The Sankei-en, a traditional Japanese-style garden which covers 175 000m2, is composed of two different parts: the outer garden, with features including a three-storey pagoda imported from Kyoto's Tomyo-ji Temple (1457) and a traditional house from the Hida region; and the inner garden with its remarkable pavilion dating from the early Edo period. But it is the garden itself, with its evocative and fragrant vistas, rather than the buildings within it that attracts over 500 000 visitors a year. Best visited early in the morning.