We stayed for 4 nights on the 1st week of December 2008. We booked our hotel through the website Rakuten (this site + Japanican are good english sites for booking any hotels or ryokans if you dont read Japanese. They correspond in english and so far reservations on their website have been a breeze since you see the rates and brief description of the rooms. Sometimes there's a virtual tour on the Japanican website).
Our reservation under Rakuten came with a discount because we were staying for 4 nights. This included breakfast and admission fee to the park. All we needed was to purchase the "Passport" for all the museums and sights when we arrived - Y2,400pp). You get the extra days on the Passport for free if you are staying at the hotels INSIDE the park.
I read about the Winter Light Up on their website http://english.huistenbosch.co.jp/
It was so romantic in the evenings because the whole park was a like a giant Christmas fairyland, all lighted up. You need at least 2 nights to really enjoy the place and to take lots of photos or videos. Lots of classy christmas decorations indeed. Dont miss the nightshows at the Palace inner gardens.
Thankfully we were blessed with 3 days of great weather – it rained on the 4th night. But by then I had taken all the videos and photos I wanted. I suggest you visit their website (in English) and take your time to read about the sights and events.
TRANSPORT
We took the Seaside Liner from Nagasaki station straight to Huis Ten Bosch Station. You can get the train schedule from the Nagasaki Tourist Info office (its inside a cafe on your right just as you exit the station ticket gate). After getting all our info, we went to the JR Reservations Ticket office (just across from the tourist office, within the station) to book our tickets.
The discounted train tickets for our return trip for two was Yen5,000. We left on Dec1 and returned Dec5. I am not sure but I think they have direct buses from Nagasaki or Fukuoka. We prefer the trains because it’s so comfortable and equipped with clean toilets.
Upon arrival at Huis Ten Bosch train station , we carried our bags across the pedestrian bridge which was linked to the station. I suggest you have an umbrella in case it should rain as the bridge isn’t sheltered. We had a lovely stroll on a clear cool December afternoon – there were still some autumn foliage during our visit. I am not sure if taking a taxi to the park is pricey (we didn’t see any road that linked directly to the park the way the pedestrian bridge did). Taxis are costly in japan.
We are glad we stayed at Hotel Amsterdam because the hotel was right where the Winter Illumination and several activities took place at night. Much more exciting at night and convenient for strolling anytime. ANA outside the park looked nice but we preferred to be more central.
At the end of the bridge, after a 10 min walk, you see a carpark and a little white building with the sign ‘HOTEL RECEPTION”. (see pic). This place is for all hotel guests staying INSIDE the park. So efficient!! That means we could just leave our luggage and stroll handsfree. After leaving the bags, the staff then brought us to the information office to settle our admission passes and extended our passes until our check out date. Our bags were already in Hotel Amsterdam when we checked in at 3pm after our little walkabout.
Remember to ask the Information counter at the park for their Event schedule. It shows you where to view most of the pretty lightups and Christmas trees. They even had a short fireworks show each night. It will help if you also ask them for a list of all the restaurants and museums with opening and closing times.
ROOM
They assigned us a spacious, nonsmoking, clean and comfortable room. Nice pleasant pastels decor. We liked the view overlooking Alexander Plein – that’s the public square where we could see the Domtoren Tower, Cathedral lightup etc (see pics). We preferred this location compared to the other 2 hotels inside the park because it was a very convenient walk to many of places in the park esp at night. The hotel was very clean (this is japan...always clean and efficient and a delightful place to travel if you get over the stress of trying to communicate in english....).
Free green tea sachets but no coffee or English tea sachets and no room service. It was great to just have hot dogs with sourkraut and coffee for dinner at the kiosks just outside the hotel, at Alexander Pleain whiles listening to the singers belt out their songs!
The Harlem Messengers from New York, a live Black Gospel group of about 5 singers and 3 musicians were belting our great Gospel music 3 times a day. They really added to the Christmas atmosphere – amazing ambience with all the beautiful winter light ups across the whole place. We found it very romantic and "christmassy" although it was only the beginning of December. A must see is the Palace inner garden night show with the lights and music.
MEALS
I have no idea if the other hotels have the same concept but the breakfast coupon could be used for lunch if you preferred to sleep in. It was great to be able to wake up late and have brunch at 11.30am. The spread for lunch is better value because they include thin slices of beef steak (cooked when you order) and a some Mediterranean fare. They even had sashimi as well. We always had a full brunch and ate a light dinner as their buffet dinner is quite pricey. Service was good and the food was fresh. There wasn’t much of a crowd during our stay, so it was really pleasant.
I had very little information to source from when planning our trip to Huis Ten Bosch. Now that we've visited, there's so much I want to share inorder to help fellow tripadvisors make an informed choice. However, that would make this review too lengthy , so feel free to leave a message if you have some questions.
Take note that you will have to take the hotel's red shuttle bus out to the entrance of the park. I cant remember which bus stop at the car park (I think it's the 3rd). From there you need to walk across the bridge to get to the Huis Ten Bosch train station. So it's important you get the shuttle bus schedule from the hotel reception so you can plan your return journey beforehand. That will save you from getting panicky (which is what happens to us since we dont read or speak japanese...). This will give you peace of mind so you wont miss the train.
I hope to find time to post reviews on Nagasaki and Huis Ten Bosch and hopefully Fukuoka so I can add more info on those sites. It takes lots ot time to post helpful reviews but since I have found so many useful reviews for my free and easy holidays from fellow tripadvisor, it's only right to reciprocate in the hope that others will benefit from my postings.
Regards.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
