Tobu World Square

Tobu World Square is an open-air architectural museum where more than one hundred of the world's most famous buildings and monuments are recreated at a meticulous scale of one to twenty-five. Opened in 1993 in the Kinugawa Onsen area of Nikko city, it spreads across landscaped grounds divided into themed zones covering modern Japan, ancient Japan, America, Egypt, Europe and Asia. Wandering the paths, you can stand beside a knee-high Great Pyramid of Giza, peer down on the Parthenon, cross a courtyard between a tiny Notre-Dame and Tower of London, and then find yourself towering over Tokyo Station, Himeji Castle and the Todaiji Great Buddha Hall of Nara.

The craftsmanship is the real marvel. Each model was built from careful surveys and drawings, and many are astonishingly detailed, right down to individually rendered roof tiles, window frames and carvings. Populating the scenes are roughly one hundred and forty thousand miniature figures, each about seven centimetres tall, arranged into vignettes of daily life: crowds queue at ticket gates, tiny tourists photograph tiny landmarks, weddings and festivals play out in frozen moments. Twenty-one of the recreated buildings represent UNESCO World Heritage Sites, so a slow loop of the park doubles as a whistle-stop tour of global heritage without ever leaving Tochigi Prefecture.

The park is designed for a leisurely one-to-two-hour circuit along accessible, largely flat paths, which makes it excellent for families, older visitors and anyone travelling with a stroller or wheelchair. Seasonal planting frames the models with cherry blossom in spring and coloured leaves in autumn, and in certain seasons an evening illumination lights the miniature cities from within, the little windows glowing as though a whole world had switched on its lamps at once. Photographers love the forced-perspective shots this makes possible, framing a hand or a face against a pocket-sized cathedral.

Because it sits in the Kinugawa Onsen resort area rather than up on the sacred mountain, Tobu World Square makes a natural pairing with a hot-spring stay or with nearby Edo Wonderland, and it is an ideal change of pace for travellers with children who may tire of temples and shrines. It is one of the very few attractions in the Nikko area purpose-built around the idea of a museum of architecture, and it consistently surprises visitors who arrive expecting a kitsch novelty and leave impressed by the artistry.

Getting there could hardly be easier: Tobu built a dedicated railway station, Tobu World Square, right at the gate, a minute's walk away, served by the Kinugawa Line and reachable by direct limited express trains from Asakusa in central Tokyo. Allow at least two hours, more if you like to linger over details, wear comfortable shoes for the walking loop, and aim for a clear day so the models show at their crisp best. Food outlets and shops on site mean you can make a relaxed half-day of it.