Yokohama to Enoshima Island for a day trip! caves, dragons + shrines! ⛩

Hi there!

It’s easy to make it a day trip to Enoshima Island from Yokohama or Tokyo!

Enoshima is a popular Tokyo day trip.

You may not need all day in Enoshima. A few hours may be enough, and you can then also go to another place while you are out in the direction of Enoshima.

Once you are at Enoshima, the way to get around is by FOOT! So, be prepared for a lot of walking on Enoshima, and that includes stairs!

Your mission for Enoshima can be to see many shrines and dragon statues… and to walk through a cave that was formed by powerful ocean waves!

It’s easy to get to Enoshima by train.

You can use an IC card for the train, and that can make it easy to pay for. Or, instead of using your IC card, you may want to get an all-day train pass to save money, in particular if you’re coming from Tokyo, which I will explain below.

I will also show you some pictures from my time in Enoshima!

 

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There are partner websites that are included below.

 

 

Enoshima tours

It’s quite possible to do Enoshima on your own, but if you’ve like to have a more enhanced appreciation of Japan, there are tours to Enoshima that you can do.

While there is an most often, the tours to Enoshima are combined with Kamakura, so you get an Enoshima and Kamakura combo tour.

You can do it as a day trip with transportation from Tokyo by the Kamakura and Enoshima tour.

If you don’t mind getting yourself to Enoshima on your own, you can also do something like the Enoshima-only “hiking” tour (walking with lots of stairs, because that’s Enoshima!), which has a meeting at an Enoshima tourist center that’s about a 10 minute walk from Enoshima Station.

Read the reviews of more Enoshima tours on viator or more Enoshima tours on getyourguide.

 

 

 

👆 You’ll see a big red torii gate if you go to Enoshima Island!

 

👆 Walk around the island with views! This is a walk to the cave.

 

👆 You will see a lot of dragons during your time in Enoshima! This one is on the pedestrian bridge that leads to Enoshima Island!

 

👆 You can take the famous “Enoden” train to get to Enoshima Island! (There is also another train that’s NOT an Enoden train that will get you to Enoshima.)

 

 

How to get from Yokohama to Enoshima by train

To go to Enoshima, you can take a train to Enoshima Station.

You can get from Yokohama Station to Enoshima Station by train in 40 minutes. You’ll need to transfer at least once. Just follow google maps!

 

👆 You can go by train from Yokohama Station to Enoshima Station. You’ll need to transfer once.

 

If you plan to do different day trips from Yokohama, it could be convenient to stay in hotels near Yokohama Station. The Yokohama Bay Sheraton is pretty much at Yokohama Station.

 

You can take local trains from Yokohama to Enoshima, and you can pay using an IC card.

 

IC cards are public transportation cards that you can load cash onto at any train station. You can get an IC card (like a suica card or pasmo card) at the first train station you go to in Yokohama or Tokyo, including when you arrive at the airport or Yokohama Station. You will buy it at the ticket machine at the train station. The ticket machines have the option to be shown in English, so look for the ENGLISH button!

 

To figure out which train to take to get to Enoshima, just use google maps!

This is all you need to navigate public transportation in Yokohama. It will tell you the train route and timings.

 

👆 You can take a train from Yokohama Station to Enoshima Station! Google maps will give you the different train options with cost. Explore the map. I have found that looking at google maps on my phone (the app) gives more details than the desktop version. So play around with it on your phone!

 

 

If you go to google maps public transit and put “Yokohama Station” as your starting point, and “Enoshima Station” or “Katase Enoshima Station” as your end point, and click on the public transit option, you will see for example that one option for the first train is to take the “JO Yokosuka Line” train with the destination “Zushi.”

The destination is important because it will tell you which side of the platform you need to be on.

Or actually, google maps on your phone makes this easy for Yokohama too, because it even tell you what platform you need to go to if you expand out the directions.

Also if you expand out the directions, it will tell you how many stops you have to go, and the names of the stops you will pass by too! It also tells you the cost of the train ride, which can help in knowing how much cash to put on your IC card.

It does not matter too much whether you choose Enoshima Station or Katase Enoshima Station, although Katase Enoshima Station will save you like 5-7 minutes of walking. Katase Enoshima Station is slightly closer to the bridge that you will walk on to get to the island.

If you want to ride the famous Enoden train, then you want to go to Enoshima Station! Enoshima Station is on the Enoden Line.

If you are still in planning stages at home, it would be better if you know the train station that’s closest to the hotel you’ll be staying at. When you are actually in Yokohama, you can just use “current location” as your starting point and that will make it super easy to know where to go!

You may also need to adjust the departure time if you’re looking at it when it’s late evening in Japan.

 

It might seem intimidating to take public transportation in Japan, but don’t worry, after you take it a few times, you will feel like a pro! And if you do mess up, not to worry. You aren’t alone. It’s just a part of the Japan experience. 🤪 Stay calm, and as long as you have google maps, you will figure it out. 😆 And, look for signs!

 

 

Tokyo to Enoshima

Similar to Yokohama, you can get to Enoshima train from Tokyo. This will also require a transfer.

 

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You can get from Tokyo to Enoshima in about an hour by train.

 

👆 You can get from Tokyo Station to Enoshima Station in about an hour, with a train transfer.

 

 

Enoshima Kamakura all-day train pass (from Tokyo)

By using google maps public transportation directions to look for the cost of the train fare, you can more easily figure out if getting the Enoshima Kamakura freepass will be worth it for you. This is an all day train pass that includes round trip public transportation from Shinjuku Station in Tokyo to Enoshima.

The Enoshima Kamakura free pass is good for train rides on the specific lines of the Odakyu Line and Enoden Line.

To get you started, you can look at google maps for directions from Shinjuku Station (Tokyo) to Fujisawa Station (near Enoshima) on the Odakyu Line. See the map. (Look for Odakyu Line.) From Fujisawa, you’ll get on the Enoden Line to get to Enoshima Station. See the map.

If you are staying in Shinjuku and doing a day trip to Kamakura, you will find that this train ticket is worth it just in the round trip train cost between Shinjuku and Kamakura. But, check google maps to confirm!

There is also a “freepass” (all day train ticket) for trains in the Enoshima area. See the official info.

 

👆 This is an Enoden train. An Enoshima Kamakura freepass will included unlimited rides on the Enoshima Line. On google maps, you can look for the EN Enoden train route.

 

Kamakura is near Enoshima, and it’s another popular tourist spot. It can be reasonable to do both in one day, although it could be a long day if you want to see all-the-things! (And a lot of walking!) Make note of closing times for the things that are important to you. (Notably, the caves in Enoshima and the temples in Kamakura.)

See more about my day in Kamakura. For another place you can go alongside your trip to Enoshima, have a look at Odawara Castle.

 

 

 

Enoshima Station coin lockers

If you are at a tourist town in Japan, chances are there are coin lockers at the train station! Coin lockers can work well for luggage storage if you are on the move from one city to the next and you want to stop by a city along the way!

There are coin lockers for luggage storage at Enoshima Station! So if you want to move on from Tokyo or Yokohama on your way to your next destination like Kyoto and Osaka, you can stop by Enoshima even if you will have luggage!

There are different size lockers, and the cost will depend on which size you get. But in general it will cost around 400 to 700 yen (around US$5). You make payment using an IC card.

When you arrive at the Enoshima Station, look for a sign for “coin locker.”

If you arrive to no available coin lockers, you can try Katase Enoshima Station or Enoshima Hotel.

 

👆 There are coin lockers at Enoshima Station. Follow the prompts on the screen. Look for the language/English button.

 

👆 You can use the coin lockers at Enoshima Station for luggage storage.

 

 

 

 

Walking around Enoshima Island

My sightseeing time in Enoshima was around 3 hours. This time includes from the time I arrived at the train station and then returned back.

I arrived on the Enoden Line train at Enoshima Station.

From there, it was a short walk to get to the bridge to walk across to actually get on the island. At some point upon arrival to the island I went to the tourist information center to get a map. After eating some food (I stopped by a convenience store on the way from the convenience station), I started walking around the island. I basically walked to the caves, and then took a different route back.

 

After departing Tokyo, I stayed overnight in Kamakura at Kamakura Hotel, which is a few minutes walk from Kamakura Station. The next day, I took the train to Enoshima Station. After the few hours at Enoshima, I went to Odawara Station by train and walked to Odawara Castle. After Odawara, it was a shinkansen bullet train to Kyoto!

 

Now, more of my pictures from Enoshima Island!

 

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👆 You’ll see dragon statues (if you’re paying attention!) as you start the walk across the bridge to the island!

 

👆 This is the bridge you’ll walk across to the island.

 

👆 You will come across dragon statues as you walk around the island.

 

👆 Little statues around the island.

 

👆 You can see a big red torii gate while walking around Enoshima Island. Also… be prepared for stairs!

 

👆 You can walk to get to the entrance of the Enoshima caves aka Iwaya Cave! If you were to walk direct from Enoshima Station to the cave entrance, it’s about a 35 minute walk. See the map.

 

👆 Before you go to the cave, you can also walk down to a rocky area along the shoreline… with caution! This must be a dangerous area, as evidenced by the fact that there are lifeguards here! It is best not to get near the edge of the rocks, because waves can come over. It’s a good general rule to stay away from any wet areas, because if it’s wet it means that waves may come over! (I learned this from the concept of “rogue waves” in Hawaii. This area of Enoshima kind of reminded me of one particular dangerous tide pool area of Hawaii, so I feel it’s a good rule to follow here too!) These Enoshima waves are powerful. It’s what created the caves of Enoshima after all!

 

👆 There is actually another way to get to the Enoshima caves, and that’s by ferry! Instead of walking 35 minutes to get to the caves, you can walk 10 minutes from Enoshima Station to arrive at the ferry spot. See the map. This ferry will take you directly to the caves. The cost was listed as 400 yen (less than US$5). Although, it’s best not to depend on this ferry, because actually it was not in operation on the day I went. I believe the stated reason was because of the rough water conditions?

 

👆 Walking inside Iwaya Cave.

 

👆 At one point, you’ll be given a candle to light your way through the cave! Fun!

 

👆 Because it’s Enoshima… you’ll see dragons in the cave too!

 

👆 Cave side of Enoshima Island.

 

👆 View from inside the cave to see the powerful ocean waves.

 

 

👆 Play around with the map that includes Ensoshima! Click the upper left corner for the quick list of what’s on the map! Zoom in to Enoshima Station to get a better orientation of how to walk to Enoshima island! Enoshima is often combined with Kamakura, and for reference, Yokohama and Tokyo are also included. If you’re having problems viewing map, see it directly in google maps.

 

HAPPY DAY TRIP TO ENOSHIMA!