Free Views of the City series: Acros Rooftop Step-Garden

For anyone who enjoys hiking more for the exercise and nice views than for getting away from the city, there's a spot for you right in the middle of urban Fukuoka.

The famous ACROS building, a 5-minute walk from Tenjin station, features staircases going up to the rooftop, as part of a step garden built into the south face of the building. The staircases are surrounded by greenery, making you feel as though you're in a mountainside park somewhere. There's even a waterfall going down one side, cascading down in front of the windows of one of the best-located cafes in town.

At just over 60 metres and 14 storeys tall, this is by no means a challenging hike, or even really a "hike" at all. But it is a nice little unadvertised, free place to visit, relax and unwind.

Note: the staircases are closed to the public in evenings and overnight; the roof level is normally closed except on weekends. Open and closing times current as of posting are shown below. More info about ACROS can be found here: https://www.acros.or.jp/english/ (However, you might need to check the Japanese pages for really up-to-date info.)

The Step Garden is open to the public, accessible from two entrances on the park side. It cannot be accessed from inside the building. Opening hours vary according to the season so please check the times below.

Opening Times

・March to April 9:00〜18:00
・May to August 9:00〜18:30
・September to October 9:00〜18:00
・November to February 9:00〜17:00

Notice

・Rooftop Observation Deck open 10:00 to 16:00 on weekends and public holidays.
・Closed during inclement weather.
・Smoking prohibited in garden (including Observation Deck).
・Pets prohibited.

This isn't even from the roof level.

The sign reads: When it was built, there were 76 species of plant and 37,000 plants within the step-garden; since then, it's grown to be approximately 120 species and 40,000 plants. [...] There are 58 signs with information about different species throughout the garden. Please enjoy a few moments of down-time here on 'ACROS Mountain'.

Aburayama doesn't look so high from here...

One part of ACROS' gushing waterfall.

ACROS as seen from Tenjin Central Park in late Autumn