The first three days of our 18 day trip saw fabulous weather: sunny with clear blue skies. The weather became considerably overcast and cloudy on Day 04 when we’d relocated to Tokyo for the second leg of our itinerary, and on Day 05 today, there was light rain in Tokyo and also where we were heading to for visitations: Enoshima Island. The island is about an hour train ride along the Odakyu line from Shinjuku Station, and there were available seats for all of us for a Tuesday morning: important as the ride itself through the Greater Tokyo was largely uninteresting. Alighting at the end of the Odakyu line at Fujiwasa Station, we headed for the South Exit and boarded the F3 bus for an another 15 minute bus ride to the island itself.
Right beside the bus drop-off point is the Enoshima Tourist Information office where you can get a large printed map. Right behind it is Benzaiten Nakamise Street, a narrow lane with souvenir and trinket shops, and cafes and restaurants. The Zuishin-mon gate is at the end of the street, and on the left is the first of three pay to use escalators, and also where we bought the Enoshima 1 Day + 1 Night Ticket (1,500 yen for an adult, 700 yen for a child).
The island itself is walkable but with steep flights of steps to access the central part of the island. We saw groups of elderly with hiking gear make their way around the island. For tourists like us, these pay to use escalators that will bring you right up – and escalator rides are unlimited. Note though: that the escalators do not bring visitors down: you’d need to walk it. Having spent the day on the island, our feel of it is that the pay to use escalators are not finally necessary: there are many flights of stairs everywhere on the island yes, but the these pay to use escalators only cover three flights, and none of those flights are especially difficult to begin with.
The first escalator brings visitors to the Yasaka Shrine and Hoanden. The second escalator is a short walk on the left that brings visitors to another shrine – Enoshima Shrine. There’s a great viewpoint where you can get pictures of the bridge connecting Enoshima Island to the mainland. A little further to the left of the second escalator is the third and last escalator, and it leads visitors to the Enoshima Samuel Cocking Garden, a few more cafes and restaurants, and the Enoshima Sea Candle.
We took several hundred pictures on the island, so our notes for this visit would be split into multiple posts:
Continued in the next post: the Samuel Cocking Garden on Enoshima Island!