# Travel Destinations | Japan Voyage Travel - [Railway Museum](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/railway-museum): Saitama, Museum. You get in through an automatic ticket gate, exactly like a station, which is the first joke and sets the tone. The Railway Museum opened in Omiya in 2007 on JR East's own historical collection and doubled in size with a new wing in 2018. The centrepiece is the Rolling Stock Station, a hall holding 36 real vehicles arranged around a turntable: a Meiji-era steam locomotive, prewar electric cars, a sleeper carriage, imperial saloon cars behind glass, and a 0-series Shinkansen nose that still looks like the future it was sold as. Several times a day they rotate the C57 on the turntable and blow the whistle, which is loud in an enclosed hall and worth being present for. Upstairs is the engineering: signalling, brakes, why a flanged wheel stays on a rail, and a very large model diorama with scheduled shows. There are driving simulators, including a D51 steam simulator that requires you to shovel, and an E5 Shinkansen one that runs by lottery. Outside, a small train circuit lets children actually drive for a few hundred yen. It is designed for children and it is thorough enough for adults who like machines. English signage exists but the deeper labels are Japanese only. Tickets are around 1,600 yen and are sold in advance online and at convenience stores, and from machines at the museum on the day unless it has reached capacity. Weekends and school holidays are busy and the simulator lotteries fill within the first hour. From Omiya, take the New Shuttle one stop to Tetsudo-Hakubutsukan. - [Kawagoe](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/kawagoe): Saitama, City. Known as 'Little Edo', Kawagoe rebuilt its merchant street in fireproof clay after an 1893 fire, and the warehouses and bell tower still stand. - [Musashi Kyuryo National Government Park](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/musashi-kyuryo-national-government-park): Saitama, Park. Musashi Kyuryo National Government Park sprawls across the hills of Saitama, famous for its displays of 5 million red spider lilies (higanbana) in September and vast fields of poppies in spring. The park also features Japan's largest inflatable dome playground and extensive cycling and walking paths. - [Nagatoro](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/nagatoro): Saitama, Attraction. Scenic river gorge along the Arakawa River featuring thrilling boat rides through rapids, dramatic rock formations, and vivid autumn foliage. - [Chichibu](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/chichibu): Saitama, City. Chichibu is a mountain town famous for its December night festival with towering floats, a 34-temple pilgrimage circuit, and seasonal scenery. - [Toki no Kane Bell Tower](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/toki-no-kane-bell-tower): Saitama, Landmark. The Toki no Kane bell tower has been marking time in Kawagoe for over 350 years, its wooden tower rising above the Edo-era warehouse district and still ringing four times daily. The tower has become the symbol of this city known as 'Little Edo' for its remarkably preserved traditional merchant buildings. - [Hikawa Shrine](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/hikawa-shrine): Saitama, Shrine. Hikawa Shrine in Saitama claims over 2,400 years of history, making it one of Japan's oldest Shinto shrines. The 2-kilometer approach lined with zelkova trees is the longest shrine approach in Japan, and the shrine serves as the head of over 280 Hikawa shrines across the Kanto region. - [Moomin Valley Park](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/moomin-valley-park): Saitama, Theme park. A theme park on the wooded shore of Lake Miyazawa in Hanno devoted to Tove Jansson's Moomins, recreating Moominhouse and Nordic scenes; part of the Metsä lakeside complex. - [Tobu Zoo](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/tobu-zoo): Saitama, Amusement park. A zoo and amusement park rolled into one, about an hour from Tokyo on the Tobu line: around 120 animal species including white tigers, plus the Regina II wooden coaster over the lake and a big summer pool. - [Mitsumine Shrine](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/mitsumine-shrine): Saitama, Shrine. A mountain shrine at about 1,100 meters in the far west of Chichibu, where wolves stand in for the usual guardian dogs. No train comes close: it is about 80 minutes by bus from Seibu-Chichibu Station, the last bus down leaves at 16:30, and on weekends the road up can back up long before the parking lot. - [Michi-no-Eki Ogawamachi](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/michi-no-eki-ogawamachi): Saitama, Michi no eki. A Route 254 roadside station built around the Saitama Traditional Crafts Hall, reopened in May 2025 after a rebuild. You can watch Hosokawa-shi washi being made, try paper-making yourself, and eat lunch made with produce from local organic farms. - [Seibuen Yuenchi](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/seibuen-yuenchi): Saitama, Theme park. An old Seibu Railway amusement park that reopened in May 2021 as a full Showa-era set piece: a recreated 1960s shopping street with actors as shopkeepers, plus Godzilla and Ultraman motion rides. - [Michi-no-Eki Kaju Koen Ashigakubo](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/michi-no-eki-kaju-koen-ashigakubo): Saitama, Michi no eki. A Route 299 stop right beside Ashigakubo Station on the Seibu Chichibu Line, so you can reach it without a car. In January and February its car park serves the Ashigakubo icicles, a 200-meter wall of ice. --- Source: [Travel Destinations | Japan Voyage Travel](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations?prefecture_id=11) Last updated: 2026-10-28