What other travelers are saying about Kyoto Imperial Palace Park
Insanely huge sized garden in the city center embracing the imperial palace. A beautiful natural highlight for wandering in the morning or evening. It has many beautiful places for a picnic as well as coffee shops under trees or adjacent to smaller lakes. The park itself can be entered independent of the opening hours of the imperial palace. A definite recommendation and very easily reachable, accessible from all sides.
Do not make the same mistake as us. If you have a car or bike, make sure you park closer to the entry to the tour area. You can ride your bike inside the outer wall on the gravel paths and they have bike parking closer to the main inner wall. We parked at a paid bike parking area outside of the gate and the walking from the bottom to the top was a lot in the summer heat.
They do have a cooling area with AC vending machines and locker rooms inside the area where you pay to get in. And there is a lot to look at and gardens to enjoy outside of the inner wall.
Really nice place with lots of seating areas, beautiful cherry blossoms and best of all, it's so clean! There are also seldom large groups of people so taking photos is really easy. Visit if you're in the area.
Beautiful area full of culture. Would not recommend the kids here as they're likely to get bored. Expect to walk the palace within 20 minutes if you walk slow. Some of the gardens are very traditional with very old bonzais, running streams and rock garden bridges
You need to make a reservation (can be done by the gate front) before entering. Usually it takes 20 people to form a group, that gets a 1 hour tour around the garden. (There are devices with audios in multiple languages, in cade you dont speak japanese)
There is no charge! completely free.
Our tour guide was very good
if you go in the summer, make sure to bring something to cover yourself with. there is little to no shade there