Kyoto Cultural Properties to See Free with Children

Free grounds, paid interiors and gardens

At many temples and shrines, entering the grounds (keidai) and worshipping are free, and admission is charged only for places such as the interior of the main hall, gardens, or treasure houses. So simply by walking through the grounds you can see National Treasure and Important Cultural Property gates, main sanctuaries, and pagodas up close from outside.

National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties you can see without an admission fee

Nearby places to visit together

Main Places to See National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties for Free (Schematic Map)

• Along the Kamo River: Kamigamo Shrine and Shimogamo Shrine are linked by City Bus Route 4.
• Nishijin and Kitano: Senbon Shakadō is east of Kitano Tenmangū, at Shichihonmatsu-dōri Imadegawa agaru, so you can visit them one after the other.
• Around the Imperial Palace: The Former Main Building of the Kyoto Prefectural Office is just west of Kyoto Gyoen, so on open days you can visit it next.
• West of Horikawa-dōri: Nijō Castle, Mibu-dera southwest of Shijō Ōmiya, Nishi Hongan-ji, and Tō-ji facing Kujō-dōri line up from north to south.
• Higashiyama and Okazaki: From Yasaka Shrine at the east end of Shijō-dōri, head north to Chion-in, Heian Shrine in Okazaki, and Nanzen-ji and the Suirokaku near Keage. For Tōfuku-ji to the south, Tōfukuji Station on the JR and Keihan lines is convenient.

Places free for Kyoto City elementary and junior high school students

Elementary and junior high school students who live in Kyoto City or attend elementary or junior high schools in the city can sometimes enter normally paid facilities for free. At Nijō Castle (Nakagyō Ward, Nijōjō-mae Subway Station), home of the National Treasure Ninomaru Palace, they are exempt from the entrance fee and also from the viewing fees for the Ninomaru Palace, the Honmaru Palace, and the Exhibition and Storage Hall, and their address or school name is checked at the entrance. Children under elementary school age are also free. The Honmaru Palace requires advance reservations, and even those entering free need to reserve.

The Former Mitsui Family Shimogamo Villa (Sakyō Ward, about a 5-minute walk from Demachiyanagi Station), west of Shimogamo Shrine's first torii, is a villa of the Mitsui family. Its main house is an 1880 building moved to the site; the villa was completed in its present form in 1925 (Taishō 14) and designated an Important Cultural Property in 2011 (Heisei 23). Elementary and junior high school students who live in Kyoto City or attend elementary or junior high schools in the city are free; show a student handbook or similar, or tell the staff (closed Wednesdays).

At Kamigamo Shrine, special worship at the Honden is normally free for junior high school students and younger when accompanied by family (during the spring and autumn special openings and the summer special program, children are charged too). At Shimogamo Shrine, special viewing of the Ōidono and other buildings is free for junior high school students and younger.

Walking the approaches, eating, play areas, and nursing rooms

• At Yasaka Shrine and some other shrines, the center of the approach is considered the path of the deities, and visitors are asked to walk along the sides.
• Nanzen-ji prohibits eating, drinking, sports, and games in its grounds; Heian Shrine also prohibits eating and drinking in its grounds in principle, and Tōfuku-ji asks visitors to refrain from eating and drinking. Packed lunches can be eaten around the Demizu Stream and the Mother and Child Forest in Kyoto Gyoen, where you can use the lawns.
• Kyoto Gyoen has a children's park in its northwest, the Forest Library, where you can read books, in the Mother and Child Forest in its northeast, and water play at the Demizu Stream. Ball games are allowed at Demizu Square, but only with balls for small children of elementary school age and younger.
• The visitor route of the Kyoto Imperial Palace is gravel, so wear comfortable shoes. Heian Shrine can be visited in a wheelchair or with a stroller, but there are steps and stairs; at Kitano Tenmangū, the side gate of the Rōmon has a ramp and the East Gate has no steps.
• Chion-in runs a free shuttle bus from the Sanmon to the Miedō from 9:00 to 16:00, except 13:00–14:00.
• Facilities for nursing and diaper changing are in the Main Rest Area at Nijō Castle. Kitano Tenmangū has no nursing room, but if you urgently need one, you can ask at the shrine office or the reception desk of the Bundō Kaikan.
• At Nishi Hongan-ji, a roughly 30-minute tour in which a priest guides you around the grounds, "Get to Know O-Nishi-san!", is held four times daily (10:00, 11:30, 13:45, and 15:30), with no application or fee needed.

Free events and Kitano Tenmangū's plum blossoms

• January 7: Kamigamo Shrine's Hakuba Sōran Shinji (white horse ritual) is open to all, and a sacred horse is led before the deity. The horse is also led every hour from noon to 15:00.
• February: On the day before Setsubun and on Setsubun itself, the Mibu Kyōgen play "Setsubun" is performed in the Dainenbutsudō of Mibu-dera every hour on the hour from 17:00 to 20:00, free of charge. At Kitano Tenmangū, about 1,500 plum trees of 50 varieties bloom throughout the grounds and are at their best from late February to early March (the plum garden "Hana no Niwa" is paid).
• Early June and September 19: Heian Shrine's garden, normally paid (adults 600 yen, children 300 yen), is open free of charge.

Before you go

Opening hours differ by temple and shrine: Tō-ji 5:00–17:00, Nishi Hongan-ji 5:30–17:00, Chion-in 6:00–16:00, and Kitano Tenmangū 7:00–17:00, while Yasaka Shrine is open for worship 24 hours (as of October 2026). The Kyoto Imperial Palace is closed on Mondays (or the following day if Monday is a holiday) and from December 28 to January 4, among other days, and the Former Main Building of the Kyoto Prefectural Office is open Tuesday to Friday and on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Saturdays, 10:00–17:00 (except holidays and the New Year period).