Shiga with preschoolers (4–6) 3 spots
A sixth of Shiga is Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake. It looks like the sea but has almost no waves, which makes paddling with small children far easier than a beach. On rainy days the Lake Biwa Museum — free for kids through high school — takes over. It suits families who want easy days by the water.
Grass roofs the main shop on a confectioner's grounds of nine shops and cafes.
Nursing room · Changing table · Elevator · checked Aug ’26
A prefectural museum of Lake Biwa, with one of Japan's largest displays of freshwater life.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
Opened in 1878, one of Japan's oldest trout farms, with the breeding ponds open to visitors.
Family restroom · checked Aug ’26
The Baum Factory's viewing corridor has no elevator or slope and plenty of steps and stairs, so once a child handles stairs on their own feet, this is the walk that opens up. The fresh Baumkuchen mini is baked to the day's crowd, and waiting at the counter for a batch to come out is part of it. From August through October the main shop's grass roof is at its greenest.What you cannot bring is spelled out: balls, insect nets and cages and other play gear, riding kick scooters, playing sports, and food or drink bought outside including packed lunches, with baby food and meals for allergies or other restrictions as the exception. Creatures live on the grounds and the notices ask you to keep away from bees and centipedes. Hours are 9:00 to 18:00, with the Food Container 10:00 to 17:00, and the parking lot is closed off once the shops shut, so decide when you are leaving before you arrive. Snow falls between December and February, and drivers coming from far away are advised to fit studless tires.
At the Micro Bar in the Micro Aquarium they look down the microscope themselves at the tiny creatures, 83% of the lake's living things being microscope-sized, then photograph what they see and send it to a phone. The World of Ancient Lakes, on creatures that evolved on their own in the world's ancient lakes, has Baikal seals. The permanent exhibition is free for preschoolers and elementary schoolers alike, and photography is allowed except where a no-photo sign says otherwise (no flash).One family with a preschool-senior and a second-grader went in at 11:00 and after about two hours still had not covered the exhibits, cutting some rooms short. The permanent exhibition comes in four parts, room A (four million years of the lake and us), room B (twenty thousand years), room C (the lake today) and the aquarium hall, so decide where you are starting before you go in. Special exhibitions cost extra: 170 yen for elementary and junior-high schoolers, free for preschoolers. Your ticket is valid all day and lets you back in.
The Fish Learning Hall keeps the near-mythical itou, the ancient sturgeon, and the haryo, emblem of clean streams. The bait fishing pond needs no reservation, and a ticket is 150 yen a person including rod and bait. A small fish you catch can be grilled with salt on site for 200 yen.The bait fishing ticket - 150 yen a person, rod and bait included - is for elementary-school age and up. The lure pond does not admit anyone below elementary school, so with a preschooler head for the bait pond or the Fureai stream instead. The bait area has a pond of small fish (200-300 g) and one of large fish (1-2 kg); with a small child, choose the small-fish pond. Everything you catch must be bought at 240 yen per 100 g, roughly 400-500 yen for a small fish. To have it grilled, finish fishing by 16:00.