What other travelers are saying about Tokyo Imperial Palace East Gardens
If you are looking for the most serene and quiet spot in all of Tokyo look no farther. The gardens are meticulously maintained and cared for. Excellent free spot to walk around and enjoy the serenity.
Felt like the new york central park equivalent with just the park minus the museum & zoo. Experience depends on weather and season. The ninomaru garden is something which I will definitely check out in the future to check out the flowers in a different season. Other parts were ok. Also has a weird schedule with respect to holidays where some weekdays are closed for private events. Also some parts were only accessible via private tours. I am very surprised at the paywall nature of many such public places in Japan. They enforce closing times by having people in bikes coming to remind you to leave close to closing time.
Absolutely picturesque landscapes and gardens. The history is hard to fathom. Every tree and flower is labeled which adds to the walk through the gardens. A respite smack dab amongst the modern buildings. You cannot see the palace from here but there’s still plenty to learn.
The gardens were lovely, big, green, and well maintained. They even had a section with fruit trees, I was tempted to pick one, but I wasn't game enough at the end. Lots of walking trails around it, there's also a gallery at the entrance which was small but lovely. Old guards barracks and a high area that is a view point. A lot of history can be felt and seen all around. It has all the elements you want except for one small thing; we wanted to also see the imperial palace itself. But Google Maps simply was totally confused about that and kept taking us to places that turn out, not to be it! That bit was weird and dissapointing!
Pretty disappointing. I expected the gardens to contain some of the imperial buildings, but there are none (except for the guards' barracks). They are all in the imperial palace area (which I didn't get a chance to see). I would skip these unless also getting a tour at the palace. The shinjuku gardens are much nicer.
