A Flower-Filled Paradise at the Foot of Mount Akagi
Located at an elevation of approximately 365 meters, Gunma Flower Park + offers colorful scenery in every season. Just beyond the main entrance, visitors encounter the approximately 6,000-square-meter Fratopia Grand Flower Garden. Rising behind it is the 18-meter-tall Park Tower.
With Mount Akagi providing a dramatic backdrop, the colorful flowerbeds create an extraordinary landscape that feels far removed from the everyday world. The park is divided into several areas, including greenhouse, garden, and children’s zones.
Visitors can explore a variety of themed gardens, including a rose garden, dahlia garden, Japanese garden, English garden, and naturalistic garden. The diversity of landscapes means that both adults and children can find their own favorite ways to enjoy the park.
Three Signature Flowers and Seasonal Displays
The park’s three signature flowers are roses, hydrangeas, and clematis. From spring through autumn, colorful flowers transform the grounds, while winter brings a different atmosphere with indoor gardens, seed-head gardens, and illuminations.
In spring, approximately 200,000 tulip bulbs bloom in the Fratopia Grand Flower Garden. The vast flowerbed resembles a giant piece of floral artwork, with the colorful patterns becoming particularly impressive when viewed from the observation deck of the Park Tower.
From summer into autumn, the Dahlia Garden becomes one of the park’s highlights. Around 290 varieties and 1,350 dahlia plants bloom in spectacular colors and shapes. A seasonal Dahlia Festival is also held, offering visitors an opportunity to appreciate these distinctive flowers in greater depth.
Five Areas Offering Different Ways to Experience Nature
Gunma Flower Park + is divided into five main areas: HANA, MINAMO, HIDAMARI, TEIEN, and HARAPPA. Each has its own character, allowing visitors to choose between active experiences and peaceful moments surrounded by nature.
HANA — An Immersive Garden Surrounded by Flowers
The HANA area consists of the main flower garden and Flower Hall Garden. The large flowerbeds feature gentle slopes and varied elevations, creating the feeling of actually stepping inside a sea of flowers.
The colors and themes change throughout the year. In spring, approximately 200,000 tulips create a spectacular display, while roses, hydrangeas, and clematis add further seasonal color.
Visitors can enjoy activities and take a break at a café while remaining surrounded by flowers, making HANA an ideal place for an immersive garden experience.
MINAMO — A Peaceful Space of Water, Breeze, and Fragrance
The MINAMO area is centered around a pond where the sky and surrounding flowers are reflected on the water’s surface. Rose gardens and English-style gardens create a peaceful landscape, while the scents of herbs and roses gently fill the air.
Along with enjoying the waterside scenery, visitors can discover aspects of Gunma’s food and traditional culture. The sound of gently moving water and the breeze through the garden create a relaxing atmosphere for slowing down and enjoying the moment.
HIDAMARI — A Place to Experience, Learn, and Discover
The HIDAMARI area offers opportunities to enjoy flowers even during winter. Visitors can take part in activities such as flower picking and plant observation, making the area suitable for hands-on learning.
In spaces filled with enormous tropical plants, visitors can experience nature from perspectives inspired by insects and birds. These environments encourage both children and adults to make new discoveries.
With its focus on experiencing, participating, and learning, HIDAMARI provides a deeper way to connect with the natural world.
TEIEN — Discovering the Beauty of Japanese Gardens
The TEIEN area features a traditional Japanese garden and flower fields where visitors can appreciate seasonal changes through the aesthetics of Japanese gardening.
The scenery has a nostalgic quality while also offering something fresh and unexpected. A traditional Japanese-style café within the park serves dishes featuring Gunma’s local cuisine and regional ingredients, allowing visitors to experience another aspect of the area’s satoyama culture—the traditional relationship between people and the surrounding rural landscape.
HARAPPA — Playing in and Learning from Nature
The HARAPPA area is designed for active outdoor enjoyment. The Play Garden includes attractions such as a long slide and tunnels where children can run, explore, and play freely.
At the Play Forest, activities are organized around the idea of Nature Positive, encouraging visitors to enjoy nature while also considering how natural environments can be protected and restored.
Through hands-on experiences in the forest, children and adults alike can develop a closer connection with the natural world.
Five Greenhouses Filled with Plants and Learning Experiences
The park has five display greenhouses featuring orchids, tropical flowering plants, begonias, cacti, and other botanical collections. These indoor spaces allow visitors to enjoy beautiful plants throughout the year, regardless of the season.
The event greenhouses also change their themes seasonally, providing something new to discover on each visit.
At the Flower and Green Learning Center, visitors can participate in a variety of hands-on activities connected with Gunma’s natural environment and traditional culture. Programs include flower picking, wreath making, dried-flower swag workshops, natural dyeing, and bamboo-bark weaving.
Some activities take only around 30 minutes and are suitable for casual visitors, while others are more comprehensive retreat-style experiences led by professional florists. Some programs require advance reservations.
Family-Friendly Kids’ Area and Play Forest
The children’s area provides numerous opportunities for young visitors to enjoy nature while playing outdoors. Facilities include a large inflatable dome, roller slide, green maze, flower clock, and shallow splash pool.
There are also many shaded areas, allowing parents and guardians to relax while children play.
The Play Forest offers additional nature-based activities in a woodland environment. Children can explore a forest where living creatures gather while learning about the Nature Positive approach and the importance of living alongside nature.
Winter Illuminations Recognized as a Japanese Nightscape Heritage Site
One of the park’s major winter attractions is its Winter Illumination, which has been recognized as a Japanese Nightscape Heritage Site in the illumination nightscape category.
More than one million LED lights transform the park into a magical nighttime world inspired by the theme “Paradise of the Fairies.”
Projection mapping, music, lighting, and video effects are combined to create a spectacular multimedia show. The light performances centered around the 18-meter Park Tower are particularly impressive.
From the top of the Park Tower, visitors can enjoy both the illuminated gardens below and the nighttime panorama of the Kanto Plain. On clear days, it may also be possible to see landmarks such as Mount Fuji and Tokyo Skytree in the distance.
Dining and Shopping Surrounded by Flowers
Gunma Flower Park + has five dining facilities where visitors can enjoy meals and sweets made with ingredients from Gunma Prefecture.
The main Minamo Restaurant offers a modern take on classic bistro cuisine, allowing guests to dine while looking out over the pond and flower gardens.
Other options include the Flower Hall Café, which serves herbal teas and sweets; the Japanese-style TEIEN Sabo, overlooking the Japanese garden; and the casual MINAMO Delica Café and HARAPPA Stand, which offer light meals and takeaway options.
The shopping area sells original park merchandise, specialty products from Gunma, crafts by local artists, fresh flowers, and potted plants. Visitors can take home a special souvenir as a reminder of their time among the flowers.
A Park for Families, Couples, Groups, and Nature Lovers
Gunma Flower Park + is designed to accommodate a wide range of visitors, including families, couples, married couples, and group travelers. The park also plans to accommodate visitors traveling with pets.
It is even possible to use parts of the park as a coworking environment. Visitors can work outdoors near the flowerbeds using portable power supplies, combining work with the relaxing atmosphere of a botanical garden.
The range of programs is equally diverse, from short activities lasting around 30 minutes to more immersive retreat experiences led by professional florists.
How to Get to Gunma Flower Park +
By car, the park is approximately 40 minutes from the Maebashi Interchange on the Kan-Etsu Expressway and about 30 minutes from the Komagata Interchange on the Kita-Kanto Expressway.
By train, travel to Ogo Station on the Jomo Electric Railway Jomo Line. From the station, the park can be reached in approximately 15 minutes by demand-responsive bus or taxi.
Enjoy the Changing Seasons at the Foot of Mount Akagi
Gunma Flower Park + is more than a traditional botanical garden. It is a destination where visitors can experience the flowers, landscapes, food, culture, and natural environment of Gunma in a variety of ways.
Rather than simply viewing flowers from a distance, visitors are invited to touch, smell, taste, play, learn, and explore. Every season brings a different atmosphere, from colorful tulips and roses to brilliant dahlias and magical winter illuminations.
For travelers looking to experience a different side of Japan away from the major cities, Gunma Flower Park + offers a refreshing combination of beautiful gardens, outdoor activities, local culture, and peaceful mountain scenery at the foot of Mount Akagi.