Miyajima and Iwakuni In One Day Trip

Hi, I'm going to Hiroshima in this year's early December. There will be one day where I'm planning to visit Miyajima, but when I look at information about Iwakuni, I'm also interested to see the Kintai Bridge.

What I want to ask is, is it possible and worth it to visit Iwakuni (maybe just to see Kintai Bridge and nearby area) together with Miyajima in one day? If yes, should I visit Iwakuni or Miyajima first? I want to know which one is better to visit in the afternoon until evening.

Fyi, I'm not really planning to go to Mt. Misen in Miyajima because it probably takes a lot of time and probably hinder the possibility to visit Iwakuni. But if some of you recommend to visit that place instead of Iwakuni, I'm opened to new idea and insight.

Thank you very much.

Only if you wish to skip a lot of things.

The 3 big sights on Miyajima are the Itsukushima Shrine, Mt. Misen and the Daishoin Temple. Climbing Mt Misen is the most time consuming. The shrine doesn't take long at all, and you could spend an hour at the temple to leisurely walk through.
http://bit.ly/2wL4cfN
If you skip the hikes, you should have enough time.
So it's doable with an early morning start. The bridge doesn't take that long either - though it's one of the prettiest in Japan.

I read that I should take a cable car first and then do some hiking to reach the top of Mt. Misen. Is it more worth it than visiting Iwakuni? Considering the temperature in December and how long it'll take to reach the top.

Anyway, if I'm skipping Mt. Misen (so just visiting the shrine and pagoda, and maybe Momijidani Park) and try to visit Iwakuni, which one is better to visit in afternoon until evening? If it's better to visit Miyajima in the afternoon until evening, are there any ferries from Miyajima Island to the mainland after sunset? Because I'm staying in Hiroshima on that night.

Thanks!

The final ropeway you will arrive at Shishi-iwa Observatory. From there it's "supposed" to be another 30 mins hike up to Mt. Misen according to other sites I read. When I got off the ropeway and went up to Shishi-iwa Observatory area and turned around, I freaked. I was planning on doing the hike but I passed on it because it looked rather steep to me. I know my strengths and weaknesses so I was sure I would NOT have made it in 30 mins. I did have a time frame and wanted to leave the island at a certain time to get back into Hiroshima to do some site seeing there before my Shinkansen back to Osaka/Kyoto. If you're an avid hiker and fit then maybe you can do it in 1.5 hrs hiking up from Shishi-iwa Obs and back with some time up there relaxing and taking in the view. If not, then go on to Iwakuni. I was content with the views from Shishi-iwa.

Regarding the best time of the day for Miyajima I think it depends on the tide. If at all possible going with high tide is preferable.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

From the cable car to the top of Misen can be done in 15-20 minutes. It's not too hard even in the middle of summer. I've even done that trek including the walk down with people in their late 60s/early 70s (they were ok for fitness, but probably would have opted for the cablecar back because the steps were pretty hard on their knees).

As for timing, I've had people all done on the island in an hour, and others happy to spend 4-6 hours there. depends on the interest. And we don't bother with going into Itsukushima shrine (only 300yen, but not worth it) and Daishoin is also not usually on the list as the early part of the hiking train is more interesting (and another temple or shrine simply gets cut).

Maybe head to Iwakuni first and then back to Miyajima - the place is still nice in the afternoon/evening.

Thanks for all the replies, guys! I really appreciate it.

Maybe I'll try to visit Iwakuni first because I think it's do-able for a couple of hours there.

Anyway, where can I get information about the high-tide and low-tide schedule in Miyajima? Is there any website about it? Thanks!

http://www.tides4fishing.com/jp/Hiroshima/Itsukushima

John B Digs gave the link. While many people like the high tide, I always like to lower tides so you can walk out to the grand torii. On a day with large variations, because the area is quite flat you can watch the tide move in/out as well - something else interesting.