Maizuru castle park, or Kofu castle, is located on a small hill just outside JR Kofu station, so I made it my last stop on 2017 Yamanashi-Nagano road trip itinerary, spending a leisurely couple of hours here after dropping off my car and before hopping on a train back to Tokyo.

As far as Japanese castles go, there isn’t much to see here. No tenshu, only one reconstructed yagura (housing a museum that was already closed at the time of my visit), some gates and fortifications. But it’s a nice park with beautiful city views from the top of the hill, and that alone makes it worth visiting in any season – although, of course, springtime is said to be the best with all the sakuras in and around.