Sumaura Koen – Hyogo

Sumaura Koen, located in west Kobe city, is a popular mountainside park offering stunning views of Kobe and the neighbouring city of Akashi, including views of the worlds longest suspension bridge, Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge. Sumaura Koen was first opened in 1947, and is still quite a popular walking areas for the locals. Although the hike to the top is challenging – seeing as you have to endure a seemingly endless onslaught of stairs – the view is well worth it and is far more enjoyable than cruising up the side in a gondola, which is an option should you decide to take it.

The walk from Sumaura koen station to the first observation deck should take the average person about 20-30 minutes to complete but bear in mind that pretty much the entire time you are climbing stairs and it is all uphill. If you do however want to avoid walking up the mountain, the gondola service is available to you – it just isn’t open on Tuesdays (Learned the hard way). In Sumura Koen, you can expect to find several observation platforms, 2 of which are free, with a 3rd, rotating observation deck accessible for a small fee.

On top of the mountain, when you reach the observation decks, you can expect to have a plethora of things to do, and is a great place to take your kids if you have them, as there is a children’s play area and couple activities which will surely entertain the young ones.