best time to visit Miyajima and Peace Park?

I am visiting Hiroshima in April but will only be there overnight. I am staying by the peace park and want to visit both the shrine at Miyajima and the peace park. I will be arriving around 3-4pm in the afternoon and can see one site that day and will be leaving around 1-2pm on the following day allowing me time to see the other site the following day. which is better in the morning or night compared to the other?

Thanks for your help

In my personal opinion there is much more to see in Miyajima than the peace park, particularly seeing as you have to catch the ferry from Miyajimaguchi and if you want to take the ropeway/walk up to Mt Misen.

From that perspective, I'd do the peace park in the afternoon you arrive in Hiroshima and then catch the ferry to miyajima the next morning.

Either way, it's going to be whirlwind tour and you won't get to see/do everything in either place. It's fast-paced travel, but if you are realistic, you can make the most of it.

If you just want to see Itsukushima Shrine in Miyajima then you might want to head straight there to visit the shrine and see the sunset and maybe the gate lit at night depending on when they light it and what ferry you take back.

Then you would be able to enjoy the Peace Museum and Peace Park the following day.

On the other hand, the Peace Museum closes at 6pm, so you would have a couple hours to try and get through it all. Combining it with the Peace Park before dark is pushing it. The time it takes to go through the museum should not be underestimated. There's a lot there and the exhibits are bilingual. It's not a place to try and whiz through quickly in my opinion.

There are downsides to both.
If you go to Miyajima first, depending on exactly what time you arrive and what ferry you take, you will basically only get to visit the shrine and then hopefully catch a nice sunset view with the torii gate.

If you go to the Peace Museum and Peace Park first, it will also be rushed (I'd take a taxi from the station to save time, since it's rather far and the tram is slower).

Also, you still won't be able to do everything on Miyajima with the limited time on the second day. You'll also have to watch the times and pay attention to the ferry schedule in order to make sure you are back in Hiroshima in time for your train out.

You can make either plan work. It's just up to you how you'd rather divide the time.

It is possible to see Miyajima in two different states on a one day visit. The Shrine and the Tori Gate are on a bay that rises and falls with the tide. On days near a full or new moon, the tides hit their maximums, becasue the sun and moon are in alignment.

On these days, There is a high tide around 10:00 - 11:00 AM, which will "float" the shrine and the Tori gate. Between 4:00-5:00PM, the shrine and gate will be beached, and your will find the locals digging in the tidal flats for clams. You can walk out and actually touch the Tori Gate, and, if you have a 5 or 50 yen coin (best for good luck) you can try to fit your coin below normal sea level, and hope that a barnicle will attach itself over your coin, and make it part of the gate.

Between high and low tides, there is lots to do, like take the ropeway up the mountain, go see the aquarium, take pictures of the native deer begging for food, shopping, and eating lunch or the treats made by the big automated machines at the bakeries.

You can go over and snap a few photos, and move on, if you wish. Your vacation, your choice.

Peace park is a fairly large park, and I have yet to fully explore it. I still want to take photos of the Phoenix grove, which is a group of trees that survived a nuclear blast, even though they were less than 800 meter from ground zero. I think they are between the dome ruins, and the museum, but I am not sure where. I also want to get better photo of the cats that seem to inhabit the dome ruins.

Again, it's your choice to spend however much time you want at these locations. You can slid in, take a few photos and get out. You will have your photos that say that you were there, but you can also make sure you have a fast enough lens for your camera, or a tripod, so that you can photograph the drops of the "Black Rain" that are embedded on concrete on display in the museum (no flash photography is allowed), or visit ground zero, which is about 200 meters off the park, on a little side street.

Again, your vacation, your choice.

Two years ago, I folded 1000 cranes and donated them at the Kiosk in the middle of the park to world peace. I did get faster at folding cranes, but it did take a long time, but I think it was worth it.

Although, the museum shuts at 6pm, the park has added atmosphere if you see it in the evening, as I did last time I was there. Miyajima is what will take up more time so I would focus the second day on Miyajima and the first day on trying to go to the Museum and Peace Park.

Yikes, I'm worried now. I intended on spending one day in Hiroshima and wanted to see peace park and miyajima. Maybe I'll do Miyajima for half day and make it to Peace Park later in the day.

Miyajima is about 40 minutes by train from central Hiroshima and if you plan on climbing the mountain then it will likely take a few more hours but it is doable in a half day if you go there early.

The peace park can take as long as you like depending on how much you want to see.