Ueno Zoo: Tickets, Hours and What to See
TripToJapan.com Editorial Team
Jul 14, 2026
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TripToJapan.com Editorial Team
For 52 years, the queue at Ueno Zoo bent around one enclosure. Kang Kang and Lan Lan arrived in 1972 to mark the normalization of relations with China, and pandas have been the reason most people came ever since. In January 2026 the last two, twins born at the zoo in 2021, flew back to Sichuan.
Ueno Zoo is Japan's oldest zoo, opened in 1882, and holds around 3,000 animals of roughly 300 species across 35 acres inside Ueno Park. Admission is ¥600 for adults and free for anyone through sixth grade, it opens 9:30 to 17:00, and it closes on Mondays. There are currently no giant pandas.
Not at the moment. Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, twins born at the zoo in June 2021, returned to the China Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center at the end of January 2026 under the terms of the loan agreement. Their parents, Ri Ri and Shin Shin, had already gone back in September 2024.
The zoo continues to run a giant panda conservation fund, and panda imagery is still everywhere in the Ueno district, from the station to the shopping street. Whether new pandas arrive depends on a diplomatic agreement rather than a zoo decision, so check the official site before building a visit around them.
The Panda Forest enclosure remains, and the rest of the zoo is substantial enough to stand on its own.
We'll build a costed, pre-planned Japan itinerary you can customise to your taste.
Gorilla and Tiger Forest is the best exhibit in the zoo. A troop of western lowland gorillas occupies a large planted enclosure with viewing from several angles, next to Sumatran tigers.
The Polar Bear and Seal Coast has an underwater viewing window where you can watch polar bears swim past at eye level.
The Small Mammal House is the sleeper hit, a dimly lit building of nocturnal species including aye-ayes, slow lorises and bats, with the light cycle reversed so they are active during opening hours.
Japanese fauna is a real strength here and easy to overlook. The zoo keeps Japanese macaques, giant salamanders, red-crowned cranes, and the Japanese serow, a goat-antelope found nowhere else, which most visitors have never seen.
The five-story pagoda from the 17th century stands inside the zoo grounds, a survivor of the Kaneiji temple complex that occupied this land before the park existed.
The zoo splits into two halves connected by a bridge and by a short monorail line, which has been suspended since 2019 and is being replaced.
East Garden, nearest the main gate, holds the pandas' enclosure, the gorillas and tigers, the elephants, the bear enclosures and the pagoda. This is the busier half.
West Garden, across the bridge, holds the Small Mammal House, the aquarium-style Vivarium of reptiles and amphibians, giraffes, hippos and a children's zoo with a petting area. It also has Shinobazu Pond's cormorant section along its edge.
If you are short of time, do East Garden and the Small Mammal House. If you have children, West Garden matters more.
Adults: ¥600
Ages 65 and over: ¥300
Junior high students: ¥200, free for those living or studying in Tokyo
Sixth grade and under: free
Annual pass: ¥2,400 for high school age and above, ¥1,200 for over-65s
Hours: 9:30 to 17:00, with the last tickets sold at 16:00
Closed: Mondays, or the following day when Monday is a public holiday, plus December 29 to January 1
Tickets are sold at the gate with no need to book ahead, and the zoo takes cash, cards, IC cards and QR payments. Free admission days run on a handful of dates each year, including the zoo's anniversary on March 20 and Greenery Day on May 4.
Late opening runs on selected evenings in spring and fall, when the zoo stays open until 20:00.
Two to three hours covers it at a reasonable pace. Four if you have young children, since the petting zoo and the playgrounds absorb time.
The zoo is compact but hilly in places, and the walk between the two gardens takes ten minutes. Strollers can be rented at the entrance.
Go at opening. The gorillas and big cats are most active in the first hour, and school groups arrive from about 10:30 on weekdays.
The main gate is a five-minute walk from the Park Exit of JR Ueno Station, through the park grounds past the fountain.
Ueno Station is on the JR Yamanote, Keihin-Tohoku and Joban lines, the Ginza and Hibiya subway lines, and the Shinkansen. From Tokyo Station it is 8 minutes, and from Shinjuku about 25.
From Narita Airport, the Keisei Skyliner reaches Keisei Ueno in 41 minutes, which puts the zoo a short walk from your arrival point in Tokyo proper.
There is no visitor parking at the zoo. Use the paid lots in Ueno Park or come by train.
Food and drink brought from outside are allowed, and there are designated eating areas and lawns. There are cafes and a restaurant inside and coin lockers at the entrance.
Pets are not permitted, including in bags, with the exception of assistance dogs. Drones, tripods, balls and bicycles are also banned.
The zoo is largely accessible, with ramps and lifts on the main routes, and wheelchairs available free at the gates.
At ¥600, yes, especially with children or on a day when the museums are shut. The gorilla enclosure, the Small Mammal House and the Japanese species collection are genuinely good, and the setting inside a historic park with a 17th-century pagoda is unusual.
Be honest about expectations on two counts. There are no pandas at present, and several enclosures are older and smaller than modern zoo design would allow, which is common for a facility founded in 1882 on a fixed site.
Combine it with the museums and the pond, and the whole of Ueno Park's attractions makes a full day for under ¥2,500 per adult. That is about as much value as central Tokyo offers, which is why a week of Tokyo and day trips usually puts this district on an early morning.
