Hello All,
I’m fleshing out a trip for November of 2021. My original, short October 2020 trip was scrapped due to everything and I now find myself with more time to plan a much longer trip.
This specific question may seem odd but hear me out:
Which garden would you prefer to visit: Shukkeien or Kokoen? I have 2ish hours set aside on my Himeji/Hiroshima day for a garden visit (am doing a second day for Miyajima/Hiroshima, half a day is too short for Hiroshima for me). I can’t figure out which one would be better to visit so would love opinions from people who have been to both.
As far as I can see so far:
Shukkeien Pros:
\- Larger
\- Convenience of getting to Hiroshima earlier
\- Less crowded (?) for Koyo viewing/pictures
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Kokoen Pros:
\- Photos with Himeji castle in background
\- If finished early, can possibly explore inside the castle
\- Better Koyo viewing spot
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These assumptions might be totally wrong, I don’t know. There is also the option of doing Kokoen during the day and then Shukkeien at night apparently – would it be a shame to miss it during the day?
Thank you for your advice!
8 comments
When in November are you visiting? I think night garden viewing is only in the last couple weeks of the month.
Also, are you visiting Himeji castle anyway? It seems like it would be a shame to either skip the castle and/or see only the castle if you’re making the effort to stop in Himeji.
Kokoen. No contest. It’s simply a much nicer garden and I would personally rank it among the absolute best gardens in the entire country. Kokoen also feels much larger because it’s divided up by walls into smaller sections that each have their own unique themes, whereas Shukkeien is just one large area around a single large pond. Kokoen is also practically free if you buy the combined castle/garden ticket, not to mention that it’s more convenient if you’re already going to the castle.
Do as much as you can and see as much as you can see because you’ll never know if you will get back. I’m still sad I missed out on a lot of stuff I wanted to see in Japan and it has been a long time…
NOTE: I did not buy enough Tokyo Banana, KitKats, or C C Lemon before I had to leave Japan. Those are a few of my favorite things.
With two hours, won’t you have enough time to see both? Both of them are central/near places you’ll be at anyway. I’ve been to both and definitely prefer Kokoen. Shukkeien isn’t bad but it’s not that special. The location is unexpectedly cozy though haha. That said, I don’t think I’d spend over an hour in either… I reckon you’ll be satisfied with 40 minutes in each?
I lived in Hiroshima for a bit last year, and while I do love Shukkeien, I don’t recall the autumn leaves being amazing there. There is a grove of maple trees that turn the beautiful red (and the limiting night viewing is definitely worth it if you’re there those few days), but that doesn’t extend to other parts of the garden. I went to the autumn night viewing and also during both ume and cherry blossom season, and it was never super crowded. The garden itself is beautiful but the background is often buildings, so something to consider! It was one of my favorite spots in Hiroshima, but less impressive than some of the other gardens. I’d still recommend it 🙂
It looks like you have gotten a lot of good advice. It wasn’t mentioned, but Hiroshima has a castle, too, not far from Shukkeien.
I was there last October and I liked the juxtaposition of shukkenien vs the city over Kokoen and Himeji. However, totally possible to do both (I did).
I’ll just add that there’s not much to see in Hiroshima, sadly, just the Peace memorial museum and the bomb dome, and it can really be done in half a day =) there’s so much more to see in Miyajima, you’ll want to take your time to wander ^^ also, try to spend the night there of you can, you have several ryokans with onsen, you’ll have a great time 😊