The Atomic Bomb Dome (Genbaku Dome) is the ruin of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, left standing after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. It stands on the east bank of the Motoyasu River, facing Peace Memorial Park, and UNESCO listed it in 1996. You see it free from outside its fence.
The Hiroshima Prefecture commissioned the Czech architect Jan Letzel in 1910, and building began in 1914. Most of central Hiroshima was then two-storey wooden houses, so the European design stood out, and its reflection in the river made it a well-known sight. The city describes it as part of daily life for residents for 30 years.
The City of Hiroshima estimates that about 140,000 people, give or take 10,000, had died by the end of 1945. The exact number is not known.
The Dome is seen from outside only. A fence has surrounded it since 1962, and the paths on the riverbank and across the water in the park give clear views from several sides. What stands is the bare steel frame of the dome and parts of the brick and stone walls. Inside, the city’s record of the remains lists a cast-iron spiral staircase, basement stairs and graffiti written after the bombing. How much of that you can see depends on where you stand.
Within a few minutes’ walk are the plaque marking the hypocentre at the former Shima Hospital, the Children’s Peace Monument and the T-shaped Aioi Bridge. From the park, the Dome lines up with the arch of the Cenotaph. The Dome is lit at night.
In October 2026 no repair work was under way. From 2026 the city is testing repair materials outdoors over several years, ahead of a future preservation project.
The Dome is in the city centre, beside a tram stop, and free to see.
You do not need a guide, but one can tell you who each memorial remembers. Free volunteer park tours in English run from the museum outside July to September.
Three well-reviewed tours that include the Dome and the Peace Memorial Park. Some include a museum ticket, so read each listing. The tours page lists all 19 tours that visit the park.
2.5 hours
A walking tour that starts at Gokoku Shrine and Hiroshima Castle to explain the city's wartime role, then walks to the Atomic Bomb Dome and through the Peace Memorial Park, ending at the museum.
from$35
Check availability2 hours
A guided loop of the park's memorials and the Dome that ends with a museum ticket included, so you can stay inside as long as you need.
from$20
Check availability8 hours
A coach day from Hiroshima Station with a guided walk at the Dome and the park, an hour in the museum, an okonomiyaki lunch, then the ferry to Itsukushima Shrine.
from$120
Check availabilityPrices and ratings were taken from GetYourGuide and can change. Booking through these links supports this site at no extra cost to you.
Stay near Peace Memorial Park or in Hatchobori and Kamiyacho to walk to the Dome. Near Hiroshima Station is better for early trains, with a tram ride to the park. Three hotels within walking distance:
Walking times are estimates from the hotels’ map positions.
Across the river from the Dome, on the site of the Nakajima district. The Cenotaph, the Flame of Peace and the Memorial Mound are here.
About 10 minutes on foot from the Dome. Adults pay ¥200; junior high students and younger go free.
Three minutes from the Dome. About 10 million paper cranes are sent to it each year.
A plaque at the former Shima Hospital, two minutes’ walk from the Dome, marks the hypocentre. The T-shaped Aioi Bridge is just north.
The Dome, the memorials in the park, the museum and the people they remember.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is a free public park of about 12 hectares in central Hiroshima, built on the district destroyed on 6 August 1945.
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum tells what happened to the city and its people on 6 August 1945 and after.
The Atomic Bomb Dome was built in 1915 as the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall, designed by the Czech architect Jan Letzel.
Hiroshima today is a modern city of about 1.17 million people in western Japan.
Sadako Sasaki was two years old when the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima in 1945.
The Children's Peace Monument in Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park remembers Sadako Sasaki and all the children who died because of the atomic bomb.
Hibakusha are the people who survived the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, as recognised by Japanese law.
The Flame of Peace and the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims stand together at the centre of Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park.
Aioi Bridge, the T-shaped bridge beside the Atomic Bomb Dome, was the aiming point for the atomic bomb on 6 August 1945.
Every 6 August, Hiroshima holds the Peace Memorial Ceremony in front of the Cenotaph in Peace Memorial Park, from 8:00 to 8:50.
Orizuru Tower is a 14-storey building beside the Atomic Bomb Dome with a rooftop deck that looks straight down on the Dome and across Peace Memorial Park.
Museum tickets, getting there, where to stay and how long to give Hiroshima.
With one day in Hiroshima, spend the morning at the Atomic Bomb Dome and the Peace Memorial Park, the middle of the day in the museum, and the afternoon at Shukkeien or the castle grounds.
From Hiroshima Station, take Hiroden tram 2 or 6 from the station's 2nd floor to Genbaku Dome-mae: about 15 to 20 minutes, 240 yen.
Stay near the Peace Memorial Park or Hondori if you want to walk to the Dome and museum.
Adult tickets to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum cost 200 yen, high school students pay 100 yen and younger children enter free.
The fastest way from Tokyo to Hiroshima is a direct Nozomi Shinkansen: about 3 hours 50 minutes to 4 hours, 19,760 yen for a reserved seat, or 19,560 yen on smartEX.
From Shin-Osaka, a Nozomi Shinkansen reaches Hiroshima in about 1 hour 21 to 1 hour 26 minutes for 10,950 yen, or 10,750 yen on smartEX.
A direct Nozomi Shinkansen from Kyoto reaches Hiroshima in about 1 hour 36 to 1 hour 40 minutes and costs 11,940 yen for a reserved seat, or 11,740 yen on smartEX.
For most visitors the best Hiroshima tour is a small-group walk through the Peace Memorial Park with a guide who shares survivors' testimony, about two to four hours.
Choose Hiroshima if you have limited time on the Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka route: it is closer, and Miyajima is next door.
The rest of the city, food, and the island of Miyajima.
Start with the Atomic Bomb Dome, the Peace Memorial Park and the Peace Memorial Museum, which together need half a day.
Miyajima is the island off Hiroshima's coast with Itsukushima Shrine and its great torii standing in the sea.
The cheapest way from Hiroshima to Miyajima is the JR train to Miyajimaguchi, about 26 minutes, then a 10-minute ferry for 200 yen.
Hiroshima Castle's main keep closed on 22 March 2026 because its 1958 concrete is deteriorating, so there are no keep tickets.
Shukkeien is a walking garden built in 1620 for the Asano lords, about 1.3 km from the Atomic Bomb Dome.
Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki is built in layers on the griddle: a thin batter, a pile of cabbage and toppings, then a bed of fried noodles.
Mitaki Temple (Mitaki-dera) is a wooded hillside temple in north-west Hiroshima, named for its three waterfalls.
No. The city fenced the Dome off in 1962 and stopped all entry because bricks were falling. You see it from the paths outside the fence, on the riverbank and across the river in Peace Memorial Park. The City of Hiroshima publishes video clips of the interior on its website for anyone who wants to see inside.
No. There is no entrance and no ticket: you view the Dome free from the public paths around it, and the park is open to walk through. The Peace Memorial Museum nearby does charge. In October 2026 it was ¥200 for adults and ¥100 for high school students, and free for junior high students and younger.
It was built as the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall, designed by the Czech architect Jan Letzel and completed in April 1915. It displayed and promoted products from Hiroshima and other prefectures and held art exhibitions. It was renamed in 1921 and again in 1933, as the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. From 1944 it housed government offices.
Take Hiroden tram route 2 or 6 to Genbaku Dome-mae, the stop beside the Dome. The city gives the ride as about 20 minutes, and the fare is a flat ¥240 for adults, paid as you get off; IC cards such as ICOCA and Suica work. Since August 2025 the station tram stop has been on the second floor of the station building, so follow the tram signs. The Sightseeing Loop Bus (meipuru-pu) from the Shinkansen exit also stops at the Dome, ¥240 a ride. On foot it is about 35 minutes.
Most visitors see the Dome together with Peace Memorial Park and the Peace Memorial Museum. Allow 1.5 to 2 hours for the museum and an hour or more to walk through the park, so about half a day for all three. The museum is busiest from 11:00 to 15:00.
After the war, opinion in Hiroshima was divided. Some people wanted the ruin kept as a memorial; others wanted it pulled down as dangerous and painful to see. On 11 July 1966 Hiroshima City Council voted to preserve it, and donations from more than 1.3 million people in Japan and abroad paid for the first preservation work in 1967. There have been five preservation projects so far, the latest finished in 2021.