Free Activity: Visiting the Kyoto Imperial Palaces

There are a couple of free activities that can be done when visiting Kyoto, and one of them is to visit the Palaces.

In order to join the free tours without any hassle, you would have to first register online. Of course, you can also apply for the permit on the day itself, on a first-come-first-serve basis. The online process is relatively straight forward: once you have registered, you need to print out your 'permit' and use that as a ticket to allow you admission for the tour.

There are 5 palaces to visit and we actually went to the Sentō Imperial Palace, if we had more time we could have visited them all. For more on our experience, check out the link below.

[Our Sentō Imperial Palace Tour Experience]

[Application for Visit and Details]

Note: Although all tours are conducted in Japanese, complementary audio guides (English, Chinese, and French) are available.

The best thing about this tours is that they are free and provide an insight to how royalty lived in the the past. The palace which stands today was built in 1855, after a fire destroyed the previous structure. The complex is surrounded by a high wall on all sides. The palace buildings incorporate architectural elements from different periods throughout the city's history.

After serving as a home for Japan's imperial family during the ten centuries Kyoto served as the nation's capital, the family left the palace in 1868 when the capital moved to Tokyo. Visitors are now free to stroll the grounds surrounding the palace, an activity once limited to guided tours.

How to get there:

Kyoto Gosho is easily accessed by subway.

From Kyoto Station, take the Karasuma Line to Marutamachi or Imadegawa stations.

About TravelBytez

When travel collides with a byte, a unit of information made up of bits, TravelBytez is formed: snippets of ramblings on travel, food, shopping, living and anything else that comes to mind.