When it runs and the hours
Shonan no Hoseki has usually run from late November to the end of February. The 2026 to 2027 season starts a little later than usual, on December 1, and ends on February 28. The lights come on at 5pm, or at 5:30pm from mid-January as the days get longer, and stay on until 8pm on weekdays and 9pm on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays and the days from just before Christmas to December 30. From December 31 to January 3 the weekday hours apply. Entry to the garden at the top closes 30 minutes before the lights go off. Check the official page for the current season.
The event has long been counted among the three great illuminations of the Kanto region, and in 2025 it was also named one of the three great illuminations of Japan, which partly explains the weekend crowds in December. Every evening there is a short countdown to the switch-on under the Sea Candle.
- To see the switch-on, be in the garden a few minutes before the lights come on. The night fee applies to everyone inside after 5pm.
- Weekday evenings in January and February are noticeably quieter, and the lights are the same.
What is lit
The centre is the Samuel Cocking Garden at the top of the island and the Enoshima Sea Candle inside it. Strings of lights hang from the tower to the ground so that you walk under a dome of light, and around it are a tunnel of dense lights with a large chandelier, an entrance made to look like a starry sky and a corner called HOUSEKI FOREST, lit with low-power LEDs among driftwood and terrariums. Around Christmas and Valentine's Day parts of the display change colour to green and pink. From the Sea Candle deck you look down on the lit garden and across the dark bay to the lights of the coast.
Outside the garden, the three shrines of Enoshima Shrine are lit for the same hours, the square at Nakatsunomiya has a viewing deck over the yacht harbour, Kamegaoka square has its own lights, and a line of lights runs along Oiwaya-michi to the Bell of Dragon Love. On the way over, the bridges to the island and the palm trees along Route 134 are lit, the yacht harbour joins in during Christmas week, and the Enoshima Aquarium puts up a Christmas tree until December 25. From mid-February early-flowering cherry trees join the lights at Kamegaoka.
The Iwaya caves at the far end have their own lights in the second cave, but only in the daytime, until 5pm, so see them before dusk.
- The open-air deck at the top of the Sea Candle is windy and cold in January. Take your gloves up.
Tickets, the climb and other practical things
The garden is free in the daytime. On illumination evenings, entry after 5pm costs 500 yen for adults and 250 yen for children, and the Sea Candle costs 800 yen for adults and 400 yen for children on top of that (as of 2026). Tickets are sold at the gate, and advance tickets are sold online.
The Escar escalators that carry you up the island stop at about 7pm. After that you climb the steps from the shrine gate to the summit, about 15 to 20 minutes at an easy pace. The way down is all steps too, lit but uneven in places, so wear flat shoes.
Two things to check this season: the Sunset Terrace, the deck beside the Sea Candle, has been closed for rebuilding since June 2026 with reopening planned for about the end of November, so it should be back for the lights, but check before you go, and some of the hot spring baths at Enoshima Island Spa close for repairs from mid-January to late March 2027, while some of its restaurants stay open. Many of the shops and restaurants on the lane up to the shrine close by early evening in winter, so eat before the lights come on or plan dinner in Katase or Fujisawa.
- Right after the switch-on is the most crowded hour. For photos without people, come back an hour later.
- Bring a small light for the steps on the far side of the island, which are darker than the main path.
Sunset first, and combining with Kamakura
In December the sun sets over the bay at around 4:30pm, a little later each week into February, and on clear days Mt Fuji stands in silhouette against the evening sky. That leaves a short gap before the lights come on, which is the reason to arrive in the afternoon. Watch the sunset from the bridge, from the rocks at Chigogafuchi or from the Sea Candle deck, then walk into the garden as the lights come on.
With Kamakura the order is simple: Kamakura in the morning and early afternoon, then the Enoden from Hase to Enoshima Station, about 20 minutes, in time for sunset. Most temples in Kamakura close between 4pm and 5pm in winter, so you lose nothing by leaving then. Finishing at Enoshima also puts you on the Odakyu line for a direct ride back to Shinjuku. Our Kamakura and Enoshima pages cover the daytime.
- If you go down to Chigogafuchi for the sunset, leave before it is fully dark. The rocks and steps there are not lit for the event.
Getting there from Tokyo, and the crowds
From Shinjuku, the Odakyu line runs to Katase-Enoshima, the closest station to the bridge, in a little over an hour; some trains run straight through and others need a change at Fujisawa. A few Romancecar limited expresses also run from Katase-Enoshima to Shinjuku, but the last one leaves in the evening, sometimes before the lights go off, so check the timetable for your date; the seat needs a limited express ticket. From Tokyo Station or Shinagawa, take the JR Tokaido Line to Fujisawa and the Enoden to Enoshima Station, or JR to Ofuna and the Shonan Monorail to Shonan-Enoshima, about 15 minutes over the hills. From any of these stations it is 10 to 15 minutes on foot to the island and another 15 to 20 minutes up to the garden.
Odakyu's Enoshima-Kamakura Freepass bundles a discounted round trip from your Odakyu station with unlimited Enoden rides for the day, which suits a Kamakura day and an Enoshima evening. Ordinary trains run until late, so the 8pm or 9pm close leaves plenty of time to get home.
The busiest evenings are the December weekends, especially around Christmas, and the extended-hours days before New Year. Expect queues for the Sea Candle lift and a packed Enoden platform at Enoshima Station after the lights go off. Weekday evenings in January and February are calm. The island faces the open sea, so even on a mild day the wind on the bridge is sharp after dark.
- Suica and PASMO work on the Odakyu line, the Enoden and the monorail.
- After 8pm, Katase-Enoshima on the Odakyu line is usually less crowded than the Enoden's Enoshima Station.
Staying nearby
Enoshima is an easy day trip, but staying a night lets you see the lights without watching the clock, and gives you an empty island and the best chance of a clear Fuji in the morning. On the island itself, Iwamotoro, by the Benten Bridge, is an old inn that traces its roots to the temple that once ran the island's shrine, with a Roman-style bath from the early Showa period. Along Katase Kaigan, just across the bridge, beach hotels and small inns are a few minutes from the stations.
For more choice and lower prices, Fujisawa Station, about 10 minutes away by the Odakyu line or the Enoden, has business hotels and direct JR trains to Tokyo. Along the coast toward Kamakura, the Kamakura Prince Hotel at Shichirigahama looks over the bay to Enoshima and, on clear days, to Fuji, which suits a slow Kamakura and Enoshima weekend.
- Christmas weekend books up first. Weeknights in January are the easiest to find.
