The Best Things to Do in Kamakura, Japan14 min read

Kamakura is one of the easiest day trips from Tokyo, and one of the most rewarding. It was the seat of Japan’s first military government, where shoguns and their regents ran the country for nearly 150 years while the emperor stayed in Kyoto. The town still carries that weight: a Great Buddha that has sat in the open air for more than 500 years, temples tucked into wooded hills, and a little seaside railway that might be the most charming train ride in Japan. The best things to do in Kamakura are linked by the Enoden, that old green tram, and the JR line. This guide walks you through them.

Getting to Kamakura from Tokyo and Getting Around

First, the logistics. From Tokyo Station, the JR Yokosuka Line runs directly to Kamakura Station in just under an hour, with no transfers and no thinking required. Leave early. I mean it: the 7:00 a.m. train is the difference between an empty seaside stretch of Kamakura and a river of tour groups.

Your secret weapon for getting around is the Enoden, the Enoshima Electric Railway, a mostly single-track green tram that has been crawling along this coast since the early 1900s. It’s slow, it’s beautiful, and at points it squeezes between houses so closely you could high-five someone’s laundry. Most of the best things to do in Kamakura below sit on this line or a short walk from it, which is what makes the plan work. A short bus ride covers the bamboo temple.

Paying is easy. A Suica or PASMO card works on the Enoden as well as on the JR line from Tokyo, so you can skip paper tickets. Tap in when you board and tap out when you get off, including at small stations where the gate is a simple touch panel. If you plan to hop on and off a lot, the one-day Noriorikun pass is the easy choice.

If you’d rather hand the logistics to someone else, this guided day trip from Tokyo includes an Enoden ride, the Great Buddha, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, the Kamakurakoko-mae crossing, and Enoshima in one long day. But do it yourself if you can. Kamakura rewards wandering, and the plan below gives you more time at each stop, including Hase-dera and the bamboo temple.

Shichirigahama: Mt. Fuji Over the Water

Ride the Enoden west and get off at Shichirigahama. On a clear morning (and morning is when Fuji is most likely to show, before the coastal haze rolls in), you’ll stand on a dark sand beach with the mountain rising over Sagami Bay as if it were painted there. It’s one of the best things to do in Kamakura for sea-and-mountain views, and one of the few places near Tokyo where Fuji sits across open water rather than looming over highways. Visibility is best from late fall through winter, so if you’re visiting in summer, treat the view as a bonus rather than a guarantee.

Once you’ve had your fill of the view, stop for brunch. Several cafes sit steps from the station along the coastal road, and the best ones put you at a window or terrace table facing the bay. A seaside meal is one of the easiest things to do in Kamakura to turn a quick photo stop into a real morning, and arriving early usually means a better seat and a shorter wait.

Then walk the coast path toward Kamakurakoko-mae, the next Enoden stop. This stretch is the Kamakura you came for: surfers in the wetsuits the Shonan coast is famous for, the Enoden sliding past on the landward side, and the level crossing at Kamakurakoko-mae, the one from the opening of the anime Slam Dunk. It draws fans from across Asia, so come early for softer light and thinner crowds.

Hase-dera: Eleven Faces Over Sagami Bay

Ride the Enoden back east to Hase and walk up to Hase-dera. It closes before the Great Buddha’s grounds, so it goes first.

Hase-dera is built into a hillside, and it earns its climb. The main hall houses a gilded, eleven-headed Kannon statue about nine meters tall, among the largest wooden sculptures in Japan. It’s one of the most memorable things to do in Kamakura, but what stays with most people is the terrace: a panorama over Sagami Bay, with the coastline curving toward Enoshima in the distance.

Slow down in the lower garden, where thousands of small Jizo statues stand, offered by families in memory of children who died before their time (including stillborn and miscarried babies), many dressed in tiny knitted caps and bibs. It’s a genuinely moving sight, and one that asks for a quieter pace than the rest of the day. If you’re here in June, the hydrangea path is a bonus worth building a trip around, though it draws big crowds, so go early on a weekday if you can.

The temple’s hours are posted on its official site and shift slightly with the seasons, closing a bit earlier in winter. Give yourself about an hour and a half, and more if the terrace view has you pinned.

Kotoku-in: The Great Buddha, Inside and Out

From Hase-dera, it’s a short walk to the Great Buddha. And there he is.

The Great Buddha of Kamakura is a seated bronze Amida Buddha about 13 meters tall including its base. Construction began in the 1250s, and he has sat in the open air since a tsunami in 1498 destroyed the temple hall that once sheltered him. Over the centuries he has weathered typhoons and earthquakes, and he’s still there, hands folded, entirely unbothered. The ocean took his roof, but not his composure.

Visiting him is one of the essential things to do in Kamakura, and the best part is that you can go inside. A narrow staircase climbs through the hollow bronze interior, and standing within the walls of a statue this old changes how you see it when you come back out. The interior has shorter opening hours than the grounds and sometimes closes early, so check the temple’s official site before you go. The grounds are open later in the warmer months and close a little earlier from October through March.

Budget about 45 minutes. Then it’s a short walk back to Hase Station for the Enoden to Kamakura Station.

Hokoku-ji: Bamboo and Matcha

Here’s your fork in the route. Hokoku-ji, the “bamboo temple,” sits east of Kamakura Station, away from the direction of the rest of your day, which is exactly why it’s optional. It’s a short bus ride or a longer walk from the station. But if you have the hour, this is one of the most peaceful things to do in Kamakura. The grove is dense, green, and cool, with roughly 2,000 moso bamboo stalks and a path threading through them, and the quiet once you’re inside is the kind cities can’t manufacture.

The better move is to add the matcha set at the teahouse at the grove’s edge: a bowl of whisked tea and a seasonal sweet, enjoyed while facing the bamboo. Plan on about an hour and a half round trip from the station. The temple keeps shorter hours than the rest of the day and the last entry is earlier than closing time, so check the official site and treat Hokoku-ji as the first thing to cut if you’re running late.

Tsurugaoka Hachimangu: The Samurai Heart of Kamakura

Take the bus back to Kamakura Station and walk about ten minutes to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, the city’s most important shrine and one of the essential things to do in Kamakura. It’s dedicated to Hachiman, the guardian deity of the samurai, and was moved to its present site in 1180 by Minamoto no Yoritomo, who set up Japan’s first military government here.

Climb the broad stone staircase to the main hall, then turn around for the view down the tree-lined avenue to the sea. Near the entrance, the Genji and Heike ponds fill with lotus in midsummer, and the cherry-lined approach is lovely in late March and early April. The great ginkgo beside the stairs fell in a storm in 2010, and new shoots now grow from its roots. Plan on about an hour. The museums close early, but the grounds stay open into the evening, so it’s a good late-afternoon stop after the bamboo temple.

Komachi-dori: Eat Your Way Back to the Station

Leave the shrine along Komachi-dori, the lively pedestrian lane that runs from Tsurugaoka Hachimangu back to Kamakura Station. It’s busy all day, since this is the day-trip crowd’s home turf, but late afternoon is a good time to graze. Komachi-dori is a grazing street, not a strolling one, and it’s one of the tastiest things to do in Kamakura.

The playbook: sweet potato snacks from the roasting storefronts, freshly made shirasu-don (the whitebait rice bowl this coast is known for), and soft serve in flavors that rotate with the season. Souvenir shops and pottery stores fill the gaps between bites. Walk its length, eat what stops you, and if you have any discipline left, save room for dinner.

Enoshima: The Optional Island Extension

Enoshima is technically in neighboring Fujisawa, so treat it as an extension, not part of the main Kamakura loop. Many day trips cram it into the same day, and it gets hectic. I like it best as a second-day trip, or swapped in for the east side of the loop. Either way, it’s one of the most rewarding things to do in Kamakura to add on.

From Kamakura Station, the Enoden takes about 25 minutes, then it’s a 15 to 20 minute walk across the bridge to the island. Climb past the seafood stalls and the shrine to the Sea Candle, using the outdoor escalators if your legs need a break, and time it for sunset. In winter, Fuji can sit in silhouette on the horizon, and the island’s illuminations make it a different place after dark.

How to Plan the Best Things to Do in Kamakura

The best things to do in Kamakura don’t fall in a perfectly straight line, so this plan has a bit of back-and-forth. In return, you see Mt. Fuji when your odds are best and finish the temples well before they close.

1. Early morning: Shichirigahama. Ride the Enoden out for the Fuji view while the air is clearest, then have brunch at a seaside cafe.
2. Late morning: Hase-dera. Ride back east to Hase, and visit Hase-dera first, since it closes before the Great Buddha.
3. Early afternoon: The Great Buddha. It’s a short walk away, and you’ll still be well inside its hours.
4. Mid-afternoon: Hokoku-ji. Take the bus from Kamakura Station’s East Exit terminal, about 12 minutes.
5. Late afternoon: Tsurugaoka Hachimangu and Komachi-dori. Visit the shrine, then browse Komachi-dori toward the station. Eat at the stall or shop, since eating while walking is discouraged.

Prefer no back-and-forth? Do the east side first (Hokoku-ji, the shrine, Komachi-dori), then ride the Enoden west to Hase-dera, the Great Buddha, and Shichirigahama. Fuji comes late in the day, so it’s best in winter.

Enoshima is technically in neighboring Fujisawa and deserves its own day. If it’s a must, swap it in for the east side and end there for sunset.

More Things to Do in Kamakura If You Have a Second Day

If the first day hooked you, and it usually does, these things to do in Kamakura go deeper. Pick one direction:

• Enoshima: The natural second-day add-on. Take the Enoden out to the island and time the Sea Candle for sunset, as covered above.
• Zeniarai Benzaiten: A cave shrine where people wash their money in spring water in the hope it will multiply. It’s a steep walk of about 25 minutes from Kamakura Station’s west exit, and it closes in the late afternoon. Sasuke Inari Shrine, with its tunnel of vermilion torii, is a short walk along the same valley.
• Meigetsu-in: The “hydrangea temple” in Kita-Kamakura, about 10 minutes on foot from Kita-Kamakura Station, one stop before Kamakura on the JR line. About 2,500 blue hydrangeas bloom here in June, and queues build in peak weeks. It’s much quieter the rest of the year, though late-November foliage draws a crowd.

Or pair Kamakura with  Hakone for an overnight. It’s on the Odakyu Line from Shinjuku, and together they make a great three-day escape from Tokyo. A Hakone Kamakura Pass covers the Odakyu lines and the Enoden.

Final Thoughts

Kamakura is a day trip that punches far above its weight: the seat of Japan’s first military government, with temples, a coastline, a mountain view on clear days, and a seaside tram line more than a century old, all about an hour from Tokyo Station. The best things to do in Kamakura aren’t secret, and they don’t need to be. They just need the right order and the right hours. Fuji at the beach while the air is clear, the Hase-dera and the Great Buddha, matcha in the bamboo, and a snack on Komachi-dori steps from the train home. Save Enoshima and its sunset for a second day, and Kamakura will give you a trip worth telling people about for years. It’s all one train ride away.