Day trip to 彦根 Hikone, Japan

On the last day of our 5-day Kansai Wide Area Pass (link to: Official Website, Japan Guide), we decided to make the most of it and went all the way to 彦根 Hikone at Lake Biwa after dropping our luggage in 京都 Kyoto.

And we gotten an eki-bento in the form of curry katsu sando which we enjoyed on the train ride.

We shared a yummy 牛すじカレーうどん Beef Tendon Curry Udon (¥1050) at 八千代 駅前店 Yachiyo Ekimae for lunch, before making our way to the 彦根城 Hikone Castle and 玄宮園公園 Genkyuen Garden (¥800 per pax). Both places were beautiful, and we were lucky enough to catch the 時報鐘 Jihosho (time signal bell) in action (The bell is rung at 6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm and 6pm daily). There weren’t many tourists today, so we had a very enjoyable and relaxed time here.

The staff at the Visitor Centre recommended that we try some 近江牛 Omi Beef at 焼牛たかし Yaki Gyu Takashi and we were so glad we did! We started with a set dinner (¥2300) and were so impressed that we went on to order ホタテのバター焼き Grilled Scallops with Butter (¥640) and 近江牛のローストにぎりSeared Omi Beef Sushi (¥600). What a delightful dinner!