Huis Ten Bosch

**Skip or commit:** Huis Ten Bosch is polarizing — either embrace the absurdist spectacle of a fake Dutch town in Japan or avoid entirely. Half-measures (3-hour visit) don't work; the park rewards overnight stays when you can experience the evening canal illumination and morning empty-park photography. **Tulip festival (March–April):** 700,000 tulips bloom across the park's gardens — imported bulbs from actual Holland planted in beds designed by Dutch landscape architects. The result is genuinely impressive if you accept the premise. **Robot hotel:** The Henn-na Hotel (Strange Hotel) inside the park is staffed entirely by robots — dinosaur robots at check-in, robot arm for luggage storage, facial recognition room entry. It was a Guinness World Record stunt (2015) but the robots actually work. Rooms from ¥8,000/night.