When planning a trip to Japan “wisteria!” was on the must see list. We had a seven day rail pass and the original plan was to cover from Hirosaki up the top of the main island in Japan and get down to the bottom to be able to see the wisteria tunnel at the Kawachi Fuji Gardens and back to Tokyo again within the seven days.
Two days out from leaving I realised that plan was NOT going to work especially as we were travelling in Golden Week and getting anywhere was “supposed” to take longer than normal.
On that note – EVERY single thing I read on the internet says DO NOT TRAVEL in Golden Week as it a week when several public holidays converge so everywhere is exceedingly more busy than usual.
Having never been to Japan before we didn’t know what “normal” was so while, we did find it very busy, it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting at all. We even bought the green (first class equivalent) rail passes to ensure we’d get seats on the train as you can’t pre-book seats until you are in the country but again, it wasn’t nearly as busy as we had first though.
HANDY HINT: Do your research before travelling and find out what direction the people traffic will be moving. Eg on the first day of a 2-3 day public holiday break people will be leaving the city to go to the country or beachside. On these days travel INTO the city as there will be much more seat availability and likewise on the last day when everyone is returning to the city – travel out to the mountains and holiday places etc.
Having ruled out the Kawachi Fuji Gardens due to time factors, the next best option was a day trip to Ashikaga Flower Park in Tochigi Japan leaving from Tokyo. You can catch a train there but by doing a bus tour we were able to visit 2 different flower parks which would not have been possible otherwise.
Ashikaga Flower Park Tochigi, Japan
Best Time To Visit
Hard to pinpoint the exact date to visit as it will vary from year to year and is best to check closer to the date but as a general rule wisteria blooms from the end of April through to middle of May. We visited on the 6th of May (during Golden Week) and it wasn’t quite yet in full bloom but was still very pretty.
Cost
Approx 1000 yen
Hours
9:00 AM to 5:00 PM are the regular hours although on certain occasions the park is kept open later for night-viewing.
Getting To Ashikaga Flower Park
– We chose to take a bus tour from Tokyo as it we wanted to visit two different flower parks and it was going to be the only way to do so in one day (during Golden Week).
– Alternatively, enter “Tomita Station” is the closest station and is a 15 minute walk to the park. From Tokyo it would be a 2 hour trip approximately and you’ll either take the JR Shonan-Shinjuku Line from Tokyo to Oyama and transfer to the JR Ryomo Line to Tomita Station or if you prefer the Shinkansen, JR Tohuku Shinansen.