Mount Rokko

Rokko is the wall of mountains that presses Kobe into a strip a couple of kilometres wide between the ridge and the sea, and that geography is exactly why the view works: the city lies directly below with the bay beyond, so from the Kikuseidai terrace on Mount Maya the whole lit grid is spread out at a steep angle rather than flattened by distance. It is counted among the three great night views of Japan with Hakodate and Nagasaki. Two cable systems climb the ridge from different points, and along the top are a herb garden, a botanic garden, a music box museum and a pasture with grazing cattle - a nineteenth-century resort landscape developed by the foreign residents of Kobe, who also built Japan's first golf course here in 1903. Arima Onsen is on the far side of the ridge, reachable by a short ropeway.

What you actually see

• The night view - Kobe's grid and the bay from Kikuseidai on Mount Maya.
• Two cable systems - separate lines up the ridge from different points.
• A resort ridge - gardens, a pasture and Japan's first golf course from 1903.
• Arima on the far side - an old onsen town over the ridge by ropeway.

When to go

October to March for clear air; after dark for the view. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Haze hides the view for much of the summer. Cable cars stop early and the last descent is well before midnight - check times before staying for the view. Each attraction on the ridge is charged separately. Winter on the terrace is very cold.

Nearby

Kobe is directly below; Arima Onsen is over the ridge to the north.