Hiroshima Prefecture has several parks with big play structures, but most are easy to reach only by car. This guide compares six of them: one in Hiroshima City, one in Higashihiroshima City, three in Fukuyama City and one national park in Shobara City. It lines up the play equipment, parking, closed days and baby facilities, all from each park’s official pages. Names are followed by the Japanese name, which is what you will see on road signs and maps.
In short
- Parking is free at Fukuyama Family Park and Fukuyama Memorial Park. It costs ¥450 at Hiroshima City Forest Park (a regular car) and ¥350 a day at Bihoku Hillside National Government Park, where entry is charged separately.
- Closed days differ by park: Wednesdays at Hiroshima City Forest Park, Mondays at Bihoku, Thursdays for the Children’s Land at Fukuyama Memorial Park, and none at the other three.
- Nursing rooms are listed for Hiroshima City Forest Park (2 places) and Bihoku (4 places). Efpico Arena Fukuyama’s park lists changing tables in its toilets.
- For a young child close to Fukuyama Station, Efpico Arena Fukuyama’s park has an area for ages 1 to 3 and 2 free hours of parking.
Checked with official pages on October 5, 2026.
1. Which park has what? Six parks side by side
Depends on the park
Free parking: Fukuyama Family Park and Fukuyama Memorial Park. Paid parking: Hiroshima City Forest Park (¥450) and Bihoku Hillside National Government Park (¥350, plus an entry fee). Efpico Arena Fukuyama’s park is free for the first 2 hours, then ¥100 for each extra hour. Prices below are for a regular car.
| Park | Big play equipment | Parking | Closed days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hiroshima City Forest Park | Rope tower, Tarzan rope, combined play structure, suspension bridge | ¥450 | Wednesdays |
| Kohan-no-Sato Fukutomi | 21 attractions in the “Fureai Hiroba” play area | 157 + 170 spaces; fee not stated | None (play area) |
| Efpico Arena Fukuyama park | 38 items, with an area for ages 1 to 3 | About 360 spaces; free for 2 hours | None |
| Fukuyama Family Park | Large combined play structure | 100 spaces, free | None |
| Fukuyama Memorial Park | Play area, plus a new combined structure from July 2026 | 85 spaces, free | Thursdays (Children’s Land) |
| Bihoku Hillside National Government Park | “Kyu no Oka”: 40+ items | ¥350 a day | Mondays |
2. How do I get there?
Depends on the park
Hiroshima City Forest Park is the easiest to reach from central Hiroshima. It is about 11 km from Hiroshima Station, about 20 minutes by car via the Hiroshima Expressway No. 1 (the park’s own page gives the same figure). From the Hiroshima-Higashi interchange of the Sanyo Expressway it is about 3.8 km. By bus, take the Hiroshima Bus line for Ogowara Depot (小河原車庫) from Hiroshima Bus Center, which also stops at Hiroshima Station. Get off at the Toishi (登石) stop. From there the park entrance is about 2.5 km on foot, which the park says takes about 50 minutes.
Bihoku Hillside National Government Park is far from the cities. The official site gives about 1 hour 30 minutes by car from both Hiroshima and Fukuyama. From the Shobara interchange to the north entrance is about 1.5 km (about 5 minutes by car). Without a car, the nearest stations are Bingo-Shobara and Nanatsuka on the JR Geibi Line, and the park tells you to check the operators’ own timetables.
In Fukuyama, Efpico Arena Fukuyama’s park is about 10 minutes by car from Fukuyama Station, and Family Park is about 25 minutes. Kohan-no-Sato Fukutomi lists a bus from JR Nishitakaya Station: take the bus bound for Toyosaka (豊栄), get off at Kuho (久芳) after about 30 minutes, then walk about 15 minutes.
3. Hiroshima City Forest Park (広島市森林公園, Hiroshima Yugaku no Mori)
Hiroshima City
Entry to the park is free. Parking costs ¥450 for a regular car or a light car, and ¥1,400 for a medium or large vehicle. The park is open from 9:00 to 16:30 (last entry 16:00). It is closed on Wednesdays (the next day if Wednesday is a holiday) and from December 29 to January 3. It can open on some Wednesdays, such as during summer vacation, so check the news on the park’s website.
The lawn area is about 2 hectares. It has “Zile Climbing” (a rope tower 11 m high), a Tarzan rope and a combined play structure. The “Wanpaku” suspension bridge, 36 m long, crosses a valley and is made of logs and rope. Beyond the lawn, “Marchen no Mori” has spring-type equipment for small children. In summer, the shallow stream “Jabu Jabu River” is open for water play, but not on days when the water flow is high, such as after rain.
The management center and the rest house on the lawn each have a nursing room (listed as a first-aid room, 救護室) and toilets. The management center lends strollers and wheelchairs. The insect house, Konchukan (こんちゅう館), charges extra: ¥510 for adults aged 18 to 64, and ¥170 for people under 18, high school students and people 65 and over. Preschool children and elementary and junior high school students enter free. The park also has a paid monorail up to a hilltop lookout; the park’s news page lists days when it is not running.
Address: 10173 Fujigamaru, Fukuda-cho, Higashi-ku, Hiroshima. Google Maps. Phone: 082-899-8241
4. Michi-no-Eki Kohan-no-Sato Fukutomi (道の駅 湖畔の里福富)
Higashihiroshima City
This roadside station (michi-no-eki) sits by Shakunage Lake, the reservoir of Fukutomi Dam. The official site says its play area, “Fureai Hiroba” (ふれあい広場), has 21 kinds of attractions and is open all year. The same site lists a day-camp site (reservation required) and a multi-purpose ground. Hiroshima City’s public-relations magazine (spring 2022 issue) describes a 40 m roller slide and a Tarzan rope, with the equipment split into areas by age. That magazine is from 2022, so check on the day.
The exchange building (交流館) and vegetable market (野菜館) are open 9:30 to 18:00 on weekdays and 9:00 to 18:00 on weekends and national holidays. The restaurant is open 11:00 to last order at 14:00. Parking has two lots: 157 regular-car spaces (3 of them for people who need priority parking) and 10 for large vehicles in the first lot, and 170 regular-car spaces in the second lot. The official site does not give a parking fee. A June 2023 post from the station’s X account (above) calls the large play equipment free. Toilets are outdoors. From the Saijo interchange of the Sanyo Expressway, the station is about 25 minutes north on Route 375.
Address: 1506 Kuho, Fukutomi-cho, Higashihiroshima. Google Maps. Phone: 082-435-2110
5. Three parks in Fukuyama City (福山市)
Fukuyama City
Fukuyama City’s tourism pages list play equipment, parking and toilets for these three parks. The city also publishes a table of its 29 city parks with parking, with the toilets and play equipment marked (updated November 4, 2025). Play equipment is marked for 14 of the 29.
5.1 Efpico Arena Fukuyama park (エフピコアリーナふくやま・福山市総合体育館公園)
The park spreads out in front of the city gymnasium. The city calls its play equipment one of the largest in the city. According to the city magazine of March 2020, it has 38 items, an area for ages 1 to 3, and 13 fitness machines for adults. A loop path of about 400 m and a lawn are also there.
The park is always open, has no closed days and is free to enter. Parking is for about 360 regular cars: free for the first 2 hours, then ¥100 for each hour after that. The toilets are wheelchair accessible and ostomy accessible, and have a diaper-changing table. By bus, get off at “Efpico Arena Fukuyama-mae” (エフピコアリーナふくやま前) on the Chugoku Bus line. Next to the park, the Ashidagawa riverside plaza has 185 free parking spaces.
Address: Chiyoda-cho 1-chome, Fukuyama (no street number given by the city). Google Maps. Phone: 084-981-3050 (Fukuyama Sports Association)
5.2 Fukuyama Family Park (ファミリーパーク)
The park is on a hill about 350 m above sea level, along the Green Line road. It has a large combined play structure, and also a peacock garden and a deer garden. It is open 9:00 to 17:00 with no closed days, and it is free to enter. Parking is free, with 100 regular-car spaces, and large buses can park too. A multi-purpose toilet is next to the parking lot and another is next to the peacock house. It is about 25 minutes by car from Fukuyama Station.
Address: 283-1 Yauchidani, Kumano-cho, Fukuyama. Google Maps. Phone: 084-951-6768 (management office)
5.3 Fukuyama Memorial Park (福山メモリアルパーク)
The park has a picnic lawn, “Wanpaku Hiroba” (a play area), a 3×3 basketball court and a pool. Since July 15, 2026, a new combined play structure shaped like a UFO has been in use. A company donated it, and the city announced it on its website. The city’s announcement does not say where in the park it stands or whether it costs anything.
Parking is free, with 85 spaces, and the park has toilets. Inside the park, “Kodomo-no-Kuni” (Children’s Land, こどもの国) charges ¥200 for go-karts for children from age 3 to elementary school and ¥310 for adults (junior high school and older). Its other rides take ¥100 coins. Children’s Land is open 9:00 to 17:00 from April to June and September to November, 9:30 to 18:00 in July and August, and 9:30 to 16:30 from December to March. It is closed on Thursdays (the next day if Thursday is a holiday) and from December 29 to January 1.
Address: 3-15-1 Higashifukatsu-cho, Fukuyama. Google Maps. Phone: 084-926-5518
6. Bihoku Hillside National Government Park (国営備北丘陵公園), Shobara City
National government park
This is a national government park. On the lawn plaza, “Kyu no Oka” is a large combined play structure with more than 40 kinds of equipment, such as a jet roller slider and a surprise shower. The official site recommends the lawn plaza for visitors with young children. The plaza also has a 50 m grass-sledding course called “Chibikko Geren-de” and a woodland athletic course that the park says takes more than 2 hours to complete. In the “Tsudoi no Sato” area, “Kyu no Mori” has a jumbo monorail slide (35 m), a bouncy “cloud dome” and a net tunnel 7 m above the ground.
Entry costs ¥450 for adults (15 to 64) and ¥210 for people 65 and over. Elementary and junior high school students are free. Parking costs ¥350 a day for a regular or light car. During the spring and autumn flower events (“Bihoku Hana Picnic” and “Bihoku Cosmos Picnic”) it is ¥400. The nearest lot to the lawn plaza is the second parking lot (about 5 minutes on foot); the first lot is about 7 to 8 minutes on foot.
The park is open 9:30 to 17:00 from September 1 to October 31, with last entry 1 hour before closing, and the hours change by season. It is closed on Mondays (Tuesday if Monday is a holiday) and on December 31 and January 1. It opens on Mondays from April 29 to May 5 and from July 21 to August 31. From November 23 to December 25 the winter illumination runs, and the park opens 14:00 to 21:00 (the hours can change). During the illumination, parking from 14:00 is ¥1,000. Check the park’s “Today’s Bihoku” page before you go in winter.
Nursing rooms are at the Visitor Center, Entrance Center Kunikane, the second floor of the Lakeside Rest House and the Tsudoi no Sato clubhouse. The park says each has a hot-water server, a sink, a diaper-changing sheet and a diaper bin. Strollers are free to borrow at the Visitor Center and Entrance Center Kunikane, first come first served, with no reservations. Toilets for people with disabilities are in many places in the park, including both parking lots, the lawn plaza and Tsudoi no Sato.
Address: 4-10 Mikkaichi-cho, Shobara. Google Maps. Phone: 0824-72-7000 (Bihoku Park Management Center)
7. How do I choose?
Depends on the park
- Young child, near Fukuyama Station: Efpico Arena Fukuyama’s park has an area for ages 1 to 3 and 2 hours of free parking.
- No parking fee: Fukuyama Family Park or Fukuyama Memorial Park.
- A day trip from Hiroshima City: Hiroshima City Forest Park has the rope tower, the suspension bridge, equipment for small children and water play in summer.
- A full day on 40+ pieces of equipment: Bihoku Hillside National Government Park. Check its Monday closing first.
- A meal or shopping as well: Kohan-no-Sato Fukutomi has a restaurant and local products on the same site.
8. Common questions
Do I need a car?
Mostly yes. Hiroshima City Forest Park has a bus stop 2.5 km from the entrance, and Kohan-no-Sato Fukutomi lists a bus and a 15-minute walk. For Bihoku, the official site lists the nearest JR stations and a Shobara City loop bus, and tells you to check their timetables. Fukuyama’s parks are about 10 to 25 minutes by car from Fukuyama Station. Efpico Arena Fukuyama’s park also has a bus stop named after it.
Can children play for free?
Entry to Hiroshima City Forest Park, Efpico Arena Fukuyama’s park and Fukuyama Family Park is free. At Bihoku, elementary and junior high school students enter free, and an adult pays ¥450. Children’s Land at Fukuyama Memorial Park charges for go-karts and its coin rides.
Is English supported at these parks?
The official pages used for this guide are in Japanese, and they do not say whether staff speak English. Ask the park before you go if you need help in English.
Sources (checked October 2026)
- Hiroshima City: Hiroshima City Forest Park (FAQ: hours, closed days, parking, Konchukan fees)
- Hiroshima City Forest Park: facilities (lawn plaza, nursing rooms, stroller loan, Jabu Jabu River), park overview and hours
- Hiroshima City Forest Park: access and Hiroshima City: Forest Park page (bus, distance)
- Michi-no-Eki Kohan-no-Sato Fukutomi: official site (play area, parking, hours, bus)
- Higashihiroshima City: Kohan-no-Sato Fukutomi and Hiroshima City public-relations magazine, spring 2022
- Fukuyama City: Efpico Arena Fukuyama park and Fukuyama City magazine, March 2020
- Fukuyama City: Family Park
- Fukuyama City: Memorial Park, new play structure (July 15, 2026) and Children’s Land
- Fukuyama City: city parks with parking (updated November 4, 2025)
- Bihoku Hillside National Government Park: hours, fees, parking, nursing rooms and strollers, lawn plaza, play areas and access
