Japan Winter 2019 - Part 6 Himeji Castle

Himeji Castle

On our 5th day in Japan, Oma, Opa, DH, and I went to Himeji, a city near Kobe where you can find one of the nicest white castles in Japan: Himeji Castle. Also called the White Heron Castle, this castle is both a national treasure and a world heritage site. It's very easy to get to, though it takes about an hour by train. Meanwhile, Miss Kiki who was a Potterhead at that time went to Universal Studio in Osaka. The castle itself is within walking distance from the station, but there is an option to rent bicycles by the hour.

Train ride to Himeji

View from the train to Himeji

Himeji Station

On the way to Himeji Castle

According to our guidebook, there are many different spots where you can enjoy the Hineji Castle view. We tried to cover some of them that day, and our first stop is from the rooftop of the Egret Himeji building. It's free to enter, and it was pretty empty too. Just enter the building, find the elevator that goes to the rooftop or 5th floor and you'll be treated to the city view with the white heron perched above it all. It was a nice, cool day with a lot of warm sunshine when we were there. Just perfect!

Sign for Egret Himeji Building

Sign at Egret Himeji Building

Viewing Himeji castle from the Egret Himeji building rooftop

On the Egret Himeji building rooftop

Viewing Himeji castle from the Egret Himeji building rooftop

Not wanting to waste too much time on the first spot, we continued walking towards the castle ground. Along the way, they had ginkgo trees that already started turning yellow. Of course, we also spotted the famous Japanese manhole cover art!

Manhole cover in Himeji

Ginkgo Trees

Puffer fish

Manhole in Himeji

The Himeji castle ground is beautiful and well taken care of. Just like the rest of Japan, it was clean, tidy, and organized. We were there just in time to catch the fall foliage and this castle was a pretty good spot with Momiji (Japanese Maple) trees all over the place. We decided to skip entering the castle itself, but we used the time we had to walk around and take photos instead.

We followed the path around the castle and were able to see the castle fron different angles. The nice weather made it even better :)

When we reached the back of the castle, we spotted a bike rental station. It's called Hime chari and you can pay at the vending machine and take a bike. We decided to rent one for each of us so we can venture further and faster. It was fun to see Oma and Opa on a bike, I'm sure it's been decades since their last bike ride!

Another viewing spot suggested in the Himeji brochure was this glass on a building where you can see the castle reflected on. We biked to the spot, took some pictures, and continued browsing around on bikes.

We continued riding, this time we circled the perimeter of the castle ground. There were more fall foliages hovering over a small road, making it a picture-perfect spot. Of course, we just had to make a stop and take pictures.

When we were done with the castle, we rode the bike back towards the station and stopped to eat and have coffee. Not a lot of restaurants and stores were open at that time, so we went to whichever was open. When it was time to go, we rode back to return our bikes at the drop-off station near the Himeji Station, paid the extra time we used the bikes for, and then took the train back. And that was our day in Himeji!