Mifuneyama Rakuen

Visited in late-November 2025 for the autumn leaves. Went around 4pm and stayed till 6pm on the grounds to fully enjoy the garden in daylight and after nightfall. There is a light up around 5.30pm that showcases the autumn leaves in the dark with some lights, the view from the pagoda is the best with a small shed selling desserts for you to pair with the view. Garden is generally quite rocky and hilly, not particularly friendly for those with difficulties with walking and doing a bit of climbing independently. Well worth the view if able to visit. But like most other visitors have pointed out, the grounds aren’t the best maintained amongst tourist attractions around Japan. Map is confusing and signs are only available in Japanese, so you may find yourself a little bit lost when looking for landmarks. We paid ¥900 for the daytime and nighttime entry, but since we entered the grounds before the night, perhaps the ¥400 daytime ticket would’ve sufficed. Highly recommended to visit by car as walking might take too long and bring you through very dark roads. We parked at carpark 2 and there was a shuttle that picked us up and dropped us off at the gates of the garden. Upon asking the lady selling tickets, there’s no set time for when the shuttle bus will appear so it’s down to luck and crowds, I suppose.

Mifuneyama Rakuen, a renowned 500,000-square-meter Japanese garden at the base of Mount Mifune in Takeo, Saga Prefecture, offers stunning seasonal vistas, including vibrant spring blooms and autumn foliage. However, the site’s appeal is tempered by evident maintenance shortcomings, such as unchecked overgrowth of creeping vines on mature trees and other unmanaged vegetation, which detract from its pristine aesthetic. Visitors are advised to plan accordingly, prioritizing peak seasons for optimal enjoyment.

Went there on 4/12/2025, towards the end of their maple festival. The night show was great, but the maples have passed their prime view, as some were dried up. The park is smaller than we expected. It should spend less than an hour to walk around the area plus taking photos. We went there at 4:30pm so we were able to see the sunset (around 5pm) and night show. The day ticket only sells till 4pm and the night ticket starts at 5pm, while the combined ticket is available for the whole day.

Autumn or fall beauty everywhere. Multiple color of leaves. An amusing place to visit during Autumn.

Awesome ticketed park to visit during Autumn Leaves Festival. Fall scenery is picturesque and Instagram picture perfect. Like taking a page out of a beautifully painted painting with rich and vibrant colours that entices your eyes & brain. Basically two routes to take one within half hour and another about 40 minutes. The later is much more beautiful with upward slope climb, while it would be quite challenging for elderly and young kids. There are tea house and restaurant location within the park if you fancy it. This is definitely a park to come to to spend 1-2hrs, with history of emperor’s favourite place he visit, wonderful vibrant red, yellow & green mixture that blow your mind away.

There are almost no reviews about the team labs part of this hotel. I’m here to change that. This destination was on my want to go ever since I went to TeamLabs PLANETS in Tokyo. We walked into the hotel and were blown away by the stunning art pieces. We enjoyed delicious complimentary welcome drinks under the lanterns. Then, we began to explore the art pieces in the ruined parts of the hotel. Many don’t understand that the ruined parts of the hotel are not under construction, they are remnants of an old onsen that was operational in the 60s and the 70s. It’s not under construction, it was internationally left to ruin. That’s why the teamlabs art pieces play with that, leaving an interesting vibe, new art pieces interacting with the old ruins. This made for an otherworldly, albeit beautiful vibe, reminiscent of a post apocalyptic kind of feeling. The onsen itself was spectacular. It was absolutely stunning, with fireplace rooms with snacks, multiple hot pools and cold plunge pools, and various steam rooms and saunas. You are missing out if you go. The architecture is Scandinavian inspired, with beautiful, big windows in an open garden. And finally, the teamlabs park itself: we went at night, and the details were stunning. I was transported to another world, where azalea bushes glowed like ocean waves, and where digital koi swam in a giant pond.

I had a great stay! Beware that if you book a room with a private hot spring, there is a chance you'll have to deal with bugs. Staff were really nice. Food was really good. The hot spring is amazing. Also, you can visit both the hot springs and teamlab for free if you're a hotel guest.

Pleasant garden grounds, featuring a quaint bit murky pond, plus a grand mountain face overseeing proceedings within the garden below. Team Lab collaboration currently on, but only seems to be at night, and even the day time exhibition in the bathhouse ruins was closed. There’s a significant walk to a sacred tree on the east side, with the forest path being pretty narrow and somewhat insecure in places, all to end in not very much.