Enjoy Rich Nature and Local Cuisine with the Family! 7 Popular Tourist Spots in Utsunomiya

Spring is the recommended season for visiting Utsunomiya, which is home to many famous cherry blossom spots.
The best time to see the cherry blossoms is from late March to early April, and the full blooms across parks, roads, and historic sites are well worth seeing.
Be sure to enjoy the illuminated cherry blossoms at night as well.
If you are planning a trip to Utsunomiya, why not adjust your travel schedule and visit in spring?

Utsunomiya also has excellent access from Tokyo, a major city.
If you take the Tohoku Shinkansen from Tokyo Station, you can get there in Approx. 50 minutes, making a day trip from Tokyo possible.

Oya Stone is quarried from the area around Oya-machi in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, and was also used as a building material for the former Imperial Hotel.
Oya History Museum tells the story of that quarrying history. Inside, exhibits include tools from the hand-digging era as well as materials showing changes in mechanization and transportation methods.
The underground former quarry site is a vast space of Approx. 20,000 square meters, with an average depth of 30 meters underground and a maximum depth of 60 meters.

Located in northern Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, Utsunomiya Zoo is appealing for the chance to get up close to animals.
With the concept of “Nature, Animals, and Children,” the zoo also places emphasis on education, including teaching that there are various rules for how to interact with animals.
The zoo keeps 400 animals of 90 species, including fierce animals such as Amur tigers and lions, herbivores such as giraffes and elephants, primates, birds and reptiles, and small animals.

Roadside stations are popular as places to take a break while driving and to buy local farm products and souvenirs.
Michi-no-Eki Utsunomiya Romantic Village goes beyond the usual role of a roadside station, offering a farm park for immersive stays complete with hands-on farming, forest activities, a dog run, hot springs, a pool, and lodging facilities.

An amusement park inside Tochigi Sports Park, which is filled with lush green parkland. Admission is free.
There are 13 attractions in total, ranging from relaxed rides such as the suspended monorail attraction “Fly! Tochimaru-go,” which moves through the air at a height of Approx. 5 meters, to the large Ferris wheel for enjoying the view.

A park with a vast site area located in central Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture.
Facilities include the 89-meter-tall observation tower (Utsunomiya Tower) with panoramic views over the city, Adventure U with large playground equipment and go-karts, and an animal house with red-crowned cranes, rabbits, raccoons, and more.

A park created by restoring and maintaining about one-third of the western half of the main bailey of Utsunomiya Castle, which was lost over its long history.
The moat, earthen ramparts, and two turrets have been recreated, allowing visitors to get a faint sense of what the castle was once like.
As a rule, the second floor of the turret is open on the third Sunday of each month, and climbing up to look over the city gives you an even better sense of the castle atmosphere.

It began more than 1,600 years ago with the enshrinement of Toyokiirihiko no Mikoto, who was believed to protect the area that includes present-day Utsunomiya.
Locals affectionately call it “Futaarasan,” and the shrine grounds are surrounded by greenery so lush that it is hard to believe you are in the center of a city.

A gyoza specialty restaurant operating on Miyajima-cho Street, affectionately known in Utsunomiya as “Gyoza Street.”
With the desire for customers to enjoy cheap and delicious gyoza, the menu consists only of pan-fried gyoza and boiled gyoza (6 pieces per serving, 250 yen each).
Even with its particular style of not serving rice or beer, there is always a line outside, and it is highly trusted by local customers.

Established in 1958, this long-running restaurant represents Utsunomiya, a city known for gyoza.
The main store is located on Miyajima Street, nicknamed “Gyoza Street” for its many gyoza restaurants, and has operated as a gyoza specialty restaurant since a time when even Chinese restaurants serving gyoza were still rare.
It is a popular restaurant loved by both tourists and locals, with lines forming at lunchtime even on weekdays.

A dream facility for gyoza lovers where you can enjoy gyoza from popular restaurants in Utsunomiya, one of Japan’s leading gyoza cities, all at once, almost like a museum of Utsunomiya gyoza.
Kirasse Main Store has two dining areas, permanent shops and rotating daily shops, and its appeal lies in being able to compare the carefully crafted gyoza of member stores of the Utsunomiya Gyoza Association all in one place.