Kyoto · Nature

Best Park in Kyoto

14 places, each checked by our team.

• Amanohashidate Kasamatsu Park 天橋立傘松公園Amanohashidate — A hillside viewing park on the north side of Amanohashidate, reached by cable car or chairlift, home of the 'matanozoki' upside-down view.
• Funaokayama Park 船岡山公園Murasakino — A small forested hill in northwest Kyoto with a lookout over the city, the Kenkun Shrine and an important place in Kyoto's history.
• Fushimi Momoyama Castle Sports Park 伏見桃山城運動公園Fushimi — A hillside park in Fushimi with sports grounds, woods and a replica castle keep that makes a striking backdrop, especially in cherry season.
• Kyoto Gyoen National Garden 京都御苑Kamigyo — The vast open park around the Kyoto Imperial Palace, with gravel avenues, lawns, old aristocratic house sites and some of the city's earliest cherry…
• Maruyama Park 円山公園Gion / Higashiyama — Kyoto's oldest public park, behind Yasaka Shrine, centred on a giant illuminated weeping cherry and the city's liveliest hanami parties.
• Nishikyogoku Sports Park 西京極総合運動公園Nishikyogoku — Kyoto's main sports park, with the city's athletics stadium, a baseball stadium and open grounds next to a Hankyu station.
• Okazaki Park 岡崎公園Okazaki — Kyoto's cultural park district around Heian Shrine's giant torii, home to museums, the zoo, the Lake Biwa Canal and open lawns.
• Omiya Kotsu Park 大宮交通公園Omiya — A children's traffic park in north Kyoto where kids practise road rules on bikes, with old trams and a steam locomotive on display.
• Philosopher's Path 哲学の道Higashiyama / Sakyo — A 2 km stone path along a cherry-lined canal at the foot of the Higashiyama hills, linking Ginkaku-ji to the Nanzen-ji area past small temples,…
• Rakusai Bamboo Park 洛西竹林公園Rakusai — A free bamboo park in western Kyoto with dozens of bamboo species, a small museum and stone paths through the groves, much quieter than Arashiyama.
• Sewaritei (Yodogawa Kasen Park Sewari Area) 淀川河川公園 背割堤地区Yawata — A 1.4 km riverside embankment where the Katsura, Uji and Kizu rivers meet, lined with about 250 cherry trees that form a tunnel in spring.
• Takaragaike Park 宝が池公園Iwakura — A large wooded park in north Kyoto built around the Takaragaike pond, with a lakeside walking loop, hills and views of Mt Hiei.
• Uji Park (Tonoshima and Tachibana Islands) 京都府立宇治公園（塔の島・橘島）Uji — A pair of river islands in the middle of the Uji River near Byodo-in, with a 13-storey stone pagoda and views of the wooded hills.
• Umekoji Park 梅小路公園Shimogyo — A big modern park west of Kyoto Station with lawns, the Kyoto Aquarium and the Kyoto Railway Museum, popular with families.