In the city of Hikone (Shiga's second largest) there is a beautiful little castle known as Hikone-jo (Hikone Castle). Hikone-jo is an original wooden castle and according to an information board at the castle: it's considered Japan's third best castle after Himeji-jo and Matsumo-jo. While not on the scale of size as Himeji-jo, Hikone-jo has some very unique architectural features making it well worth the visit. Plus there are great views over lake Biwa towards the mountains in Western Shiga.

While making a visit to Hikone-jo make sure you take the time to visit the adjacent Genkyu-en (Gardens) and spend some time soaking in the atmosphere of the delightful little Hikone city. I highly recommend trying some Omi-Gyu (the local beef) if you're a meat eater.

Hikone is on the JR Biwa-ko line, it's 48 minutes from Kyoto via a special rapid service. If you're travelling on a Japan Rail Pass you could catch the Shinkansen to Maibara (20 minutes from Kyoto) then change on to a local train there. Hikone is only 5 minutes via local train from Maibara. If you're coming from Nagoya it's 71 minutes via the JR New Rapid to Maibara, again if you have a Japan Rail Pass you could take the Shinkansen (28 minutes from Nagoya).

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