Flower Guide to Japan: Ashikaga Flower Park

With every new place I visit in Japan, I wonder how can there be so much beauty in a single place? That is what I felt when I visited Ashikaga Flower Park for Golden Week this year.

With the beginning of the new imperial era, Reiwa, this year’s Golden Week was 10 days long! Double than usual. This meant that many people in Japan planned trips across the country or abroad, which made prices for flight tickets to go up. No Golden Week trip abroad for me this year, but I decided to check off my bucket list a place I’ve wanted to visit for so long, Ashikaga Flower Park in Tochigi Prefecture!

We first planned to go before Golden Week in order to avoid the crowds, but the weather was not so good and the flowers were not in full bloom yet. Every year, the beautiful wisteria of Ashikaga Flower Park usually blooms around Golden Week. Keep in mind the beginning to middle of May for a trip there next year if you wish to see the famous large wisteria trees in full bloom.

I was used to light purple wisteria, but here they have more than 350 wisteria trees of various sizes that bloom in different colors such as pink, white and yellow. The yellow one usually blooms later, so we were not able to see it, but at the beginning of May, all the other colors were in full bloom. The star is the 150-year old Great wisteria, declared as a Natural Monument of Tochigi Prefecture. Checking out the park’s official website, Instagram and Facebook might be a good idea in order to see the condition of the flowers.

How to get there?

Ashikaga Flower Park is totally doable on a day trip from Tokyo. You can go by bus, train, Shinkansen or rental car. We took the cheapest and longest route by local train, 2h30 mins, 1,900 yen. Local trains heading to Ashikaga Flower Park Station leave from Ikebukuro and Ueno stations.

What to see & do?

Admire the beautiful flowers all day long! Besides different types of wisterias, they also have azaleas and other small flowers blooming at the same time. Wisteria’s fragrance and its beauty will make you forget about daily troubles and enter a dream world. They also have accompanying classical music to transmit the atmosphere even better. It felt like a Western garden to me, but my friend said she feels that the Japanese used their unique gardening skills and made this garden after patterns of Japanese gardens. The park also has restaurants and food stalls as well as souvenir shops.

Great wisteria

The famous Great wisteria, 150 years old, stunning when the sun shines throughout the flowers.

Double-layered wisteria

This type was also special, first time to see it. The flowers looked like grapes and their purple was darker compared to the normal wisteria.

Pale red (pink) wisteria

Wisteria in the same color as cherry blossoms in a relaxing setting, where you can sit and admire the flowers at peace.

Tunnel of white wisteria

Dreamy wisteria in white.

Wisteria dome

Showcasing wisteria in all the possible ways, one more impressive than the other…

Wisteria wall

Food and other treats

And if you get hungry after looking at so many types of wisteria, you can have lunch at one of the restaurants or food stalls inside the park. We chose a Japanese restaurant called “Wisteria”, in theme with the park. They have great food sets with specialties of the area. I chose this food box containing almost everything, sashimi, beef, soba, miso, and salad.

After lunch, it is time for dessert, right? We tried the special wisteria soft cream and ice cream collaboration with Cold Stone! They were both super good, the wisteria flavor was not very strong, just slightly floral. Many Japanese flower parks serve such soft creams in interesting flavors, I have seen lavender, rose, cherry blossom flavored soft creams so far.

It is worth staying for the night scene as well when the flowers get a beautiful and mysterious light up. I felt the Great Wisteria was even more amazing at night!