It feels just like taking a trip to Europe. (Photo: Youko Tanaka)

Huis Ten Bosch Theme Park in Nagasaki

A town in Nagasaki modeled after a European city

It feels just like taking a trip to Europe. (Photo: Youko Tanaka)
Sarah Chaney   - 3 min read

Huis Ten Bosch means "House in the Forest" in Dutch, named after the Huis Ten Bosch palace where Queen Beatrix lives. This peaceful town is like stepping into Europe with its water mills and rural landscape. It's a theme park that makes you want to take an extended vacation, perhaps in their top tier hotel facing the bay built to resemble a palace, or in the more relaxed atmosphere of a cottage villa.

The flowers in the garden varies by season and you can enjoy classical music concerts all throughout the year. This theme park also boasts the largest water slide in Japan at about 180 meters in length. You can enjoy the scenery within the park in a variety of ways, including canoeing, on a segway, from the sky in a helicopter, or on a horse carriage tour.

Huis Ten Bosh also offers entertainment for their older visitors with a casino and a musical troupe that skillfully draws you into a surreal world. There is a museum displaying games, from the very first game in Japan to futuristic games. They also have the world's first 3D projection mapping game and Japan's first interactive mapping skating rink. There is so much to explore and do at Huis Ten Bosch that it is impossible to view it all in a day.

Huis Ten Bosch is the largest theme park in Japan in regards to land area. In the Winter of 2013, Huis Ten Bosch was ranked by 4,000 appraisers who judge the top 3 places to enjoy night scenery in Japan, as the #1 illumination and entertainment theme park in Japan.The popular projection mapping show and fireworks collaboration gives a whole different entertainment to the park at night.

The theme park is also looking to open a hotel staffed by robots, a hot spring area, and a health focused restaurant. The area will be called "Health and Beauty Kingdom."

Huis Ten Bosch is just a short trip away from other popular Nagasaki tour spots such as the world heritage site of Gunkanjima and Mount Inasa which is ranked as one of the top three places to view night scenery in Japan.

Regardless of how many times you visit, or what time of year you visit, Huis Ten Bosch will always be new and exciting, a place where you can try and experience new things.

More info

Find out more about Huis Ten Bosch.

Sarah Chaney

Sarah Chaney @sarah.chaney

Greetings! I am currently sailing through my second year living in Fukushima. In the four years I've lived in Japan, I have realized that Fukushima is Japan's best kept secret. With JapanTravel.com, I look forward to helping people be able to learn more about Fukushima and also assist with transl...