Things to Do in Saitama: Day Trips North of Tokyo

Thirty minutes north of Ueno, the crowds thin out and the ticket prices drop. Saitama is where people in Tokyo go when they want a hillside covered in pink moss phlox, or a museum with a hundred real trains in it, or a park big enough to lose a toddler in for twenty minutes. It is also where a lot of Tokyo actually lives, which is why almost nothing here is built for tourists.

Saitama sits directly north of Tokyo, about 30 kilometers from the center and 30 minutes by train. The Railway Museum, Moominvalley Park, Hitsujiyama Park's moss phlox, and the Chichibu mountains are the main draws. Nearly all of it is easier with children than the equivalent day in central Tokyo, and most of it costs less.

Cherry Blossoms at Hitsujiyama Park

How far is Saitama from Tokyo?

Saitama city is roughly 30 kilometers from central Tokyo, which is 30 minutes on the JR Takasaki or Keihin-Tohoku line from Ueno to Omiya for about ¥500 to ¥600. Trains run constantly.

The prefecture is larger than the city, and the far end matters. Chichibu, in the western mountains, takes 80 to 100 minutes from Ikebukuro on the Seibu line. Hanno, for Moominvalley, is about 50 minutes on the same line. Nothing in Saitama is more than two hours from central Tokyo.

Because it borders Tokyo directly, a Saitama day trip does not need an early start or a rail pass, which is what makes it work with young children.

The Railway Museum

The Railway Museum

The Railway Museum in Omiya is the best single attraction in the prefecture and one of the best railway museums anywhere.

The main hall holds around forty real vehicles, from Meiji-era steam locomotives through to retired Shinkansen, arranged so you can walk among them and climb into many. Upstairs there are working simulators, including a genuine Shinkansen driving cab, and a huge model railway diorama that runs scheduled shows.

• Admission: ¥1,600 adults, ¥600 school students, ¥300 for children aged 3 and over

• Getting there: Tetsudo-Hakubutsukan Station on the New Shuttle from Omiya, about a minute's walk

• Time needed: three to four hours, longer with a train-obsessed child

Simulator slots and the steam locomotive turntable demonstration run on a timetable, so check the board when you arrive and plan around them.

Moominvalley Park

Moomin Valley Park

Moominvalley Park in Hanno is built around the Finnish Moomin stories, on a lake in the hills, and it is far better than the premise suggests. The three-story Moomin House is the centerpiece, along with a zipline, an outdoor playground, and regular live performances.

Admission is ¥3,400 for adults and ¥2,000 for elementary-age children and under. The adjoining Metsä Village is free to enter and has the lake, the shops, and the cafes, which makes it a reasonable half-day even without park tickets.

It is about 50 minutes from Ikebukuro to Hanno, then a bus. Seibu sells combined ticket and travel passes that work out cheaper than buying separately.

Hitsujiyama Park and Chichibu

Chichibu Muse Park

Hitsujiyama Park in Chichibu is the moss phlox hillside: around 40,000 square meters planted in bands of pink, white, and purple, with the Buko mountain behind it. The bloom runs from mid-April into early May, there is a small entrance fee during the festival, and it is genuinely crowded on weekends.

Chichibu itself deserves more than the park. It is a mountain town with a night festival in December that is on the UNESCO intangible heritage list, a pilgrimage circuit of 34 temples, and river gorge scenery. The Chichibu geopark documents the geology, including the fossil beds that made the area scientifically interesting.

Chichibu Muse Park sits on a plateau above the town with cycling paths, a long slide, and an outdoor stage, and it is a good place to let children run after a train journey.

Parks and open space

Saitama's real advantage over Tokyo is space.

National Musashi Hills Forest Park

Musashi Kyuryo National Government Park is the country's first national government park, covering around 300 hectares of woodland and meadow. It has cycling courses, a large trampoline field that children rarely leave, and seasonal flower planting. The park's background explains how it was created.

Saitama Children's Zoo and Nature Park

Saitama Children's Zoo in Higashimatsuyama is built for small children rather than for serious zoology. Animals include capybara, giraffes, and a large petting area, and the site is wooded and walkable.

Ageo Maruyama Park

Ageo Maruyama Park has a pond, a small zoo, and cherry trees that put on a good display in early April without the Tokyo crowds.

Yono Park

Yono Park is known for its roses, with around 180 varieties planted across the grounds.

The rose festival runs in May and again in fall, and entry is free.

Tokorozawa

Tokorozawa City

Tokorozawa has become the prefecture's cultural surprise. Tokorozawa Sakura Town combines an anime and manga museum designed by Kengo Kuma, a library with a vast book-lined atrium that photographs extremely well, a shrine, and event space. The Kadokawa Culture Museum inside it is the main draw.

The city also has an aviation museum on the site of Japan's first airfield, and Seibu Dome nearby.

Hot air balloons

Hot Air Balloon Rides

The Saitama plain is flat, open, and has stable morning air, which makes it one of the better ballooning areas near Tokyo. Tethered rides run at festivals and some operators fly free flights from the Kita-Saitama area, usually at dawn between fall and spring when the air is calmest.

Saitama Stadium and sport

Saitama Stadium

Saitama Stadium 2002 is the largest football-specific stadium in Japan, built for the 2002 World Cup and home to Urawa Red Diamonds. Urawa has the loudest support in Japanese football, and a league match here is a genuine experience even for people indifferent to the sport. Tickets are cheap by European standards and easy to buy.

Food worth stopping for

Saitama's signature dish is soba, particularly in Chichibu and the western hills where the climate suits buckwheat. A plate of cold soba with dipping sauce costs ¥800 to ¥1,200 at a proper shop and is considerably better than the station-stand version most visitors meet.

Kawagoe, the Edo warehouse town in the south of the prefecture, does sweet potato in every conceivable form, including ice cream and beer. Sayama in the west produces green tea, one of the three best-known growing regions in Japan, and several farms run tastings.

Omiya has a dense run of ramen and izakaya around the station, aimed at commuters rather than visitors, which keeps the prices honest.

Is Saitama worth visiting?

For a family, yes, and often in preference to a second day in central Tokyo. The attractions are spread out but each one is cheaper, quieter, and more physically comfortable than the Tokyo equivalent.

For a solo traveler on a short first trip, probably not, unless you specifically want the Railway Museum or Chichibu. Saitama has no single unmissable sight, which is precisely why it stays uncrowded.

What it is known for: soba, the Railway Museum, Urawa Reds, the Chichibu mountains, and being the setting for a long-running comedy about how unremarkable it supposedly is, which local people have adopted with some pride.

Planning a day

Pick one anchor and build around it. The Railway Museum plus Omiya Bonsai Village makes a full day in the city. Chichibu needs the whole day on its own. Moominvalley plus Metsä Village is comfortably a day with young children.

Go on a weekday if you can. Saitama's attractions are used heavily by Tokyo families at weekends, and the difference in queues is substantial.

For the flower calendar, our guide to Japan's quieter cherry blossom gardens covers where else to go in spring.

Our roundup of the best day trips in Japan puts Saitama alongside the alternatives from Tokyo.

If you would rather stay out here than commute, our guide to sustainable places to stay covers the rural guesthouse options.

More on the prefecture, its towns and its transport sits in our Saitama guide.

A wider route such as a week in Tokyo at an unhurried pace leaves room for a day out here without cutting anything from the city itself.