While preparing the itinerary for our trip, the missus was quite insistent that we should plan to stay in Enoshima Island till evening, and specifically to see the Winter Illumination and light-up at the Samuel Cocking Garden. I didn’t know what the fuss was about, since we’d already listed a number of winter light-up areas in Tokyo this trip, and – innocently – thought wouldn’t one be about the same as the next.
And boy, I couldn’t be more wrong! This was the most elegant and beautifully done up winter illumination I’ve seen anywhere! It was quite a stunning transformation from the pretty sedate area that we were exploring in the day time. The popularity of the winter illumination on the island really showed in the sudden surge of visitors to the island when the lights came on, and from what I observed too, most of the visitors were locals and not tourists.
The photos just don’t do enough justice to how beautiful the light-up is. If you’re visiting Enoshima Island in winter and even if you can only spend half a day, time it such that you can spend at least half an hour exploring this light-up.
That’s a wrap for our Day 05 itinerary. We’d be spending Day 06 exploring more spots in Tokyo central tomorrow, so more to come very soon!