Nijo Castle visitor guide — everything you need to know before visiting

At a glance

Address

541 Nijojo-cho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto 604-8301

Way in

Higashi Ote-mon, the East Gate, on Horikawa-dori

Open

Entry 8:45–16:00 · grounds close 17:00

Honmaru reception

9:30–16:00, by booked time only

At a time

About 15 people per entry

Inside

About 40 minutes, after an 8-minute film

Photos

Not allowed inside either palace

Where the castle is

Nijo Castle fills a broad rectangle in central Kyoto, about 600 metres east to west and 400 metres north to south, with Horikawa-dori along its east side and Nijo-dori to the north. The grounds cover some 275,000 square metres inside a two-kilometre outer wall and moat.

Everyone goes in through the Higashi Ote-mon, the East Gate, a heavy roofed gate rebuilt in 1662. Nijojo-mae subway station and bus stop are a short walk from it. Inside, a second moat and stone wall ring the Honmaru, the inner ward on the west side of the grounds, where the Honmaru Palace stands.

Why there are two tickets

The castle sells the Honmaru Palace separately from castle admission. The Honmaru ticket gives you a timed place in the inner palace but does not let you through the East Gate; for that you need a castle admission ticket, which also covers the Ninomaru Palace on the days it is open.

Every fare on this site books both for each visitor, for the same date. You get your e-tickets by email: the castle admission ticket is shown at the East Gate and the Ninomaru Palace door, and the Honmaru ticket at the Honmaru Palace entrance.

If you already hold a castle admission ticket for the same day, you still need a Honmaru Palace ticket for the inner palace; the two are never sold as one ticket by the castle.

When places go on sale

The castle puts each day's Honmaru Palace places on sale 30 days before that day, and caps how many it sells, because the palace was built as a home and its corridors are narrow. About fifteen people are let in at a time.

If your date is more than 30 days away you can hold it with us at no charge, and we come back to you with a payment link once that day opens. The castle keeps only a handful of places back for the day itself, so for a particular date and time it pays to book ahead.

Getting to the palace in time

The castle asks you to be inside the East Gate at least 20 minutes before your Honmaru time. From the gate to the palace is about 850 metres on the shortest route, a 15 to 20 minute walk past the Kara-mon Gate, around the Ninomaru Palace and over the inner moat.

At the Honmaru Palace entrance staff take visitors in order of arrival, so you may wait a few minutes. If you arrive after your time, the castle can refuse entry and does not refund the ticket. If you also want the Ninomaru Palace, see it before or after, allowing about 30 minutes.

Inside the Honmaru Palace

Shoes come off at the entrance and go into a locking shoe box, and bags go into lockers inside. Bags larger than 35 by 35 by 50 cm have to be left at the baggage room in the main rest area first. You watch an introductory film of about 8 minutes, then follow the route on your own, at your own pace, for about 40 minutes.

You pass through the Genkan entrance hall, the Goshoin audience rooms and the Otsune-goten, the two-storey living quarters. The Otsune-goten rooms open in rotation to protect their original paintings: from 18 November 2026 to 14 March 2027 they include the room of flowers of the four seasons painted by Nakajima Raisho.

House rules in the palaces

Socks must be worn inside the Honmaru Palace. Don't touch the pillars, walls, sliding doors or paper screens, and keep off the edges of the tatami mats. No eating or drinking inside.

Photos and video are not allowed in the Honmaru Palace or the Ninomaru Palace. Outdoors you can photograph freely, but tripods, monopods and drones are banned anywhere in the castle, and there is no re-entry once you leave.

Inside the Honmaru Palace your shoes go into a shoe box with a lock. Elsewhere in the castle, staff can lend you a shoe bag if you would rather carry your shoes with you.

The Ninomaru Palace

Your castle admission includes the Ninomaru Palace, six connected buildings and a National Treasure, where the shogun received feudal lords among wall paintings by the Kano school. In 1867 the fifteenth shogun gathered his retainers in its Grand Hall before handing power back to the Emperor.

The visit takes about 30 minutes, and last reception is at 16:10. The palace closes every Tuesday in January, July, August and December and over New Year; on those Tuesdays we don't offer the adult fare, because the Ninomaru part of it couldn't be used.

Its corridors are the famous nightingale floors, which chirp underfoot. The sound comes from clamps moving against nails under the boards; the castle says the story that it was built as an intruder alarm is a myth.

The gardens and the keep tower base

The Ninomaru Garden, a pond garden beside the Grand Hall, is a Special Place of Scenic Beauty. Around the Honmaru Palace is a lawn garden remade on Emperor Meiji's orders in 1895, with winding paths, flat stones and an artificial hill; Mount Hiei shows behind the palace.

In the south-west corner of the inner ward stands the stone base of the five-storey keep, lost to lightning in 1750. You can climb it for a view over the Honmaru Palace, its garden and the city. To the north of the grounds is Seiryu-en, a garden of 1965 with a Japanese and a Western half.

Opening hours and closed days

The castle lets visitors in from 8:45 to 16:00 and closes at 17:00. Honmaru Palace reception runs from 9:30 to 16:00, by booked time. The grounds are closed from 29 to 31 December.

The Honmaru Palace closes on the third Monday of each month and the day after, unless either is a public holiday, and from 26 to 28 December and 1 to 3 January. In the next months that means 16 and 17 November and 21 and 22 December 2026. Our date picker greys out every closed day.

Hours can change for special events, and the castle has announced shortened admission hours on Sunday 6 December 2026, so check that date nearer the time if you are planning around it.

Children and families

The castle's fares follow Japanese school levels. Junior high and high school students, usually aged about 12 to 18, take the junior and high school fare; elementary school pupils, usually about 6 to 12, take the elementary fare. Bring a passport or school card for each child in case staff ask.

Children below elementary-school age go in free with you; the castle sells no ticket for them. There are nursing and nappy-changing facilities in the main rest area. The route to the Honmaru Palace is long for small legs, so plan a pushchair or a rest.

Inside the Honmaru Palace children walk in socks and must not touch the pillars, walls or sliding doors, or step on the tatami edges, so it helps to explain the rules before you go in.

Accessibility and facilities

Both palaces can be visited in a wheelchair provided for viewing, so you transfer at the door; the castle may not admit visitors who can't make that transfer. Some areas, including the way to the Honmaru Palace, have no ramp and need a detour. Power-assist wheelchairs are lent free at the General Information Desk, with no advance booking. Canes are fine once the tip is wiped.

Accessible toilets are at the West Bridge rest area, the Seiryu-en rest area and the east side of the Green Garden. The main rest area has a café, a shop, paid lockers and a baggage room, and is the only place where you may eat food you bring.

Frequently asked questions