Places to seeWhere to go in Saitama
Start with the first of these. Each is worth half a day.
Saitama埼玉県
Saitama is directly north of Tokyo and is where the capital’s day trips go when they want an old town rather than a mountain.
Saitama is directly north of Tokyo and is where the capital’s day trips go when they want an old town rather than a mountain.
Start with the first of these. Each is worth half a day.
Kawagoe is thirty minutes from central Tokyo and has a street of black-walled clay warehouses built to survive fire, put up in the nineteenth century and still shops today. There is a bell tower, a lane of sweet shops selling things made from sweet potato, and a shrine known for its fortunes. It is the closest thing to an old Japanese town within half an hour of Tokyo. The name for it is Little Edo.
Getting in: No airport — Omiya Station (shinkansen) · Kawagoe is 30 min from Ikebukuro (Tokyo)
Pick the season first and the days will arrange themselves.
Cherry blossom in early April, then moss phlox in mid-to-late April. The busiest weeks here.
Wet in June, hot in August. The river gorge is where people go to cool down.
Autumn colour in Chichibu in November, and a night festival there in early December.
Cold and dry, with the icicles lit in January and February. Kawagoe is quiet and pleasant.
