Fees & Tickets

• Advance reservations

  Prior reservations are required to view the Honmaru-goten Palace. Please purchase web tickets in advance (available from 30 days prior to the date of your visit).

• Arrival

  Please enter the Honmaru-goten Palace at least 20 minutes before your reserved time. (It takes about 15-20 minutes from the Higashi Ote-mon Gate entrance to the Honmaru-goten Palace.)
  If you wish to visit the Ninomaru-goten Palace as well, please allow plenty of time for your visit, including the 30-minute viewing time of the Ninomaru-goten Palace. (Last admission to Ninomaru-goten Palace: 4:10 p.m.)

• Reception

  Applications will be accepted at the entrance of Honmaru-goten Palace in the order of arrival.
  (You may be asked to wait on site.)

• Entry to Honmaru-goten Palace

  About 15 people will be admitted each. Please leave your shoes and baggage in the lockers in the Honmaru-goten Palace.(For baggage larger than W35cm x D35cm x H50cm, please use the baggage storage in the main rest area.)

• Guidance video

  Please watch the guidance video (about 8 minutes) introducing the Honmaru-goten Palace.

• Viewing of the Honmaru-goten Palace

  Visitors will follow the tour route and view the Honmaru-goten Palace at their own pace.

• Prior reservations are required to view the Honmaru-goten Palace. Please purchase a web ticket in advance before coming to the castle.

Click here for web tickets.

• Reservations are required even for those who are exempted from the admission fees and holders of the Kyoto City Citizen Annual Passport.

• Web tickets for the Honmaru-goten Palace will go on sale 30 days prior to the date of visit.
• Web tickets can also be purchased on the day of your visit. (This is subject to space availability.)
• A small number of same-day tickets will be available at the General Information Desk, but we recommend that you purchase web tickets in advance as they are limited. (Please note that the Nijo-jo Castle Ticket Office (next to Higashi Ote-mon Gate) does not sell tickets for the Honmaru-goten Palace.)

• No changes, cancellations, or refunds are allowed after purchase or reservation.
• If you wish to visit the Ninomaru-goten Palace as well, please make sure that it is not a day when the Ninomaru-goten Palace is closed for viewing.
• The Honmaru-goten Palace has restrictions on visitor numbers because of the protection of cultural properties such as the partition paintings, the lack of sufficient space for passageways inside the building, and the limited number of people who can visit. For this reason, please note that there is a limit to the number of web tickets that can be purchased. Additionally, there are no group rates.

After entering the castle from the Higashi Ote-mon Gate, the shortest route requires 15 to 20 minutes to reach the Honmaru-goten Palace (about 850 meters of distance). Please arrive well in advance so that you can make your appointment on time.

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The Honmaru-goten Palace is designated as an Important Cultural Property as one of the few remaining remains of an early modern residence of the imperial family. Because it is a residential building, the viewing corridor is narrow, allowing visitors to experience up close the delicate decorations of the palace, while at the same time preserving the original partition paintings and paper sliding doors as cultural properties. We would like to ask for your cooperation in order to preserve the Honmaru-goten Palace for many years to come.

• No shoes are allowed inside the building. Shoes must be removed for viewing.
• Socks must be worn inside for the protection of cultural properties.
• Leave your luggage in the locker.
• Do not touch the pillars, walls, sliding doors, or shoji screens.
• Do not step on the edges of tatami mats.
• Taking photos and videos inside the building is prohibited.
• Eating and drinking in the building are prohibited.
• Smoking is prohibited except in smoking areas.
• Do not damage cultural properties through methods such as graffiti, etc.

For more information on the history and highlights of Honmaru-goten Palace, please click here.