Nagoya Castle's new ticket price

How much is a Nagoya Castle ticket from 1 October 2026?

1,000 yen for an adult, double the old 500 yen. Every other category rose too, except children: junior high school age and younger stay free.

The castle's own fee notice lists the full change, made under an amendment to Nagoya's urban park ordinance. The senior rate is only for Nagoya residents aged 65 or over, with ID that shows address and age. Visitors from elsewhere in Japan, and every foreign visitor, pay the adult price.

One ticket gets you into the grounds, the Honmaru Palace and the Nishinomaru Okura Treasure Museum. There is no separate palace ticket to buy. Our ticket guide covers the gates, opening hours and what to see in order.

Why did Nagoya Castle double its admission fee?

Rising costs and a look at what other big castles charge. The city benchmarked Osaka Castle and Matsumoto Castle, both of which draw more visitors.

Kyodo's report on the vote, carried by Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun, says Mayor Ichiro Hirosawa pointed to rising prices and to fees at comparable sites in other cities. The city was reviewing charges at several municipal facilities at once, the zoo among them. Both increases are the first in about 32 years.

Demand is not the problem. The castle counted 2,234,976 visitors in the year to March 2025 and 2,387,217 in the year to March 2026, the second-highest total on record, according to the city's visitor figures. Of those, 664,833 came from abroad.

Next to its peers, 1,000 yen is still mid-table. And Nagoya charges one price to everyone, with no separate rate for tourists.

What does the 1,000 yen ticket cover while the keep is closed?

The Honmaru Palace, the 1610 stone walls, three original corner turrets, the Ninomaru Garden and the Nishinomaru Okura Treasure Museum. The keep itself you see from outside only.

The official site is blunt: the tower keep "cannot be entered". It closed on 7 May 2018 for earthquake safety, and a wooden rebuild has no completion date. We follow that story in our keep rebuild update.

The palace is the real reason to pay. It was rebuilt between 2009 and 2018 in Kiso hinoki with traditional joinery, and its rooms carry reproductions of the gold-leaf paintings that survived the 1945 air raid in storage. Shoes come off at the door. The Okura Treasure Museum is free once you hold a castle ticket, and keeps the same 16:00 last entry as the palace.

Plan two hours at least. A guide makes the palace rooms make sense: the private castle and palace tour is a new two-hour listing with the ticket in its title, and the castle and Toyota museum day includes castle admission too.

Did the Tokugawa-en combination ticket and the Higashiyama Zoo go up too?

Yes. The combination ticket rose from 640 to 1,040 yen, and the Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens from 500 to 800 yen, on the same day.

The combination ticket with Tokugawa-en is now only 40 yen more than the castle alone. The garden's own city page lists 300 yen for adults, so the combo is the cheaper route if you plan to see both. It is sold for cash only, and the official page says it is valid on any day, so the two visits need not be on the same date. Tokugawa-en sits about 3 km east of the castle, next to the Tokugawa Art Museum.

The same ordinance raised Higashiyama. Its fee notice gives these prices:

Tokugawa-en with a guide, and the castle as an add-on option. The castle ticket comes only with the castle option.

★ 5.0 · 2.5 hours · from $49

Explore the Tokugawa garden and castle tour → Tour details

Are tickets bought at the old price still valid?

Yes. The castle says tickets bought before the change can be used as they are, and one-year passes bought by 30 September 2026 can be started until 30 September 2027.

That matters mostly to locals and tour groups who bought ahead. For everyone else, the price is whatever the gate charges on the day.

Paying is easy. The counters take yen in cash, the major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, JCB, UnionPay, American Express, Diners Club, Discover), transit IC cards such as Suica, PASMO, ICOCA and manaca, and iD. The Japanese fee page also links to a web ticket sold through the booking site asoview, in Japanese. For a single visit, the window is the simplest option.

Is there any way to pay less for Nagoya Castle?

A few. Bring the kids, since they are free. Come in February 2027, when the city will trial free entry to everything outside the Honmaru. Or buy the one-year pass if you will visit four times.

The free trial is real and dated. A city press release of 14 October 2026 says that from 1 to 28 February 2027 only the Honmaru, the inner citadel with the palace and the keep, will be paid, with a temporary ticket gate in front of the Omote Ninomon gate. The Southwest Corner Turret, an Important Cultural Property, opens specially during the trial. The first run, in November 2025, drew 284,615 people, about 83,000 more than a year earlier.

Be clear on what free means. The outer grounds, moats and walls cost nothing that month. The palace, the part most people come for, still needs the 1,000 yen ticket.

Tours do not make the ticket cheaper; some just bundle it. Read each listing: for the castle and food walk, check whether entry is in the price before you book, and the private castle and city walk says admission is extra.

East Gate, Ninomaru Garden and the Honmaru Palace with a local guide, then a food tasting on Kinshachi Yokocho.

★ 4.7 · 2.5 to 3 hours · from $40

Explore the castle and food walk → Tour details

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