Kochi Prefectural Makino Botanical Garden
Shikoku's only full-scale botanical garden, 8 hectares of hillside holding over 3,000 kinds of plants.
piggybackjapan.com
Kochi Prefectural Makino Botanical Garden
SaveShikoku's only full-scale botanical garden, 8 hectares of hillside holding over 3,000 kinds of plants.
Its greenhouse keeps about 300 tropical species growing year-round, so even a winter visit walks through green.
How was it with your kids?
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- ElevatorElevator：with conditionsconditions
- Stroller OKStroller friendly：with conditionsconditions
- RentalStroller rental：not checked
- NursingNursing space：with conditionsconditions
- ChangingDiaper changing table：with conditionsconditions
- Diaper binDiaper disposal bin：not checked
- Family WCFamily restroom：with conditionsconditions
- Kids' toiletKids' toilet seat & step stool：not checked
- Own foodOutside food allowed：with conditionsconditions
- EnglishEnglish support：with conditionsconditions
Green = we confirmed it. Grey = not checked yet. Grey with a line through = the place does not have it.
Near here
Worth a look before you go
Japanese · opens translatedFirst-hand
A parent-and-child trip to the Kochi Prefectural Makino Botanical Garden
About 30 min by bus from Kochi station, six and a half hours there. No fixed route; kids stall at Fumufumu Hiroba.
lee.hpplus.jp2023
Japanese · opens translatedGuide
Kochi Prefectural Makino Botanical Garden: free for high-school age and under
Strollers are lent free; six changing tables in the accessible toilets and two nursing rooms.
kokoharekochi.com2025
Japanese · opens translatedFirst-hand
Makino Botanical Garden: the corners our children actually enjoyed
Parking at Chikurin-ji temple meant a 15-minute walk to the gate with a 6- and an 11-year-old.
kihon-mama.com2023
Japanese · opens translatedFirst-hand
Off to the Makino Botanical Garden
A weekday in Golden Week, short sleeves: a 5-month-old stayed in the stroller, hot water in the nursing room.
ameblo.jp2024
Kochi Prefectural Makino Botanical Garden · Links & reads ▾
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Basics
- Fee：¥850 for adults; free through high school. Groups of 20 or more pay ¥750, and an annual pass is ¥2,500. During the Orchid Show (6-28 February 2027) it rises to ¥1,700, or ¥1,500 for groups. Free for holders of a disability certificate plus one carer, and for Kochi residents aged 65 and over with proof. Parking is free.■
- Hours：9:00-17:00, last entry 16:30. Closed 27 December to 1 January, plus a maintenance day roughly once a month (2026: 31 Aug, 28 Sep, 26 Oct, 30 Nov). A typhoon can close it at short notice, and it may stay closed afterwards for checks and clearing up.■
- Time needed：120 min
- Booking：No entry booking is needed except for groups. Tickets are sold only at the two ticket windows — the main building and the Middle Gate — and nowhere outside the garden. Cards and e-money are accepted (JCB, VISA, Mastercard, Amex, Suica, PASMO, PayPay, Alipay, WeChat Pay and more). Keep the day's ticket and you can go out and come back in. The restaurant and cafe take no reservations.■Official booking site ↗
evidence & sources (10)
- Official: Indoor / outdoor, Stroller friendly, Nursing space
- Official: Elevator, Stroller access notes
- Official: main site
The garden sits on Mount Godai above Kochi, eight hectares of slopes where more than 3,000 kinds of plant follow the seasons. The greenhouse holds about 300 tropical species, and the exhibition hall has a 4K theatre and a planted courtyard. Konkonyama Hiroba is a lookout lawn at 131 metres, and Fumufumu Hiroba holds a Tosa field and a learning meadow. Picnic mats come out where the map shows a rice-ball mark, and the QR guide on your phone reads in English, Chinese and Korean.
| Indoor / outdoor | Indoor & outdoor | About 8 hectares of hillside garden, with four indoor buildings — the main building, the exhibition hall, the greenhouse and the Plant Research Centre — to duck into. | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | makino.or.jp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stroller friendly | Yes | Strollers are lent free at the ticket windows (main building and Middle Gate, return at either; no booking, limited numbers). The main paths and the greenhouse can be walked with a stroller, but the garden sits on a hill and has stone steps, stairs and steep slopes in places. | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | makino.or.jp |
| Nursing space | Yes | A nursing room in the Godaisan lobby on the second floor of the main building, and one in the Plant Research Centre; the exhibition hall is also listed as having one. The garden map shows the current locations. | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | makino.or.jp |
| Diaper changing table | Yes | Changing mats are inside the accessible toilets at each set of restrooms (in the Plant Research Centre, only the second-floor accessible toilet). | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | makino.or.jp |
| Family restroom | Yes (8) | Eight accessible toilets in the garden and the car park: main building second floor, exhibition hall, Konkonyama Hiroba, the Plant Research Centre (floors 1-3) and car park 1. | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | makino.or.jp |
| Elevator | Yes | Lifts connect the first and second floors of the main building, the greenhouse and the Plant Research Centre, and ramps run through the garden — though there are slopes, steps and narrow stretches. | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | makino.or.jp |
| Outside food allowed | Designated areas only | Picnic areas are marked with a rice-ball symbol on the garden map — spread a mat there, or eat on any bench. Mats are not allowed elsewhere. Indoors, eating is limited to the exhibition hall rest space and the ground-floor lounge of the Plant Research Centre, both air-conditioned. Take your rubbish home. | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | makino.or.jp |
| English support | English menu & signs | The Makino QR Guide on your own phone gives plant and exhibit commentary in English, Chinese and Korean as well as Japanese, and shows where you are on the map. | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | makino.or.jp |
| Best-fit ages (guide)Extra info — guide only | Yes | Free through high school. Fumufumu Hiroba (a Tosa field and a learning meadow), the lawn north of the exhibition hall and the hilltop Konkonyama Hiroba give children room, and one suggested route is a four-hour family circuit. Play equipment, balls, parasols and tents may not be brought in, and picking plants or catching insects is not allowed. | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | makino.or.jp |
| Stroller access notesExtra info — guide only | Yes | Free parking for 225 cars and 6 buses; set the car navigation to Chikurin-ji, since some systems end the route early on the garden's own name. From JR Kochi station the only public transport is the MY-Yu sightseeing bus, about 30 minutes, alighting at Makino Botanical Garden Main Gate. You enter by the Main Gate or the Middle Gate — the South Gate is exit-only — and the Middle Gate is nearer the greenhouse and Chikurin-ji. Coin lockers at each ticket window take a returnable ¥100 (75cm high, 30cm wide, 45cm deep). Umbrellas and parasols are lent free. The garden is entirely non-smoking; pets cannot come in, but assistance dogs can. | Web-checked | checked Aug ’26 | makino.or.jp |
| Diaper disposal bin | Not checked yet | ||||
| Kids' toilet seat & step stool | Not checked yet |