Probably the best Japanese garden I've seen. There are only FREE, limited guided tours (3 per day, about 35 persons) that you need to book in advance on the internet or next to the entrance during the morning. The tour is in Japanese, but audio guides are offered in several languages for free upon arrival. You must follow the indicated route with the guide, but unlike other Japanese gardens in Kyoto you have plenty of space and time to enjoy the views and take your pictures. The buildings around are not that impressive, but they have some interesting story behind. A totally recommended visit while in Kyoto. Personal tip: Be at the entrance about 11 to get reserve your ticket (bring your passport!), book for the 2 or 3 PM slot and go to the Nijo castle while you wait.

This palace has a tour that takes you through the gardens and some of the perimeters of buildings, structures, and tea rooms in the palace. However, the main attraction would be the garden and surrounds. To enter, you need a pre-registration and booking which we were able to make out the front, choosing from a list of times you can come back for (and perhaps visit the neighbouring palace in-between whilst you wait). You also need ID, such as a passport, to register and enter. Once you are in, if you are early, you wait for the tour to start, which is conducted in Japanese. They also have audio guides for non-Japanese speakers. The grounds are beautiful and definitely worth a visit. They say retired emperors would stay here, and you can see why. The tour took less than an hour, and you are required not to stray from the group. It's a little unfortunate as it would be nice to enjoy the surroundings at a leisurely pace, but it does help to keep the grounds pristine.

Don’t expect the magnificent palace buildings you see at the imperial palace, but this one features amazingly beautiful ponds and paths through the imperial gardens. Feels like you’re miles away from any city. The tranquility and beauty of this place is unique. The tour lasts 1 hour, it goes at a pace that is neither too fast nor too slow, and its worth it. Last tour starts at 15:30 - the palace closes at 16:30.

This may be the most beautiful place I've been. Just walking around its impossible to put away your camera because there are amazing sights just about every way you look. the tour we went on was free, i believe if you got there early enough they offered english translation devices. We went without so did not really understand the guide but for the views and beauty its worth it. plan on doing some research to learn more about what we saw. We went in the rain, and still found it amazing, and I felt it added a nice atmosphere to view it in. highly recomended.

The parc is nice but I don't think it is worth going on compared to other place in Kyoto. Adding the booking of the ticket of the location the morning make things worse. Just skip this. The guided tour is 40min long and mostly concern the park. Audio guide are available for foreigner.

The Japanese female guide was awfully rude. She might have thought she was being friendly, but the way she acted on the situation (not go into details) was lacking in delicacy, and so inappropriate. Anyway, her guide style reminded me of Hato-bus guide, and not suitable for imperial house. She made me decided I would not come back to Kyoto again.

Beautiful gardens. Be prepared for a lot of walking.

✔I ordered nothing, just looking around the Palace. If you bring little kids, they can't go inside. You must bring your paspor here, cause they need your data, to go inside. The tour guide cant speak english, Japan only. ✔The atmosphere was good, if you go here at autumn, the trees will be awesome!! We cant go inside the palace, just around the garden😣 ✔The service was average

What a piece of heaven. The online advance booking system with a cap of 20 people means that it is a peaceful exploration without the large crowd. The day we went it was raining heavily but despite that it was still breathtaking. Please note that it is a tour of only the gardens not the interior.

Beautiful garden. It would be perfect if I could see the red maple leaves. Admission is free but online reservation is required.

Garden 5/5 Guide 1/5 The guide rushed through the 60min tour within 35mins, barely leaving time to soak in the beautiful atmosphere. Mosses all around and incredibly well maintained. Worth a visit despite the experience.

Racist tour guide referring to foreigners as objects from the start (in Japanese) was bad enough, and they provided audio devices that either didn't work or didn't have any instructions on how to use. Palace is beautiful, but honestly there are plenty of other beautiful things to do without having to subject yourself to that.

We were fortunate to visit the Sento Imperial Palace gardens recently. We applied on line and we’re advised that we were successful in the ballot on our nominated day and time. Upon arrival we had to show the email confirmation and our passports. We were then escorted to a foyer and asked to wait for the rest of the group. The tour group is kept to small numbers of 15.. The tour is in Japanese but English speakers are provided a headpiece and recorder that provides details of each stop in the tour. The tour group is also accompanied by an armed guard. The gardens are spectacularly manicured and looked after. Many great photo opportunities. Well worth the visit.

Very beautiful garden and free tours provided (audio guides available for non-Japanese speakers) . You must arrange the tour in advance online and bring your passport.

This was our second visit. Just as good as we remembered. The garden is idyllic Japanese. So many beautiful trees all beautifully positioned around man-made ponds. Lots of interesting vistas during a 1 hour 1km guided tour. Tour guide speaks only in Japanese but there are audio guides in many languages.

So beautiful, wonderfully preserved. The garden was my favourite part

Very beautiful gardens. If you like Japanese style gardens it is a highly recommended visit. Tours need prior registration, bring passport and be on time, as the group is lead and needs to stay together. The guide speaks Japanese, but an electronic audio guide is available for free rental with multiple languages.

Due to "Visitors must be at least 18 years old or older" we could not enter as some in our party are under 18, we did not split in solidarity. What's up with that!? [Generally sucks to run into all these rather random rules]

Going inside is free. Better to have your entry reserved as they only cater to small people. Tour took about 40-50 minutes. Beautiful garden inside. We weren’t able to get an audio guide because we were on time, so definitely get one. Can also take photos inside.

A lovely garden but Zen attitude collapsed by the imperial garden. Like a sheep you will make the turn. Do not like this pressure in a such quiet place. Respect visitor and the place are not incompatible.

It's one of the most important parts of Kyoto must be accessible for all the tourists. This is the place where you show the history of Kyoto - Japan to the world. AND we will go back and tell people what our experience was. Unfortunately, as per my understanding, Google Maps is not updated at all. So people make an effort to travel miles to see the place and see nothing just walls. Because we rely on Google maps to find all the information. The guy at the entrance of the Garden wasn't friendly and didn't feel obliged to say sorry for me travelling over 45 minutes and walking 18 minutes to reach there. The palace was completely closed. That's such a negative experience I had in Japan. Very sad 😔.

Huge, nice, quiet and relaxing place. It's not overcrowded but you need a reservation and a guide to get in. However, the surrounding park is also very large, nice and quiet and you can visit it at any time without need to worry about the entrance.