Ueno park is one of the oldest public parks in Japan officially opened in 1873. Back in the Edo period, it was actually temple grounds belonging to Kaneiji – one of the city’s wealthiest and most influential temples.
Currently, the park is Tokyo’s top cultural destination, home to cherry blossoms, historical shrines, Japan’s top museums, and a beautiful pond. Even if you have only one day in Tokyo, you should definitely visit Ueno at least for a couple of hours to get a feel of it. Whether you’re here for an hour or a day, this guide walks you through what to see, when to go, and how to plan your visit.
You can include the visit to the park in 1-day Itinerary of Tokyo. See my detailed guide.
See tips and itineraries for visiting Tokyo
Practical Details for Visiting the Ueno Park
Opening times: Ueno Park opens at 5am-23pm, but most temples and museums have much shorted opening hours from 9–9:30am to 5-5.30pm.
Map: Check out this official map that you will find in the park.
How to get to the Ueno Park: The best way to get here from around Tokyo is to take either Yamanote or Ginza line and get off at the Ueno Station. You also have an option to take Keisei line.
You can either start exploring the park from the JR Ueno station side and enter the park near the Museum of Western Art or from the south side. If you have any mobility issues, choose the first option.
Accessibility: Only parts of the park are accessible. Namely, if you wish to visit the museums, they are accessible. The temples and shrines may have stairs and/or involve the steep roads. Check the above linked official map for the accessible route.
Best Seasons for Visiting Ueno Park
On a nice day in any season, the place is buzzing with people. Cherry blossom season is the best time to visit, as this park is one of the most iconic flower viewing spots in Tokyo. There’s over 1000 sakura trees here. As a result, it becomes very crowded, especially during this season. The usual suggestion is to come as early as possible to avoid the crowds.
While Ueno is not the best spot for the Autumn Foliage, it still is nice and colorful. We visited in mid-November. The colors were not yet that bright, but already nice. We didn’t find it crowded coming at about 8am. We managed to stroll around leisurely, without having to deal with hoards of tourists, until much later. But from 10am it started to get very busy.
Besides these popular seasons, Ueno is great at any time of the year. Except for Sakura festival in Spring, summer festival is held here in July, as well as the summer night events at the museums and many other events and activities.
The Sightseeing Route
Ueno Park Temples and Shrines
The park offers temples, statues, museums, a zoo and a pond. Most of the temples and shrines are free, with only one exception in our experience, while the zoo and museums all have relevant fees. You can choose what you want to do here, depending on your time and budgetary limits, as well as your interests. You could in fact spend the whole day here and not cover everything, but of course with a few days in Tokyo, you would have to forgo other attractions for that. We had to skip the zoo and the museums and explored the park with its pond and temples.
Coming up from the south entrance, you’ll climb a flight of stairs and be greeted by a statue of Saigo Takamori—one of the most influential samurai of the late Edo period—and his dog.
Kiyomizu Kannon-do
Stroll into the park and you’ll soon see the Kiyomizu Kannon-do, a Buddhist temple built in 1631, modeled after Kyoto’s Kiyomizu-dera. It has a wooden balcony overlooking the city below and offers some quiet charm in the morning hours. Right in front of the temple is a sacred tree whose branches loop into a full circle. People tie wishes to it during special holidays.
Shinobazu Pond with Bentendo Temple
From here, you can turn towards the Shinobazu Pond, part of which at a time we visited was more of a swamp full of water lilies. In the middle of it is the Bentendo Temple. The red octagonal design looks beautiful at the backdrop of the pond surrounding it. Dedicated to Goddess of wisdom and beauty. People pray here for financial blessings.
You can then stroll along the second part of the pond, which has small paddling boats running through it. People love strolling around here or exercising in the morning.
Hanazono Inari Shrine and Gojoten
After exploring the pond, head to the Hanazono Inari Shrine – you will notice the entrance to this shrine by a narrow path of Inari gates – the line of red gates leading down to the shrine main area. Of course, it can’t even remotely come near the impressive gates of the Fushimi Inari in Kyoto, but it still is cute and attracts many visitors. Immediately next door to Hanazono Inari, you will notice a bigger gate leading up to another shrine – Gojoten.
Toshogu Shrine
Strolling further down the road, you will come to the gates of the Toshogu shrine, which in my opinion is the most beautiful one in the park. Eighth and ninth shoguns of the Tokugawa clan are enshrined here. People come here to pray for career advancement and wealth.
While strolling around it is free, entrance fee of 500 yen should be paid to view the buildings, including the Golden Shrine, which was modeled after Nikko’s Toshogu shrine. The Karamon – a golden gate with beautiful carvings really did remind me of Nikko’s gorgeous depictions. If you also wish to visit the gardens, the price is 1100 yen.
After exploring the south and south-west of the park, you can decide what other spots are you interested in – you will come by the Ueno zoo – Japan’s oldest opened in 1882. The zoo not only has pandas and other different animals, but also a five-story pagoda. If you are visiting Ueno with kids, then you certainly should not miss the zoo.
Ueno Park Museums
In the park, you will find several of Japan’s most famous museums. We got to the museum area by about 10am after strolling around the temples and it was already mind-blowingly busy. Locals and tourists in huge groups were really difficult to pass. It was a weekday, so there were many school groups on day trips.
Your options include:
- Tokyo National Museum (Price: 1000 yen) – The largest and most comprehensive museum of Japanese art and history with displays of ceramics, samurai armor and swords, Buddhist sculptures, etc.
- National Museum of Nature and Science (Price: 630 yen) – As any Natural history museum, you will find dinosaur skeletons, a planetarium, and interactive exhibits here.
- National Museum of Western Art (price: 500 yen or 1300 yen for the specific exhibitions) – Houses a collection of European art including works by Monet, Rodin, and Van Gogh. You will even find the copies of the statues of Rodin in front of the museum. While I really love these artists, exploring Western art could not be our priority, when Japan has so much to offer, so we decided to skip this.
- Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (Price: free general admission with prices for special exhibitions ranging from 500 to 2300 yen) – Showcases both Japanese and international contemporary exhibitions. Often features rotating exhibits with a small entry fee.
- Shitamachi Museum (Price: 300 yen) – A small museum near the pond that recreates Tokyo’s old neighborhoods—great for understanding how ordinary people lived in the past.
Important Note: All of these museums are closed on Mondays.
If you want to visit at least 3 of the museums in Ueno, I highly recommend getting the Ueno Welcome Passport, which at the price of 3000 yen will provide admission to the following: “Tokyo National Museum, National Museum of Nature and Science, The National Museum of Western Art, Ueno Zoo, Kyu-Iwasaki-tei Garden, Shitamachi Museum, ASAKURA Museum of Sculpture, Calligraphy Museum, as well as selected exhibitions at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and The Ueno Royal Museum.”
Museum hopping in Ueno can be a particularly great activity if you are in Tokyo on a rainy day. I am most certainly hoping to explore them on my next visit.
If you are visiting in summer, all of these museums have late nights on Friday evenings. I love museum lates in any country, they provide amazing opportunity to not only enjoy the events themselves, but to also visit in the evening, after the days exploration of the city.
There are a couple of cafes around the area, if you want breakfast or coffee – for instance, have a look at the Everyday Café.
Moving northwards, if you want to visit the once glorious Kaneiji temple (which covered the whole Ueno park in the Edo period), it still stands, but has much smaller grounds.
Want to know what to explore on the same day as Ueno? See my detailed Tokyo itineraries.
Hello I am Ket,
A traveler, planner, and sweet tooth behind Hit the Road Ket.
Travel isn’t just my passion – it’s a lifeline for my mental health. Having lived in three cities and explored 60 countries (and counting!), I created this blog to share my experiences, smart tips, and itinerary advice with fellow travel lovers. I’m all about making the most of limited time, finding scenic routes, and turning every trip into something memorable – coffee in hand, of course.