I’m obsessed with flowers, I love receiving them, buying them, seeing them and someday, I wish to have my own beautiful flower garden. And of all wonderful flowers out there, as cliché as it might sound, roses are my favorite. So, when I found out about this place, Keisei Rose Garden 京成バラ園, (from Instagram, of course), I had to pay a visit as soon as possible!
Access
Keisei Rose Garden is located in Yachiyo City, Chiba, just one hour by train from central Tokyo.
By Train: Tokyo Metro Tozai Line (Rapid Train) Yachiyo Midorigaoka Station + Bus: Get off at “Keisei Bara-en” about 5 minutes from the train station or walk along the train tracks (about 15 minutes). This path is not shown on Google maps but there will be many signboards from the garden leading you there so it should be okay.
When to visit?
They have three main seasons, Spring Rose Season (May, June) when the entrance fee is ￥1,200 (a bit expensive but you can get it in advance, at the train station for only ￥900, don’t know if this is just a weekend thing or I was lucky though…), Autumn Rose Season (October and November) when the entrance fee is￥1,000 and Summer Rose Season (July and August) when the entrance fee is ￥500. For other months, the entrance fee is only ￥300. So judging from these prices, the Spring Rose Season is the best time to visit!
About the garden
1,600 varieties of roses entertain you with symphonies of colors and fragrances
The garden spans over 30,000 m² (7.4 acres) and it accommodates 10,000 roses of 1,600 varieties. A garden of these dimensions would be impossible to find in central Tokyo, that is why most Tokyoites keep saying inaka (countryside) when they go to places like this. You can easily spend a few hours just in the garden.
The garden was open from 6 am on the day we went there, but its normal opening time is from 10 am. If you think that getting there early means fewer people, that is not the case for most places like this in Japan. But before closing time, 6 pm, it was relatively less crowded and I could take photos without many people in it. However, even though it might get very crowded, it doesn’t feel like it because of the wide space, so you can always find some spots just for yourself.
Some spots or main attractions around the garden are, first of all, Yumi Katsura’s Gazebo of Love. The famous wedding dresses designer, Yumi Katsura, donated this gazebo of marble to the garden and it became the symbol of the garden, always present in all the photos taken here. Perfect for couples and for wedding photos, it reminded me of open-air wedding ceremonies. And surrounded by roses, it was just perfect!
Another spot, World of “The Rose of Versailles”, attracts fans of the well-known shōjo manga The Rose of Versailles ベルサイユのばら as it features roses representing the world of the manga and many life-size characters around the place. This explained why many cosplayers and girls dressed in gothic lolita styles come to this place. It was nice seeing them as I have always been an admirer of the style, without actually having the courage to wear it myself… Found out that Uniqlo has some pretty The Rose of Versailles T-shirts on sale now, check them out here. Also, I’ll leave the anime’s opening below.
Other spots include many beautiful rose arches, perfect for Instagram photos!
But besides the flowers, one of the reasons I wanted to go there was to eat! The restaurant La Rose can be found just before entering the garden and it features dishes with organic vegetables harvested on its own farm each morning. That is why the restaurant does not have a fixed schedule and it depends on when the ingredients finish. I had to call the day before in order to find out if it was open or not on the day I wanted to go. I was lucky it was open and in order to make sure I get to try one of their yummy-looking healthy dishes, I went there before entering the garden. More info here, if you can read Japanese.
This restaurant reminded me of a restaurant in Hokkaido that I went to two years ago, located near the lavender fields and the food was just as good here as it was there! I ordered the restaurant’s signature Hambaagu (Japanese hamburger steak), ￥1,880 with homemade bread and a drink of our choice between coffee, ice coffee, tea or ice tea. The Hambaagu and especially the veggies were soooo goood! Very different from the Hambaagu I usually have at the school cafeteria or other family restaurants like Jonathan’s, haha.
Another yummy treat the garden is famous for, and I had really wanted to try was the rose ice cream! They had two types, either only rose or mix between rose and milk at ￥400. The ice cream had a mild rose flavor, not very sweet, just perfect although I might have wished for a stronger rose feeling. But for that, I got myself a jar of rose jam.
Another interesting place the Keisei Rose Garden complex features is a Garden Center with many varieties of rose on sale, gardening accessories but also beautiful rose decorated kitchen accessories and so on. There was also a stand from a company commercializing Bulgarian rose products in Japan because one cannot talk about roses without mentioning Bulgaria, number 1 producer of rose oil in the world. Even from a distance, the beautiful traditional costume of the lady representing the company attracted me and I had a small chat with her about our countries, since we are neighbors. This is where I bought the rose jam from and I really love it!
There is also a huge souvenir shop called Rose Shop selling a variety of products ranging from cute, vintage dresses to stationary and sweets and teas. Wish I got some rose tea as well but maybe next time. I plan to visit the garden again during the Autumn Rose Season.
Sp, this is how I spent a beautiful day at Japan’s largest and most beautiful rose garden. Definitely recommend it if you love roses as well!
Thank you for stopping by 🙂
