This itinerary was built for a day trip from Tokyo. Kamakura is located in Japan’s Kanagawa district, just southwest of Tokyo and Yokohama. It’s an easy one-hour trip from Tokyo.

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• A direct, one-way journey from Tokyo Station costs JPY920 one way. Use an IC card or purchase tickets from the machines outside the JR station barriers. The journey is an hour each way.

  • We suggest aiming to arrive by around 8:30am. This will give you a full day there, with ample time to explore at a leisurely pace.

• 7:30am JR Tokyo Station

• Coffee at Maruyama Coffee Kamakura

• Kotokuji (Kotoku-in) Temple and The Great Buddha

  • The draw here is the big Buddha (outdone only by the one in Nara). It's really big! And it's rare to see one of these outdoors (its temple was destroyed by a tsunami in 1492.) It's hollow, and you can go inside to see how it's made. Lots of visitors and street vendors outside make this more a tourist site than a spiritual one. Still, the Buddha is awesome in the true sense of the word.

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• Walking to Hasedera Temple

  • You could easily spend around 45 minutes exploring the temple grounds. It's home to all kinds of little nooks and crannies, and charming little statues and decorations. Crawl into the cave housing hundreds of tiny Benzaiten statues, stroll around the lotus pond, or enter a small temple hall at the top and spin the prayer wheels. Take your time here, and watch out for kite hawks above.

  • Give yourself enough time to climb to the top of the temple and enjoy the view of Kamakura from above. If the timing’s right and you’re here during the rainy season, walking along “Prospect Road” is a must. This hyperbolically-named path is a small walking loop built into the hillside at the top of the temple. It’ll be clearly marked and you’ll spot the gorgeous hydrangea bushes a mile away.

  • Benzaiten

  • Benten-Kutsu Cave

• Yuigahama Beach

  • 3.2 km long beach located at the southcoast in Kamakura City. It can be accessed from Kamakura station by 20 mins walk. During summer, beach is extremely crowded by beach bums and lined with beach houses serving chilled drinks and food.

  • Tokyo's closest surf spot is less than 2 hours by train and a 15-minute walk from the main station. On a summer afternoon, the beach is packed with overheated and overworked Tokyoites looking for relief, but on a winter morning there are just a handful of dedicated surfers, an old lady collecting shells, and a fisherman warming up by a firepit. Vendors and beach bars crowd the shore in summer months. Grab a yakitori and an ice cold Asahi.

• Zeniarai Benzaiten Shrine

  • This hiking course is around 2.2km and takes around 75 minutes to complete, but I’d estimate a little more time and distance than this, since you’ll have to walk to the start of the route, and then onwards to Kamakura Station after visiting the shrine. This option is only recommended if you have appropriate footwear and you’re reasonably confident about hiking. We can’t really recommend doing the hike when it’s raining. This will also take you back to Kamakura Station, so you can either eat your evening meal in the area or return to Tokyo for dinner.

  • Around 700m in, you’ll see a sign pointing to a cafe.

  • Following the sign will take you to a charming terraced cafe set into the hillside, overlooking the trees below. (You could drive here from the other side and walk in through the front door - but where’s the fun in that?) It’s a nice place for a mid-hike cup of tea.

  • Otherwise, continue along the hiking path towards the shrine.

  • Zeniarai Benzaiten: A unique shrine in Kamakura which is believed to make worshippers rich when they wash their money with the spring water of the shrine. Zeniarai Benten Shrine is located between Kamakura and Kita Kamakura Station, and there is no public transportation available, and takes around 20–30 mins walk from each station.

  • The idea at this shrine is to wash your money in its waters, as it’s said that this will cause it to return to you fivefold when spent. Visitors don’t just wash coins here. You’ll see some people rinsing stacks of paper notes, and then drying them carefully with handkerchiefs afterwards! Spend them wisely and what you’ve spent will return to you quintupled. Let’s hope that’s true.

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• Lunch at Satonoudon Kamakura

• Tsurugaoka Hachimangū

  • Now that you’ve fueled up, it’s time to head over to Tsurugaoka Hachimangū - Kamakura’s most important shrine. Dedicated to Hachiman, the tutelary god of warriors, the shrine complex was moved to its current site in 1180 and has remained there since. It is also the reason Kamakura has no tall buildings - none of the structures in town are allowed to tower above the shrine.

  • Entrance to Tsuruoka Hachimangu is free. The shrine complex is much larger than it appears. While visitors tend to crowd around So we can the main buildings, it is very pleasurable to duck off the main drag, either to the left or right, accessible via the red curved bridges.

• Coffee pitstop at Cafe Kaeru (looks adorable, must go)

• Sugimoto-dera (Buddhist temple)

• Hokoku-ji (and Bamboo Forest)

  • Small Zen temple known for its bamboo grove formed with about 2,000 bamboo trees. Visitors can have a pleasant walk through the green bamboo forest. There is also a small Japanese style cafe inside the garden where you can enjoy the fresh green tea and the view of bamboos. How delightful.

• Myohonji

  • Myohonji is one of the oldest Nichiren Buddhist temples in Kamakura. Spacious and imposing, the temple complex is flanked by mountains and connected to the Gionyama hiking trails. Because it’s relatively far from the beaten tourist track and requires a little walking through the backstreets to get there, there are usually fewer visitors, and can be beautifully tranquil on weekday mornings. (That being said, it doesn’t make that much difference when the autumn leaves are out in full force.)

• Komachi-dori

  • Komachi Street (Komachi Dori) is a shopping street located near Kamakura Station and stretches towards Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. There are hundreds of shops, cafes and restaurants lined along the street. It’s the best places to eat out and shop souvenirs. A lot of shops offer handy street snacks which you can enjoy while strolling down the street.

  • For snacks and shopping just outside Kamakura station, head to this street of food vendors, souvenir shops, and eateries. Keep an eye out for the korokke (croquette) shop just before the the third corner on the right. It's easy to miss because it is truly a hole-in-the-wall, and closes when they run out. Get the one made with Kamakura purple potato. There's a shop for sweet candied beans, a vendor selling shirasu taiyaki (that's a fish-shaped pastry filled with the with fish), locally brewed beer, and TV-famous pudding.