Exploring the Grand Greenhouse at Kyoto Botanical Gardens

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Take the Karasuma Line to Kitayama

Soba at Kitayama Station

The first place I headed after arriving at Kitayama Station was a soba restaurant: Soba-ya Jinroku.

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From Kitayama Station, I walked a little over 400 meters west along the botanical garden, and there it was.

Since I’d be drinking again that night, I held back at lunch a bit, haha, but I did order sobagaki. It was my first time trying it, and it was delicious—soft and chewy, with a wonderfully rich buckwheat aroma.

For the soba itself, I went with the tempura zaru soba. The noodles were excellent too, of course.

Thank you for the meal!

Enjoying Giant Houseplants in One of Japan’s Largest Greenhouses at the Kyoto Prefectural Botanical Gardens

After soba, I headed to the Kyoto Prefectural Botanical Gardens. Since it was winter, there wasn’t all that much to see outdoors, but the greenhouse was a different story. I made my way to this greenhouse, said to be one of the largest in Japan.

That did make me wonder: if this is only “one of the largest,” then where’s the actual largest one? But I couldn’t find the answer. Very trend-blog of me. It seems the botanical garden I visited before is also considered one of the largest.

The greenhouse has a sleek, futuristic shape, and it really got me excited.

Greenhouse at the Kyoto Prefectural Botanical Gardens

It’s not just that the design looks cool—the fact that it’s surrounded by water gives it major bonus points for me. I thought it had a very bubble-era feel, and apparently it was completed in 1992, so it really is peak early-’90s bubble style.

Greenhouse admission is just 200 yen. Isn’t that absurdly cheap? Once inside, I was greeted by what looked like a preserved rafflesia specimen.

Rafflesia at the Kyoto Prefectural Botanical Gardens

Given the season, they were holding a poinsettia fair. I had no idea there were so many varieties.

Poinsettias at the Kyoto Prefectural Botanical Gardens

So many of the plants in the greenhouse were enormous, and the sheer scale was impressive. Quite a few looked like houseplants you see all the time, but in an environment closer to their natural habitat, they can apparently grow this big.

Jungle-like plants at the Kyoto Prefectural Botanical Gardens

Then again, there were also aquatic plants with unusual leaves.

Aquatic plants at the Kyoto Prefectural Botanical Gardens

The temperature and humidity vary from room to room, so it’s not all jungle-like spaces—there’s even a desert and savanna room.

Cactus at the Kyoto Prefectural Botanical Gardens

I honestly found myself wondering how a greenhouse this vast can operate at this price, but it was a fun place. The only thing is, the restrooms looked very old, so I wish they’d renovate them, haha.

After the botanical gardens, I stopped by the Kitayama main store of Malebranche, and the “Kitayama Main Store Chef Cookies” I bought there were so good they became my favorite cookies of my life.