Editor's picks
A local's shortlist — the places worth your time first, each with a tip.
Musashi Ichinomiya Hikawa Shrine & Ōmiya Park
Landmark · Ōmiya ward, north of the station
The head shrine of some 280 Hikawa shrines across the Kantō plain, approached by a wooded avenue roughly two kilometres long, with a large park and the prefectural museum beside it.
Local tip: Walk the whole approach from Sandōchō rather than entering from the park end — the length is the point, and it is the best thing to do in the city on a hot afternoon because the tree cover is complete. Ōmiya means 'great shrine' and this is the shrine it means. Hatsumōde in the first days of January draws crowds in the millions, so go at any other time.
Ōmiya Bonsai Village
Hidden gemCulture · Kita ward, near Toro and Ōmiya-kōen stations
A quiet residential grid of working bonsai nurseries founded in 1925 by Tokyo growers who moved out after the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake, with a municipal art museum at its centre.
Local tip: The nurseries are businesses, not attractions — walk the streets, look over the fences, and go into the ones with an open gate. The Ōmiya Bonsai Art Museum is the one place with labels and explanation, and it is small, cheap and worth an hour before you visit the growers. Photography rules vary by nursery, so ask.
The Railway Museum
Culture · Ōmiya ward, one stop on the New Shuttle
JR East's national railway museum, built beside the Ōmiya works — a hall of preserved locomotives and carriages, a working turntable, and simulators.
Local tip: Book online in advance; walk-up tickets are not always available. Go on a weekday if you can, because at the weekend it is the best children's day out in the prefecture and everyone knows it. The bento sold in the reproduction station hall is eaten in a real carriage, which is the detail children remember.
Minuma Tanbo
Hidden gemNature · Across Minuma, Midori and Ōmiya wards
Around 1,260 hectares of former paddy and water meadow kept undeveloped inside a city of 1.3 million — a green belt with cycle paths, canals and a startling absence of buildings.
Local tip: This is the thing residents are quietly proud of and visitors never hear about. The canal-side path from Minuma Daiyō-suiro runs for kilometres with no traffic, and it is the best cycling in the city by a wide margin. In April the cherry avenue along the eastern channel is as good as anything in Tokyo and a fraction as crowded.
Ōmiya east exit — Nanchō and the yokochō alleys
Nightlife · Ōmiya ward, east side of the station
A dense grid of small bars, standing izakaya and post-war alleyways immediately behind the station, busy on a weeknight in a way the rest of the city is not.
Local tip: This is the largest drinking district between Ikebukuro and Sendai and it is where the whole prefecture comes out. Start in the covered alleys near the station and work outward; the further from the exit, the smaller and better the counters get. Last trains north run late, which is a large part of why it exists.
Urawa & Bessho-numa
Neighborhood · Urawa ward, south of Ōmiya
The administrative and academic half of the city — the prefectural offices and courts, the schools with reputations, old eel restaurants from the Nakasendō days, and a lake park at Bessho-numa.
Local tip: Urawa is where families move for the schools and where Saitama's football identity lives; a Reds home match at Saitama Stadium is a genuinely serious atmosphere by Japanese standards. Bessho-numa park is the local Sunday and the cherry blossom there is quieter than Ōmiya Park's.
Explore 82 places across Saitama
Museums, landmarks, monuments, heritage sites and parks — mapped, with photos. The most notable spots first.
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Museums & galleries
(19)
Museum
Museum
MuseumSaitama Municipal Urawa Museum
Museum in Saitama, Saitama, Japan
MuseumNerima Art Museum
Museum in Japan
MuseumNHK Archives
Museum
MuseumKawaguchi Science Museum
Museum in Kawaguchi, Saitama, Japan
MuseumItabashi Art Museum
Museum in Itabashi Ward, Tōkyō Metropolis, Japan
MuseumItabashi Science and Education Hall
Museum in Saitama.
MuseumKawanabe Kyosai Memorial Museum
Art museum in Warabi, Saitama, Japan
MuseumOmiya Bonsai Art Museum, Saitama
Art museum in Saitama, Saitama, Japan
MuseumUrawa Art Museum
Art museum in Saitama, Saitama, Japan
MuseumSenkyōkan
Museum in Saitama.
MuseumToei Animation Museum
Museum in Saitama.
MuseumSaiko Nature Learning Center
Museum in Saitama.
MuseumArakawa Museum of Aqua
Museum in Kita, Tokyo, Japan
Saitama City Manga Museum
北区
Museum.
Saitama City Youth Space Science Museum
Museum.
Shiki Local Museum
Museum.
Toda City Museum of Local History
Museum.
Landmarks & architecture
(17)
Landmark
LandmarkKamigo Bridge
Bridge in Saitama and Kawagoe, Saitama, Japan
LandmarkToda Bridge
Bridge in Itabashi-ku, Japan
LandmarkKeyaki Hiroba
Landmark in Saitama.
LandmarkShin-Urawa Bridge
Road bridge in Urawa-ku, Saitama, Japan
LandmarkShin Kamiya Bridge
Bridge in Japan
LandmarkShintoyo Bridge
Bridge in Japan
LandmarkJisui Bridge
Bridge in Japan
LandmarkHanekura Bridge
Bridge in Japan
LandmarkIruma Bridge
Bridge in Japan
LandmarkSakai Bridge
Bridge in Japan
LandmarkKozutsumi Bridge
Bridge in Japan
LandmarkYamamiya Bridge
Bridge in Japan
LandmarkNew Minuma Bridge toll road
Road in Japan
LandmarkAshihara Bridge
Bridge in Japan
LandmarkYaguchi-kamihashi Bridge
Bridge in Japan
LandmarkYaguchi Bridge
Bridge in Japan
Monuments & memorials
(5)Tokyo Great Buddha
Public artwork, 1977.
Narihira Mound
Historic monument.
Nobidome Mound
Historic monument.
Yahara Emmei Jizo
Historic site.
Mitsumine Shrine
Historic site.
Places of worship
(6)
ReligiousSt. Theresa of the Child Jesus Cathedral, Urawa
Church building in Saitama Prefecture, Japan
ReligiousSaitama Mosque
Mosque in Sakura, Saitama, Japan
Monjuin
Place of worship.
Banseiji Temple
Place of worship.
Azusawa Shrine
Place of worship.
Jifukuji Temple
Place of worship.
Heritage & archaeology
(5)
Archaeological
Archaeological
Archaeological
ArchaeologicalInaridai Site
Archaeological site in Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan
Gobouyama ruin
3
Archaeological site in 3.
Parks & nature
(26)
Park
Park
Park
Park
Park
Park
Park
Park
Park
Park
ParkŌsaki Park
Park in Japan
ParkAkiha no Mori Comprehensive Park
Park in Nishi-ku, Saitama, Japan
Park
ParkShirakobato Aquatic Park
Water park
ParkYono Park
Park in Saitama.
ParkNanushi-no-Taki Park
Park in Kita, Tokyo, Japan
ParkKita-Urawa Park
Park in Saitama.
ParkSaiko Dōman Green Park
Park in Japan
ParkMitsugi Park
Park in Itabashi-ku, Tokyo
ParkKoshigaya Bairin Park
Park in Saitama.
ParkŌwada Park
Park in Ōmiya-ku, Saitama, Japan
ParkUrawa Memorial Park
Park in Minami-ku, Japan
ParkSagiyama Memorial Park
Park in Saitama.
ParkToda Park
Park in Saitama.
ParkUrawa-Kita Park
Park in Saitama.
ParkHigashi-Ōmiya Shinsui Park
Park in Saitama, Saitama, Japan
More to explore
(4)Myo-on-zawa
Viewpoint.
Ostrich
Visitor attraction.
Oizumi Anime Gate
Visitor attraction.
JISS Futsal Court
Visitor attraction.
Data from Wikidata (CC0) & OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Images via Wikimedia Commons — see each credit. Listings are community-maintained and may be incomplete or out of date — verify hours and access before visiting.
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