Kochi with a baby (0–1) 3 spots
Kochi is warm, wide-open coast behind a wall of mountains. Bonito is seared over a straw fire at the table, and Anpanman was drawn here, so his face is on the local trains and his museum is up in the hills.
Kochi Prefectural Makino Botanical Garden
Shikoku's only full-scale botanical garden, 8 hectares of hillside holding over 3,000 kinds of plants.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
A covered market of more than 60 stalls, two minutes from Kochi Castle.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
One of Japan's three great limestone caves, 175 million years old, with a free museum.
Nursing room · Changing table · Family restroom · checked Aug ’26
You can push the stroller along the garden's main paths and right through the greenhouse. The greenhouse holds about 300 kinds of tropical plants all year round, so even a winter visit walks through green. There is a lawn on the north side of the Exhibition Hall, and Konkon-yama Plaza, around 131 meters above sea level, opens onto a wide view.Strollers are lent free — ask at the ticket window in the Main Building or at the Middle Gate, and either window will take it back. They cannot be reserved and numbers are limited. Diaper changing sheets are inside the multipurpose restrooms, of which there are eight across the garden and the car park (in the Plant Research and Exchange Center, only the 2F multipurpose restroom has one). The grounds include stone steps, staircases and some steep gradients, so keep to the main paths and use the elevators linking the Main Building 1F and 2F, the greenhouse and the Plant Research and Exchange Center. The rest space in the Exhibition Hall and the exchange space on 1F of the Plant Research and Exchange Center are air-conditioned, with chairs where you can sit, rest and eat.
The entrances are flat and the aisles are wide enough for a wheelchair to pass easily, which the market says it did so families with small children could enjoy the place, so you can come in with the stroller and go round the seven blocks, Ojoka Plaza, Ryoma Street and the rest. Tables and chairs stand everywhere, so one of you can sit with the baby while the others take turns going off to the stalls.The nursing room and the baby bed are on the first floor, and the nursing and diaper-changing space is next to the multipurpose restroom. Restrooms are on the first and second floors, and the elevator is east of the south entrance. Bringing food or drink into the hall is not allowed, and that includes food and drink bought at the market's own souvenir shops.
Inside the cave it stays 15-18°C all year, so even in high summer the 30-to-40-minute sightseeing course is cool walking with a baby in your arms. Preschool children enter free. On the way out there is a free rest house, Komorebi, near the exit where you can sit down.The cave has steep stairs and narrow passages, so strollers are left at the entrance. The Ryugado Tourist Center has one private nursing room and one diaper changing table; there is no hot water for formula and no microwave, and men cannot go in. The multipurpose restroom at the Ryugado Information Center also has a baby seat and a baby chair. There is no restroom and no shortcut back out inside the cave, so go before you enter. Bring one layer to put on, even in summer.