Kobe
Kobe Nunobiki Herb Gardens & Ropeway
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Kobe Nunobiki Herb Gardens & Ropeway is a hillside herb and flower garden above central Kobe, reached by a 10-minute ropeway ride from near Shin-Kobe Station. The top station stands at about 400 meters, with views over the city and the port. A daytime round trip with garden entry costs 2,500 yen for adults.
The gardens bill themselves as the largest herb gardens in Japan, with around 75,000 herbs and flowers of about 200 kinds. There is no separate garden ticket and no road access. The ropeway fare is your entry.
The gondolas travel 1,460 meters from the bottom station in Kitano-cho to the top station. On the way up you look down on Nunobiki Falls and Nunobiki Gohonmatsu Dam, an Important Cultural Property, and on clear days the view reaches toward Osaka.
The line has a middle station beside the lower gardens. You can ride to the top, walk downhill through the gardens and board again at the middle station for the ride down. The Nunobiki Falls trail starts just behind Shin-Kobe Station if you would rather see the waterfalls up close on foot.
The slope is laid out as 12 themed gardens connected by paths:
Welcome Garden: the plaza at the top station, with a gate and rest house modeled on Wartburg Castle in Germany
Rose Symphony Garden: about 60 types of fragrant roses, mostly English roses
Herb Museum: a living reference collection of around 100 herb varieties, with a daily guided walk
Lavender Garden: lavender picking is held every June
Glasshouse: tropical spice and fruit plants under glass
Waterfall Patio and Kaze no Oka Flower Garden: flowerbeds with views over Kobe
Indoors, the Fragrance Museum displays antique perfume bottles and lets you compare about 80 essential oils, and the Spice Museum covers the history of spices. The Veranda at Kobe has a terrace cafe and a lounge with views over the city. The herbal footbath and the vow bell were removed during recent construction.
Daytime round trip: 2,500 yen adults, 1,250 yen elementary and junior high students
Daytime one way: 1,900 yen adults, 950 yen children
Evening round trip (boarding after 5 p.m.): 2,000 yen adults, 1,200 yen children
Preschool children: free
These fares took effect on April 1, 2026. Special prices apply during the Christmas season from early November to December 25, so check the ropeway fare table before you go. Online tickets save time at the ticket floor of the bottom station.
The bottom station is about a 5-minute walk from JR and subway Shin-Kobe Station, so it is easy to visit straight off the Shinkansen. There is no parking at the gardens. From the bottom station you can also walk downhill to Kitano's foreign residences and on to Sannomiya.
The guided full-day Kobe walk starts at Shin-Kobe with the ropeway and gardens, ticket included. It then heads to Kitano, Chinatown and the Nada sake breweries.
Each season changes the planting. Tulips and roses fill the gardens in spring, lavender and sunflowers bloom in summer and cosmos color the slopes in fall. On weekends and holidays in spring and fall, and every day in summer, the ropeway runs into the evening and the top plaza becomes a night-view spot over Kobe. In winter the Christmas market and illuminations run until December 25.
The ropeway shuts for inspection for a few days around late August and for about three weeks in late January and February, and it stops in strong wind or thunder. For more ideas on combining it with the rest of the city, see this two-day Kobe itinerary.
