Japanese Garden

Construction of this garden began in 1992 with the help of Japanese experts, after Hasselt and Itami became sister cities. As always with these things, they, quite literary, need time to grow. At first the place wasn't much to look at, but now, 16 years later it can compete with the more reknown Japanese gardens around the world.

The garden is open to the public from 1st April till the end of October. Ofcourse the best time to visit is when the cherry trees are blossoming. The place becomes an enchanted forest.

It is nice to see that it is well kept and throughout the year, there are many events, like culinary discoveries and the Chrysantium festival in the fall.

The stars of the park however, remain the koi. The way they throw themselves at your feet for food is quite disturbing. There is a reason why dogs aren't allowed in the park, you know.

Entrance fee for the park is 5 Euro and there are guided tours on saturday at 3pm, which cost 8,50 Euro.

There is plenty of parking space in the vicinity and free busses (H3 and 45) run hourly from the train station to the park. Just get off at the watertower on the Koning Boudewijnlaan.