ITINERARY
One Day in Nagoya Without a Car
Before you commit
- Good for
- A first day in the city, and anyone who wants the historic sites without hiring a car. Every leg is on the subway.
- Not for
- Rainy days — two of the three stops are outdoors. Try the rainy-day itinerary instead.
- Start and end
- Nagoya Station → Osu or Sakae
- Total time
- A full day, roughly 09:00 to 17:30
- Getting around
- Subway throughout, plus one JR or Meijo-line leg
- On foot
- Around 4 km, including the grounds of the castle and the garden
- Budget per adult
- About ¥1,400Includes The combined Nagoya Castle and Tokugawaen ticket and subway fares. Excludes Food, drinks, the Tokugawa Art Museum next to the garden, which is ticketed separately, and anything you buy in Osu.
- Booking
- Nothing here needs booking in advance.
- Drop this first
- Osu. It is the most flexible of the three and works just as well as an evening on another day.
THE DAY
Stop by stop
- 09:002 hours 30 minutes
Nagoya Castle
名古屋城
Buy the combined ticket with Tokugawaen at the gate. Note that Hommaru Palace stops admitting visitors at 16:00 and is a further ten minutes' walk inside the grounds, so it is not something to leave until the end of the day.
- Hours
- 9:00–16:30
- Last entry
- Hommaru Palace and the Nishinomaru storehouse museum stop admitting visitors at 16:00, and the palace is a further 10 minutes' walk from the main gate
- Closed
- 29–31 December and 1 January only
- Adult admission
- ¥500Free below upper secondary age. A combined ticket with Tokugawaen is ¥640, which is worth it if you are doing both.
- Getting there
- 5 minutes' walk from exit 7 of Nagoyajo Station on the Meijo subway line. The station was called Shiyakusho until it was renamed, so older maps and guidebooks still use the old name.
Why older maps call this station something else →
Then: Meijo subway line, then a walk — About 10 minutes on board, About 25 minutes in all. Changes: None to Ozone.
- 12:001 hour 30 minutes
Tokugawaen Garden
徳川園
The garden is laid out to echo the landscape of the wider region, so it reads differently from a temple garden. The Tokugawa Art Museum shares the site but is a separate ticket.
- Hours
- 9:30–17:30
- Last entry
- Last entry 17:00
- Closed
- Mondays — or, when Monday is a public holiday, the next day that is not — plus 29 December to 1 January
- Adult admission
- ¥300Free below upper secondary age. A combined ticket with Nagoya Castle is ¥640, and with Shirotori Garden ¥480.
- Getting there
- About 10 minutes' walk from Ozone Station, which is on the JR Chuo Line, the Meijo subway line and the Meitetsu Seto Line.
If it rains, this is the indoor version of the day →
Then: Meijo subway line to Kamimaezu, then a walk — About 15 minutes on board, About 25 minutes in all. Changes: None.
- 14:3045 minutes
Nagoya Noh Theatre
名古屋能楽堂
Worth a detour only if the exhibition room interests you — it is open to walk into during opening hours, without a ticket. Performances are ticketed separately and are not held daily, so do not plan a day around seeing one.
- Hours
- 9:00–21:00, with the exhibition room open until 17:00
- Closed
- 29 December to 1 January
- Getting there
- 12 minutes' walk west from exit 7 of Nagoyajo Station — the station the official site still glosses as the former Shiyakusho — or 10 minutes east from exit 1 of Sengencho.
- Tickets
- The exhibition room can be visited without a ticket during opening hours. Performances are ticketed separately and are not held every day.
If the weather turns, or something is full
If it rains, the covered arcades at Osu still work, and the Tokugawa Art Museum beside the garden is indoors. The castle grounds are largely open to the sky.