The kids had their morning harassing cute animals. So, for the afternoon itinerary in Kobe, it was the wife’s turn to go nuts. Kobe is home to one of Japan’s largest herb gardens – Kobe Herb Garden – and comprises twelve distinct gardens arranged by themes. The garden seems accessible to visitors only by ropeway. Though I wonder if one could possibly hike your way to the top. We certainly did part of this hike up in our Japan 2010 trip when we visited the waterfalls and the dam in the park.
To get to the Herb garden, take the train to Shin-Kobe Station, exit the station to the ground level, and look for the adjacent ropeway lift building somewhat behind the station exit. The lifts are situated on level four, and the admission includes both the garden and also ropeway system.
Most visitors will take the ropeway to the top station, then slowly make their way downhill on foot, stopping at each garden for visits. Once you’re at the mid-station, you can take the ropeway back down to base station, or I suspect you can also hike your way down too. The venture down is easy to manage, with plenty of places to stop and rest too.
Among other highlights: the view plaza has a facade that is modelled after †the Wartburg Castle in Germany, a restaurant, and open viewing deck offers panoramic views of Kobe and even Osaka in the furthest distance, a fragrance museum and small outdoor market that was offering Christmas trinkets and items.
We benefited from excellent weather again from early afternoon onwards, and coupled also with late autumn colors, got some gorgeous pictures. We spent a good 2 hours in the park, and it was absolutely worth the admission fee of ¥1,800 round-trip for adults.
It was in the late afternoon by the time we were back at Shin-Kobe Station, so dropped the last item in Day 03’s itinerary – Kobe Harborland which we’d previously visited in 2010 and didn’t find much interesting there.
Continuing onto Day 04 in Himeji in the next posts!