I will be traveling with my husband and 2 small children to Kobe in March from another prefecture . We are traveling for a planned surgery or we wouldn’t be traveling during COVID.
Since we will be traveling there anyways we want to make the most of it since we had to skip vacation this year.
I would like to rent a car and avoid cities and just focus on covid friendly activities like hiking and touring by car. We have a 2 kids under 3 so relaxing and soaking up nature is what we are looking for. I would ideally like to find an Airbnb or weekly mansion where we can cook in room and avoid eating out in public. Maybe a night or two at a hotel with private onsen. I don’t know if it’s possible but if I could find a farm visit where my children could pet some livestock and my husband could sample cheeses that would be perfect.
Can anyone recommend some places to start?
7 comments
When I think of Hyogo, I don’t particularly think of nature but here are some things you can do
https://travel.gaijinpot.com/destination/hyogo/
I would probably focus on Awaji Island given time of year and logistics of getting around with toddlers.
You could probably visit Takeda Castle and Yodel Forest (the latter might be nice for the kids), however, the access to rural walking trails in the central and northern parts of Hyogo would be weather dependent and some of the hiking paths might be still fairly icy.
Of note: Kobe’s main ropeways would re-open on 6 March, so visiting Nunobiki Herb Garden, Mt. Maya and Mt. Rokko should be possible thereafter.
Arima Onsen is pretty famous and it’s just north of Kobe, past Mt. Rokko. And up near Mt. Rokko there is a ranch with animals and also a QBB cheese factory. I believe it’s called something like å…ç”²å±±ç‰§å ´.
I would recommend the Herb Garden in Kobe itself. It is beautiful, and a great hike around nature.
If you are renting a car, then go and see Himeji Castle, not sure what the COVID procedures will be there, and even just seeing it as you drive past is worth the visit.
Also I would second Awaji and even go all the way to Shikoku Island, there is a lot more rural things to visit.
There’s a [farm/restaurant near the top of Mt Rokko](https://plus.feel-kobe.jp/en/facilities/detail/?code=0000000070), which has a nice fondue menu item. Not sure if they’re open in March so you should call ahead. The children can see farm animals too iirc.
Japanese site: https://www.rokkosan.net/
The [Asago](https://visitasago.jp/) area in the interior has some nice countryside with mountains all around. There’s the ruins of [Takeda Castle](https://www.city.asago.hyogo.jp/kankou/eng/TakedaCastle.html) which from september to november you can see wrapped in the morning mist. There’s also a [large kofun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze9IQWb-n8o) – an ancient grave mound where you can get some nice views from the top.