Discovering Kyoto: The Kyoto Imperial Palace

From all the places you can visit while staying in Kyoto, one of the most easy to find is the Kyoto Imperial Palace.
Located on the north part of the Kyoto Gyoen National Garden it is really easy to access from our SAKURA HOUSE KYOTO Share Houses, Guest Houses and Semi-Apartment units in just about under 20 minutes. So if you are planning your study program, work travel, internship or simply your leisure trip here, you can visit it easily on the first day of your stay and kickstart with some nice pictures!

This Palace used to serve as the home of the Japanese emperor for 500 years up until the historical Meiji Restoration in the late 1800s, when the capital of Japan changed from Kyoto to Tokyo. Since then, it has mostly remained as a grand historical part of the city.

Nowadays it continues to be used occasionally to house some important court events such as the Kyoto Imperial Palace Tea Party and to receive state guests and foreign dignitaries in order to show them and explain the Japanese court culture.

The overall size of the Kyoto Gyoen National Garden is 65 hectares and can be accessed freely. It is customary to see families enjoying their day here, friends gather for picnic and people running and doing exercise. The Palace itself has an astounding 11 hectares. this alone shows just how magnificent the old court style was, with all its formalities and rituals.

The Garden’s park also houses 2 very notorious events throughout the year: the Aoi Matsuri in mid May (one of the most awaited yearly events), and the Jidai Matsuri at mid-end of October. Both events consist of a large parade with great amount of participants dressed in the old fashion of Japanese society.

The Palace, remains enclosed by long walls with several gates, halls and gardens. In order to visit and enter the Palace grounds, a reservation in advance used to be required, but nowadays it is possible to visit it free of charge at certain times during the day, usually in the late morning and early afternoon. Guided tours in several languages are also offered throughout the day for those that would like to join the groups and know more in depth about the history and role of this unique spot of the city.

Other sections of the palace also remain in this area, these are the Kyoto Omiya Imperial Palace and the Kyoto Sento Imperial Palace, but that shall be a topic for another occasion.

Coming to Kyoto with family or group of friends?
You can stay at an entire private Machiya House.

Looking for an individual and private room in a quiet share house?
Our Share House private rooms are perfect for travelers, students and those with work plans.

Coming to Kyoto for the first time and/or are looking to make new friends?
Try a Guest House room or a private bedroom in our newest 3-storey Share House.