Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
ExploreJapanDaily Editorial Team · Last updated: October 3, 2026 · Facts verified: October 3, 2026
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park (広島平和記念公園) is the free, always-open park in central Hiroshima laid out after the war on the Nakajima district, a few hundred meters from the hypocenter of the atomic bomb. It holds the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims, the Peace Flame, the Children's Peace Monument and the National Peace Memorial Hall. The Atomic Bomb Dome stands across the river at its northern end and the ticketed Peace Memorial Museum at its southern end. Walking the monuments takes about an hour; with the museum and the Dome, plan on 3 to 4 hours.
- Area
- Naka, Hiroshima
- Nearest Station
- Genbaku Dome-mae tram stop (north end) or Fukuro-machi tram stop (museum end); Heiwa Kinen Koen bus stop
- Best For
- History, Memorials, Walking
How the park is laid out
Before 1945 the Nakajima district, on the sandbar between the Motoyasu and Honkawa rivers, was one of Hiroshima's busiest neighborhoods of shops, temples and homes. The bomb destroyed it entirely. After the war the city set the area aside as a memorial park, built to a design by the architect Kenzo Tange, which won a competition in 1949.
Tange organized the park along one north-south axis, and that axis is the easiest way to understand it. From the museum's Main Building at the southern end, the arched Cenotaph, the Peace Flame and the Atomic Bomb Dome across the river line up in a single view. Most of the monuments sit on either side of this line, so a walk from the museum to the Dome, or the reverse, passes nearly everything worth seeing.
A few places sit off the axis. The Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, a largely underground building near the Peace Flame, holds a hall of remembrance and collections of victims' names, photographs and survivors' written accounts, and is free to enter. North of the Peace Flame, the Children's Peace Monument is where school groups leave strings of paper cranes, and the A-bomb Mound near the river holds the ashes of tens of thousands of victims who could not be identified.
The park is a public space as well as a memorial: people cross it on the way to work and sit by the river at lunch. It is not the museum. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is a separate, ticketed visit with its own hours and web tickets, and the Atomic Bomb Dome is seen from outside its fence. This page covers the open-air park and its monuments.
What to see in Peace Memorial Park
How to Get to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
The park fills the northern end of the Nakajima sandbar in central Hiroshima, between the Motoyasu and Honkawa rivers. Pick your stop by which end you want to start from.
- •For the Dome and the north end, use Genbaku Dome-mae (Lines 2 and 6); for the museum end, Fukuro-machi (Line 1) or the Heiwa Kinen Koen bus stop.
- •Direct boats between Miyajima and the park's riverside pier take about 45 minutes.
- •Hiroden streetcars are not covered by the Japan Rail Pass.
For IC cards, tickets, and full transit basics for Hiroshima, see the complete transportation guide.
Getting Around Hiroshima →Map
Best Time to Visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
Best time to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park: Early morning, before school groups arrive; August 6 for the Peace Memorial Ceremony, with large crowds. Weekday mornings are generally quieter than weekends and public holidays.
- •The park never closes, so time it around the museum: an early or late web-ticket slot, with the monuments before or after.
- •School groups gather around the Children's Peace Monument on spring and autumn weekdays; early morning and evening are quieter.
- •On August 6 the area around the Cenotaph is reserved for the morning ceremony, and lanterns are floated on the river after dark.
Cherry trees along the rivers bloom around the monuments. Weekends bring picnickers as well as visitors.
The morning ceremony at the Cenotaph is attended by survivors, officials and the public, with a moment of silence at 8:15 AM. Lanterns are floated on the river in the evening.
Comfortable weather for walking the park, though school-trip groups are frequent in October and November.
Entry Fee & Hours
- •The park's main paths, bridges and monument plazas are flat and paved, and step-free for wheelchairs and strollers.
- •The National Peace Memorial Hall is free to enter and has its own daytime opening hours, separate from the museum's.
Nearby Attractions
Combine with Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on the same day
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
Atomic Bomb Dome
Okonomimura
Hiroshima Castle
- •Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (At the park's southern end): The city-run museum in Peace Memorial Park that documents the atomic bombing of August 6, 1945, through victims' belongings, photographs and survivor testimony. Adult admission is 200 yen, and the museum recommends buying a web ticket in advance.
- •Atomic Bomb Dome (Across the Motoyasu River at the park's northern end): The ruin of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, left standing close to the hypocenter of the 1945 atomic bomb and preserved as a World Heritage Site. Seen from outside its fence, free, at any hour.
- •Okonomimura (About 10 to 15 minutes on foot east): A building in Shintenchi, central Hiroshima, where about two dozen independent Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki counters fill the 2nd to 4th floors. Each stall sets its own menu, prices and hours.
- •Hiroshima Castle (About 15 to 20 minutes on foot north, or by streetcar): The site of the castle begun in 1589, with moats, original stone walls and free reconstructed Ninomaru buildings. The 1958 keep closed to visitors in March 2026 and is seen from outside only.
A morning in the Peace Memorial area
The park, the museum and the Dome make one half day. This order starts with the museum while it is quiet.
Museum first, then north to the Dome
Morning
Peace Memorial Museum with an early web ticket, about 1 to 2 hours
Late morning
North through Peace Memorial Park: the Cenotaph, the Peace Flame and the Children's Peace Monument
Midday
Cross the river to the Atomic Bomb Dome
Afternoon or evening
Shukkeien Garden and Hiroshima Castle, or Miyajima, then dinner at Okonomimura
Frequently Asked Questions
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