Bihoku Hillside Park

Bihoku Hillside Park, or Kokuei Bihoku Kyuryo Koen, spreads across a huge swathe of highland countryside near the northern city of Shobara, close to where Hiroshima Prefecture meets the mountains of the Chugoku region. It holds a distinction unique in western Japan: it is the only national government-managed park in the whole of the Chugoku and Shikoku area, a sprawling 340-hectare expanse of meadows, woods, ponds and cultivated flower fields designed for recreation, nature and family fun. Its scale is enormous, and a visit feels less like a garden outing and more like a day in a landscaped slice of countryside.

The park is best known for its seasonal flower displays, which sweep across broad open hillsides in a changing calendar of colour. Spring brings cherry blossom, drifts of tulips, poppies and nemophila, summer adds sunflowers and zinnias, and autumn culminates in vast fields of cosmos in pink and white, alongside the turning leaves of the surrounding forest. Special evening illumination events during the cosmos season and around the winter holidays light the grounds with tens of thousands of lamps, drawing visitors well beyond the daytime crowds.

Because it was created as a place for families to spend a whole day outdoors, Bihoku is packed with activities. There are enormous play zones with trampoline-like air domes, adventure playgrounds, cycling paths with rental bikes, boating ponds and grassy fields for games. An adjoining area preserves a reconstruction of an ancient Japanese settlement, with pit dwellings from the region's early history, giving the park an educational dimension. Camping grounds and cabins allow visitors to stay overnight and make the most of the clean highland air and dark night skies, and barbecue and picnic facilities are dotted throughout.

The natural setting is a genuine draw in its own right. The park sits on rolling hills at the edge of forested mountains, laced with walking trails that lead through woodland and past ponds where dragonflies and waterbirds gather. In autumn the combination of managed flower fields and wild forest colour makes it especially photogenic, and the cooler upland temperatures mean the seasons arrive a little differently here than on the coast.

Bihoku lies in the far north of the prefecture, some distance from Hiroshima city, and is easiest to reach by car via the Chugoku Expressway, which is how most Japanese visitors arrive. By public transport, take the JR Geibi Line to Bingo-Shobara Station and then a taxi or, during busy flower seasons, a seasonal shuttle bus for the final fifteen minutes to the gates. Admission is a modest 450 yen for adults. Given the park's size, it rewards a relaxed half-day or more; families in particular will find enough to fill many hours. Come in spring for blossom and tulips or in October for the cosmos fields and their evening illuminations, and you will discover a side of Hiroshima Prefecture, green, spacious and cheerfully family-friendly, that few foreign visitors ever see.