Ibaraki茨城県

Places to seeWhere to go in Ibaraki

Start with the first of these. Each is worth half a day.

Hitachi Seaside Park国営ひたち海浜公園

A hill of about five million sky-blue nemophila, for about two weeks from late April.

Half a day

MAP

Kairakuen偕楽園

Built for plum blossom. Three thousand trees from late February.

2 hoursSpring only

MAP

Ushiku Daibutsu牛久大仏

A bronze Buddha 120 metres tall, with a lift inside it to a viewing floor.

2 hours

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Fukuroda Falls袋田の滝

A wide fall in four steps, reached through a tunnel. Frozen solid in hard winters.

Half a dayWinter

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What Ibaraki is

At Hitachi Seaside Park, a low hill is planted with about five million nemophila — small sky-blue flowers — which open together for around two weeks. Standing at the top, the hill and the sky are the same colour in every direction. The window is narrow: usually late April into early May, and it does not wait for you. The same hill turns deep red with kochia bushes in October.

When to comeThe same place, four different places

Pick the season first and the days will arrange themselves.

March – May

Plum from late February, then nemophila from late April into early May — the two reasons to come.

June – August

Wet in June, hot after. The coast is cooler than inland, and the beaches are quiet.

September – November

Kochia bushes turn deep red on the same hill in October. Autumn colour at the falls in November.

December – February

Cold and dry. The falls freeze in a hard winter, and the plum garden starts at the end of it.

Find it fastEverything in Ibaraki