Kobe · Kitano
Kobe Nunobiki Herb Gardens
The Nunobiki Herb Gardens sit on the mountain above Shin-Kobe Station, at about 400 meters. You get there by a 1,460-meter ropeway in about ten minutes, in six-person cabins that leave continuously, so there is almost no wait. According to the gardens, there are about 75,000 plants of about 200 kinds of herbs and flowers, in 12 gardens that change with the season.
The ropeway has three stations: the bottom one, a middle station called Kaze-no-Oka, and the top one. The gardens have a restaurant, a cafe and a fragrance museum, and the restaurant 'The Veranda' reopened on 25 April 2026. The foot bath and the vow bell that used to be in the gardens have been removed.
On the way up, the ropeway passes over the Gohonmatsu Dam, completed around 1900, which according to the city is the first gravity dam in Japan built for water supply. The dam is an Important Cultural Property, and the walking path under the ropeway passes next to it.
Good to know
- You can ride the ropeway up and walk down: a path starts near the middle station and goes down past the dam and Nunobiki Falls to Shin-Kobe, about an hour according to the city. If you walk up, you pay ¥200 to enter the gardens.
- From 7 November to 28 December 2026 it is Christmas season in the gardens, with a special entry price.
- The ropeway stops for about three weeks of maintenance in winter. In 2027 the stop is planned from 23 January to 19 February.
What is nearby
Approximate walking minutes from the entrance of Kobe Nunobiki Herb Gardens.
- HereKobe Nunobiki Herb Gardens
- ~8 min
Freundlieb, Ikuta main store Food
A German bakery founded in Kobe in 1924, housed since 1999 in the former Kobe Union Church. A bread and cookie shop and a cafe inside the church building. Weekday lunch set from ¥2,200, roast beef sandwich ¥2,750.
- ~10 min
Ohel Shelomo Synagogue, Jewish Community of Kansai More to see
The oldest active synagogue in Japan, and the oldest Jewish community in the country.
- ~12 min
Kitano Tenman Shrine More to see
A small shrine above the Weathercock House, which according to tradition was founded in 1180 by Taira no Kiyomori, and which gave the district its name. It is dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane, the god of learning. From the courtyard you see the city and the port. Free.
- ~13 min
Starbucks Kobe Kitano Ijinkan Cafe
A Starbucks in a two-story wooden house from 1907 that belonged to an American, registered as a cultural property. The house was taken apart after the 1995 earthquake and rebuilt here in 2001, and the rooms are furnished like a home.
- ~14 min
Kobe Nishimura Coffee, Nakayamate main store Cafe
It opened in 1948 with only three tables, and moved to its current location in 1952.
- ~15 min
Nunobiki Falls More to see
Four waterfalls on the Ikuta River, and the largest, Ontaki, drops 43 meters. Along the path are stones with 36 poems about the falls, from the Heian period to the Edo period. About a quarter of an hour's walk from Shin-Kobe Station. Free.
More in Kitano
Appears in: Kobe: the herb garden by ropeway, the foreigners' houses of Kitano, Chinatown and Kobe beef