Kanagawa神奈川県

Places to seeWhere to go in Kanagawa

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

Kamakura Daibutsu鎌倉大仏

An eleven-metre bronze Buddha sitting in the open air. Its hall was washed away and never rebuilt.

Half a day

MAP

Hakone箱根

A hot-spring valley with a lake, a boat and a ropeway over a steaming slope. One pass covers it all.

A full dayYou can ride

MAP

Enoshima江ノ島

A small island joined by a bridge, reached by a wooden coastal tram from Kamakura.

Half a dayYou can ride

MAP

Yokohama横浜

A waterfront of tall buildings and the largest Chinatown in Japan, half an hour from Tokyo.

Half a day

MAP

Hokokuji bamboo garden報国寺の竹林

A grove of tall bamboo behind a temple, with a tea house in it — you sit and drink matcha inside the grove.

1 hour

MAP

Sankeien garden三渓園

A garden in Yokohama with old buildings brought from Kyoto and Gifu, including a three-storey pagoda.

2 hours

MAP

Hasedera, Kamakura鎌倉 長谷寺

A temple on a hillside with a sea view, hydrangea in June and a cave of small carved figures.

2 hours

MAP

Odawara Castle小田原城

A rebuilt keep in a park between the mountains and the sea, with fish cake shops nearby.

2 hours

MAP

What Kanagawa is

It is the best-value day trip in Japan — a great Buddha, a hot-spring valley and a view of Mt. Fuji, all within an hour of the capital.

Kamakura was the seat of government eight hundred years ago, and what it kept is temples and a bronze Buddha eleven metres high sitting in the open air — its hall was washed away centuries ago and never rebuilt. A small wooden train runs from there along the coast to Enoshima, an island joined by a bridge.

When to comeThe same place, four different places

Pick the season first and the days will arrange themselves.

March – May

Cherry blossom in Kamakura in early April. Hydrangea at the temples from late May.

June – August

Hydrangea in the June rain is the local sight. Hot in August, and the beaches are busy.

September – November

Autumn colour in Hakone through November, and the clearest chance of Fuji from the lake.

December – February

Cold and dry. The best months for seeing Mt. Fuji from Hakone, and the baths are at their best.

Find it fastEverything in Kanagawa