Awaji Farm Park England Hill

England Hill on Awaji Island is a green, easy going farm park with one headline act Australians will recognise instantly: koalas. The park has kept and bred them for decades, making it one of the few places in Kansai to see them, and around the marsupials it wraps gardens, farm animals and country style food.

Koalas and company

The koala house is the park’s heart, home to animals whose lineage traces back to gifts from Australia, dozing exactly as they would at home. Elsewhere, paddocks hold sheep, alpacas, capybara and rabbits with feeding and contact sessions through the day, and the English themed gardens flower in waves from spring tulips to autumn cosmos. It is unhurried in the best rural Japan way; families settle in rather than rush through.

Eat the island

Awaji is one of Japan’s proudest food islands, and the park leans in with its own produce: onion dishes, for which Awaji is nationally famous, local beef and fresh soft serve. The farm restaurant makes an honest lunch stop, and the shop sends you home with island onions in some form or another.

Getting there

Highway buses from Kobe’s Sannomiya cross the great Akashi Kaikyo Bridge onto the island; the park is inland in Awaji’s green centre, reached by local bus or taxi from the main bus stops. A rental car simplifies the island considerably and opens up its coastal sights on the same day.

We may earn a commission when you book through links on this page, at no extra cost to you. Details and inclusions can change, so always check the booking page for the latest.