Yugawara: Nature, Gardens and Seasonal Experiences

Yugawara offers a variety of ways to experience nature, from the plants in Manyo Park and Fudotaki Waterfall to Yoshihama Beach. The seasons also give a trip different highlights. Depending on whether you’re interested in gardens, autumn colors, climbing or a beach, you can shape your time in Yugawara in different ways.

Plants and a Remarkable Tree

Manyo Park is home to more than 80 plant species mentioned in the Man’yōshū. This gives a visit a special perspective: the focus is not only on the plants, but also on their mention in a well-known work. If you enjoy connecting nature with cultural references, this diversity offers a unique reason to include the park in your travel plans.

Another natural highlight is the sacred tree at Gosho Shrine. It is 36 meters tall and estimated to be 850 years old. Its height gives a concrete sense of its size; its age remains an estimate. The two highlights are quite different: Manyo Park features more than 80 mentioned plant species, while Gosho Shrine is home to a single tree estimated to be around 850 years old.

Waterfall, Rock and Beach

Fudotaki Waterfall is 15 meters tall. A walking path leads close to the waterfall. There is also a teahouse along the way that serves amazake, where you can enjoy a foot bath while looking out at the waterfall. This lets you combine a natural highlight with a break for a drink and a foot bath in your day’s plans, without making the waterfall itself the only possible focus.

Makuyama Park is home to approximately 4,000 red and white plum trees. The park is also where you’ll find the rock formation known as Makuiwa, which is suitable for climbing. If you’d like a more active trip, this gives you a rock formation explicitly suited to climbing as well as trees to admire. The beach and water offer a different focus: Yoshihama has the highest water quality rating, AA, and is recognized as a JLA beach certified by the Japan Lifesaving Association.

Choose Your Season

The Ume no Utage Plum Festival is held every year at Makuyama Park from early February to mid-March. If you plan your trip for this period, the festival can be part of your itinerary; it is a clearly defined seasonal event. Another seasonal display of color can usually be seen from mid-November to early December at Ikemine Momiji no Sato, where around 540 Japanese maple trees turn autumn colors during this period.

Mandarin orange picking in Yugawara also has a seasonal window: the fruit ripens from early October to late December. The growing areas are in the wider region, on sunny mountain slopes between Oku-Yugawara and Hakone, overlooking Sagami Bay. The mandarin-picking and autumn-color periods partly overlap, while the plum festival offers a separate focus later in winter.

Choose the Right Travel Dates and Accommodation

When looking for a vacation rental or holiday home in Yugawara, your preferred travel dates may be the first thing to consider: Do you want the plum festival to be a highlight of your stay, are you interested in the usual autumn colors, or would you like to include mandarin orange picking in your plans? If nature, climbing or the beach matter more, you can also take these interests into account when choosing your travel dates. This way, you can begin your accommodation search with the experience that interests you most in Yugawara, rather than with a one-size-fits-all idea of a vacation.

For another place to explore, you can also include Miyakami. Other destinations to consider for your trip include Atsugi, Ashigarashimo District, Isehara, Miura, Sagamihara, Naka District and Yamato.

For an overview of the wider area, see Kanagawa Prefecture.