Most of the travelers landing in Narita have never heard about. But less than 30 kilometers North of the international airport, the impressive Sawara aquatic botanical garden grows millions of flowers (one of Heisei 100 landscapes). Precisely, the park owns 300 types of lotuses and about 1.5 millions of irises, of 400 different varieties; and stands for the world biggest irises garden. Their blooming season runs from April to late June, the best time being mid-June. And a pleasant way to enjoy these flowers is to have a memorable gondola tour.

How to get there?

The Suigo Sawara Aquatic Botanical Garden (水郷佐原水生植物園), yet very close from Narita international airport, is not very convenient to reach from Tokyo. The easiest is to reach first Narita station (the one deserving the city after which the airport is named) to catch there the JR Narita line to Sawara station (30 minutes for that part). From there, buses are running to the garden during the blooming season (late May to late June at least). The full journey is about 2000 yens and 2 hours, one way.

The ticket fare is different depending of the season: 800 yen during the ayame matsuri, the main irises blooming in June; 600 yen otherwise from May to August; 200 yen in April and from September to November.