Nagoya Castle

Overall quite underwhelming borderline disappointing visit at Nagoya castle. The castle itself is closed (has been closed since 2018 apparently) so a visit there is pretty much a visit of the Hommaru Palace and the castle grounds. The place is very crowded, since there’s nothing much to do in Nagoya from a tourist point of view, pretty much all visitors end up here, making the waiting time for Hommaru Palace alone 30 minutes ! That’s a long time to wait to enter a place that’s not THE castle and that is very crowded. Not going to comment about the palace itself, I saw pictures from other reviews and decided that my time was worth more than it so I didn’t enter. The souvenir shop is very underwhelming too, I wanted to get something, anything from Nagoya as a souvenir… but there’s really nothing worth buying. Looking at the food stalls being set up and the souvenirs shops on the castle grounds outside, I got some « Himeji » feelings : this is a tourist trap attraction where people come to visit a « name » rather than a place. Now to be fair, this is probably the most tourist friendly spot in the whole city, from the metro station all the way to the castle you will have English text, menus, indications, speakers … even the route from the metro to the castle is filled with restaurants offering local specialities. So yeah they are trying to sell you as much stuff as possible using the castle notoriety and even then they didn’t get to convince me despite me being ready to get an overpriced souvenir. So I’d say if you’re visiting Nagoya for one day and you have nothing else to do this is the place to go. If you want to visit a castle, then you are at the wrong place, you can get pretty pictures of it but that’s it. I’m putting 2* because there is nothing to do in Nagoya beside this, I still got to take a few pictures and had a nice meal just next to the metro station so it wasn’t a complete waste of time. If you want to see an actual castle not far from there look for Kiyosu castle, although it is harder to access, you get to see the inside of a castle, take pictures from the rooftop AND try out samurai armor for less than half the price of Nagoya’s castle entry.

Nagoya Castle is still nice to visit even though the main castle is under renovation and not accessible at the moment. You can still walk around the grounds and enjoy the atmosphere, but it is more of a quick stop rather than a long visit. The highlight is the Hommaru Palace, which is beautifully restored and worth seeing. The artwork and interiors are impressive and give you a good sense of the castle’s history. The surrounding park area is also pleasant for a short stroll. A good place to drop by if you are already in the area and want to see one of Nagoya’s key landmarks without needing too much time.

Nagoya Castle is a famous landmark with an impressive and beautiful exterior. However, since I joined a tour, I was only able to take photos outside and spend some time shopping around the area, without exploring the inside in depth. Even so, the exterior alone is enough to showcase the castle’s majestic charm and traditional Japanese architecture.

This is one of the top attractions in Nagoya. The main Castle is not allowed to visit but the Hommaru palace is. You need to take off the shoes and wear their slipper during the palace visit. You are allowed to take pictures without flash. You can enjoy the great artworks and magnificent decorations. It is good to walk around the castle ground with colorful changing leaves 🍁. It was very busy and crowded with visitors as you expected in any tourist destination. Overall good visit: