Kyoto Imperial Palace, Katsura and Shugakuin: How to Visit

The four sites compared

The Imperial Household Agency runs four sites in Kyoto, and only one of them lets you walk in freely. The others are short guided tours with daily caps:

All four close on Mondays (Tuesday when Monday is a national holiday) and from 28 December to 4 January, and can close at short notice; the agency cites court functions, events, bad weather and operational reasons. Sources: the Kyoto Imperial Palace visit page, the agency's For Visitors page and the visit guidelines for Sento, Katsura and Shugakuin.

Choose Katsura if you can book one villa and care most about the garden; it is the only tour site with English-guided tours and it admits teenagers. Choose Shugakuin if you want the longer hillside walk and can handle about 3 km of uneven ground. Sento sits inside the same park as the Imperial Palace, so it pairs easily with a free palace visit.

Kyoto Imperial Palace: free entry, no booking

The palace is open to walk-in visitors all year apart from the closures above. You enter through Seishomon Gate, where you and your bags are checked, and follow a one-way route on gravel. You cannot go inside the buildings.

Hours, from the agency's For Visitors page:

Free guided tours of about 50 minutes need no registration. English and Chinese tours start at 10:00 and 14:00; Japanese tours at 9:30, 10:30, 13:30 and 14:30. A free audio-guide app covers English, Chinese, Korean, French and Spanish.

Pets, large bags, smoking, alcohol, food and drones are not allowed; personal photography is. Wheelchairs can be borrowed at the entrance. There is no parking for cars or bicycles. The access page gives Imadegawa Station on the Karasuma subway line as about a 5-minute walk, or the Karasuma Imadegawa bus stop as about 7 minutes.

Booking Katsura, Shugakuin or Sento online

The three tour sites share one online system and the same rules:

1. Applications open at 5:00 Japan time on the 1st of the month, three months before your visit month. For a 10 November visit, that was 1 August.
2. They close at 23:59 three days before your date.
3. If a day is oversubscribed, a lottery decides, and results come by email within three working days.
4. One main applicant can add up to three companions. Give name, age and nationality for everyone.
5. Bring a passport for each visitor; IDs are checked at the door.

Working from that rule, on 24 October 2026 dates up to the end of January 2027 were already open, and February 2027 opens on 1 November 2026 at 5:00. You can also apply in person at the Kyoto Office from three months ahead until the day before, though a permit is not guaranteed, according to the Katsura guidelines.

Same-day places at the gate

Each tour site keeps some places for walk-ins and adds any unused advance places. Reception opens at 8:40 at the site's entrance; numbered tickets with a tour time are handed out first come, first served until they run out. Every person needs ID to collect one.

• Katsura: 70 a day, 10 per tour, Japanese tours from 9:00 to 15:00 only.
• Shugakuin: 50 a day, 10 per tour.
• Sento: 50 a day, 10 per tour; the For Visitors page puts reception at the North Gate.

Katsura Imperial Villa: fee, English tours and access

Katsura is the only one of the four that charges, ¥1,000 per visitor aged 18 or over; ages 12 to 17 are free, and disability certificate holders and one companion are free. Children under 12, including infants, are not admitted.

The Katsura visit page lists English-guided tours for foreign visitors at 9:20, 11:20, 13:20, 15:20 and 16:20. Japanese tours run on the hour from 9:00 to 16:00. The 16:00 and 16:20 tours do not run from October to February, and in July and August mainly the early-morning and late-afternoon slots are offered. Free audio guides are available in five languages in limited numbers.

The route is about 1 km with stone bridges without handrails, large steps and small slopes; the tour does not enter the buildings. Hankyu Katsura Station (East Exit) is about a 20-minute walk; the Katsura Rikyu-mae bus stop is about 15 minutes.

Shugakuin and Sento: free, adults only

Shugakuin tours start at 9:00, 10:00, 11:00, 13:30 and 15:00 and last about 80 minutes over about 3 km of unstable ground with steep slopes. Tours are in Japanese with free audio guides. Eizan Railway's Shugakuin Station is about 20 minutes on foot; the Shugakuin Rikyu-michi bus stop about 15 minutes.

Sento tours start at 9:30, 11:00, 13:30, 14:30 and 15:30 and last about 60 minutes, in Japanese. From Marutamachi Station Exit 1 on the Karasuma Line it is about a 15-minute walk; the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine bus stop is about 10 minutes.

Plan the rest of the day

For another central Kyoto sight after the palace, Nijo Castle has its own ticket prices and booking rules. Shugakuin sits in the north-east, closer to Ginkaku-ji and the Philosopher's Path than to the city centre.