What other travelers are saying about Odawara Castle
The cherry blossoms have not arrived yet ( march 13 2022). There is only one tree with full bloom.. but its going to be magnificent once the blooms are up. Must visit may be after 2-3 weeks.
The childrens park was closed
“Top 10 castle in Japan” - we got adopted by an older couple on our way from the station as we were obviously lost which way to go (Google was directing us to the side entrance while we were trying to enter through the main one). They were very nice and the wife was explaining some history to me while I was translating for my friend.
If you have time, go through the main entrance, you’ll get some really nice shots. I’m sure it’s beautiful in spring as the path was lined with cherry blossom trees. You can also climb up to the defense gates (ninomaru?) and see where they would have defended with bow and arrow.
I’ve been to 4 castles in Japan and this one is def worth visiting - they do a wonderful blend of history lesson, preservation of the castle, and remodeled interior. The exterior is giving impressiveness of Himeji while the gates are a nice smaller size on par with Hiroshima. Interior reminds me somewhat of Osaka.
It was a beautiful castle, though it was renovated. It is still cool to be able to go up the castle. They have english captions on the displays. So it is a wonderful learning experience. I bought the ticket at the venue. There was no line. Maybe because it is a weekday and not so many people. There were schools having their field trip. Take note that it might get noisy.
Visited Odawura and this castle on our way to Hakone. It's not worth the visit. Everything is in Japanese inside the castle and museum. A museum is supposed to provide a historic context.... but if you can't read Japanese.. There is an app that you'd have to download to navigate the area. I didn't have space in my cell for another app. Communication is a challenge as the majority of staff don't speak another language.
