. Be back on the train by 6pm and in Tokyo for a last dinner near the hotel.

Afternoon. From Hase station the Enoden tram runs along the coast. West takes you to Enoshima, a shrine island reached by a long bridge, with a lighthouse observation deck and Fuji above the water on clear winter days. East takes you back to Kamakura station, a shirasu-don lunch of local whitebait on Komachi-dori, and the walk up the long approach to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, the shrine the town was built around.

3pm, the Enoden to Enoshima. Board the Enoden at Hase heading west. Within two stops the tram breaks out onto the coast at Inamuragasaki and runs along the sea wall, past the level crossing at Kamakurakokomae station and a view you may know from the anime Slam Dunk. The run to Enoshima takes about 15 minutes. Get off, cross the causeway to the island, and spend the rest of the afternoon climbing through the shrine gates to the top. On a clear winter afternoon you'll see Fuji across the bay to the west, and sunset from the far side of the island is the way to finish. Katase-Enoshima station, ten minutes back across the bridge, has Odakyu trains to Shinjuku in about 70 minutes.