Tokyo sights & gardens
Why is it here, who built it, and what do most visitors walk past? Our guides to Tokyo's parks and gardens, with sources for every story. Hours and fees are checked against the official pages.
- East Gardens of the Imperial Palace🎧 Free English audio guide (9 tracks)The East Gardens stand on the site of the Honmaru, Ninomaru and Sannomaru of Edo Castle, home of the Tokugawa shoguns. Free entry, no reservation needed. Walk from Ote-mon gate with this audio guide in your earphones.
- Senso-ji Temple, Asakusa🎧 Free English audio guide (10 tracks)Senso-ji is the oldest temple in Tokyo, founded on a legend from the year 628. Walk from Kaminarimon up Nakamise to the main hall with this free audio guide in your earphones: stories, legends and things to look for at each stop.
- Ueno ParkPark · Free Art museums, national museums, a zoo and Shinobazu Pond, all in one park. Entry to the park is free and you can walk it from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. We think it is the richest park in Tokyo.
- Hama-rikyu GardensGarden · Adults ¥300, 65 and over ¥150 An Edo-period daimyo garden with a tidal pond fed by seawater from Tokyo Bay and two surviving duck-hunting sites. Walk the shogun's garden with the Shiodome skyscrapers behind it. It is the only garden left where seawater actually flows in and out of the pond.
- Rikugien GardensGarden · Adults ¥300, 65 and over ¥150 A garden that Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, a retainer of the 5th shogun Tsunayoshi, designed himself and built over seven years. It recreates 88 places sung about in classical waka poetry: a “garden of literature.” Famous for its weeping cherry in spring and autumn leaves.
- Kiyosumi GardensGarden · Adults ¥150, 65 and over ¥70 A garden created by Iwasaki Yataro, founder of Mitsubishi, and a classic of the Meiji era. Famous stones gathered from all over Japan on the company's own steamships line the pond. 3 min from Kiyosumi-shirakawa Station, ¥150 to enter.
- Kyu-Shiba-rikyu GardensGarden · Adults ¥150, 65 and over ¥70 1 min walk from the north exit of Hamamatsucho Station. Like Koishikawa Korakuen, it is one of the early Edo daimyo gardens still standing. Look for the way the stones brought from Odawara are set.