(足利フラワーパーク) Ashikaga Flower Park

A place as close to fairy tale as one can possibly be. Japanese wisteria is utterly gorgeous, that I don't understand why it's not as famous as the sakura (cherry blossom).

There are two main locations for wisteria - one in Kitakyushu near Fukuoka (which requires advanced reservation and a trip to Kyushu), and this one, Ashikaga Flower Park. There are other parks that have them, of course, in fact I see a lot of wild ones out in the mountains. But none to the extent that these two parks do.

Budget: JPY3,480 (~USD)

JPY2,480. Train, Tokyo to Ashikaga Flower Park Station (JPY1,240 one way)
JPY1,000. Entrance fee.

Visit Date

May 2, 2019

When to Go

late April to early May, which is during the Japanese Golden Week.

Special Notes

The flowers last a week or two, so make sure to check the website for the status of the flowers.
Expect crowds like you've never seen before.
Go in the afternoon and stay til night, so that you can see the place during the day and see it lit up.
Do not wait for the last train so do try

Itinerary

01:43pm. Train, Tokyo to Ashikaga Flower Park Station. We are trying to time it so that we can see the park during the day and at night.
03:38pm. Arrived at Ashikaga Flower Park Station. Followed the humongous crowd to the entrance of the park. We did a full round of the park, and had no energy to do more given the crowd.
05:29pm. Found a spot where we lied down until dark.
06:30pm ish. Did another round of the park, this time at night. We then headed home, and boy was that the most crowded station I've ever been at in my three years in Japan.