Pages

October 6, 2017

Hitachi Seaside Park

It's Autumn but I'm gonna blog about Spring. hehe.

Sakura was over in Tokyo but we couldn't get enough from admiring beautiful flowers so we went to Hitachi Seaside Park. No the park doesn't belong to Hitachi company. It's located in Hitachinaka, a city about 130 kilometers northwest of Tokyo.

We took a rapid train from Ueno and it took almost 1 1/2 hours to reach the nearest station, Katsuka. From there, we transferred to a local bus. We went during the Golden Week in Japan so to ease the congestion, the park management and the bus company sold bundle bus return ticket and entry ticket at 1200 yen.

Covering an area of 190 hectares, the huge park features variety of colorful flowers all-year-round. Means you can come anytime; spring, summer, autumn, winter although people mostly visit the park during spring and autumn.

From late April to mid May, it's time for Nemophila Harmony. The park is especially famous for its iconic flower, the nemophilas as the flowers transform the hillside from green to blue. In fact, I was lured to the park after seeing photos of the baby-blue hill on someone's social media. It was love at first sight I had to drag my family to see it ourselves.


baby blue hill











watcha doing aunty?


OK my turn :p


lonely tree





As it was the Japan's Golden Week, the park was extremely crowded. But that period was also the best time to witness the Nemophila Harmony since the flowers are almost at peak bloom so just go la.

  Nemophila Harmony is the climax of the spring flowers sequence. When the spring nemophila blooming is over, it is time for the kochias (summer cypress). If you visit from late September to mid October, you will see the kochias turn the hillside from green to crimson. #planningformynexttrip

Other than the nemophilas, you can also see tulips, narcissuses, sakuras, roses, cosmoses, poppies, lilies, lavender and many more. Check out the flower calendar here.

Narcissuses of over 600 species bloom from late March to April. Then from mid to late April, the colorful tulips take over. There are around 220 varieties and 280,000 individual plants at the park.

Varieties of narcissuses.






Gardens of tulips!



felt like I'm in Keukenhof :D


Sakura was still there!







We toured the park strolling leisurely, stopping at many places to take photos. The park is huge so you can also cycle or take the seaside train. Visitors are welcomed to bring their own bicycles. Otherwise, it can be rented at the entrance.

Overall, it was such a nice day to go with the family. You can chill, cycle, or have picnic with gorgeous views. There's also amusement park rides for the kids.

Bicycle rental
Adult: 400 yen (3 hours), 50 yen for every extra 30 minutes
Children: 250 yen (3 hours), 20 yen for every extra 30 minutes

Seaside train
One day train pass, 500 yen

Opening hours:
9.30 am ~ 5 pm (March 1 - July 20, Sept 1 - Oct 31)
9.30 am ~ 6 pm (July 21 - Aug 31)
9.30 am ~ 4.30 pm (Nov 1 - Feb 28)
Closed on Mondays

Entrance fee:
Adults (15 years and above) 410 yen
Seniors (65 years and above) 210 yen
Children (7 to 14 years) 80 yen
Children below 6 years old are free

Access:
From central Tokyo, get on JR Joban Line (80 minutes by limited express train, or 2 hours by local trains) to Katsuka Station. From there, transfer to a bus to the park (15 minutes, 400 yen).

Free wifi available around Lakeside Café.

For more information on the park, refer here.

No comments:

Post a Comment