Frequently asked questions

Entry to the Honmaru Garden and the keep: the six floors of the main keep and the turrets joined to it. The Matsumoto City Museum and the other city museums are separate venues with their own admission.

For the keep, yes, on busy days. Your e-ticket means you don't buy at the ticket window, and you go in through the e-ticket entrance at the Kuromon ticket office. On busy days everyone then queues to climb the keep, because its stairs only hold so many people at once.

The castle's timed e-ticket is sold through a Japanese-language booking page with card prepayment. We book it for you in English, for the date and 30-minute window you choose, and email you the e-ticket. On the day, it works exactly like any other e-ticket for that window.

08:30 to 17:00 on regular days, with last entry at 16:30. Golden Week and the mid-August period have longer hours (08:00 to 18:00, last entry 17:30), and 1 to 3 January runs 10:00 to 15:30. The castle closes 29 to 31 December.

The castle puts the average at 45 to 60 minutes inside the keep. On a quiet day it can be 30 to 40 minutes; on a crowded one, about an hour. Add time for the garden and any wait to enter the keep.

Children aged 6 to 15 have their own fare. Children aged 5 and under go in free and need no ticket, so you don't add them to your booking. There is no separate senior or student fare.

No. The castle's e-ticket can't be changed, cancelled or refunded once it is issued, and it is valid only for the date and 30-minute window chosen. Please check your plans before you book.

Your e-ticket is valid for the date and window you booked, so plan to reach the Kuromon Gate in good time. Allow for the walk from the station and for crowds on busy days.

It is hard going. There is no lift, about 140 steps to the sixth floor and one flight at about 61 degrees. Wheelchairs can't go inside the keep, though the castle lends wheelchairs for the garden at the Kuromon ticket office.

Yes. Shoes come off at the keep entrance, where you're handed a bag to carry them in. Wear socks you're happy to climb in; the wooden stairs are steep and polished.

Small bags can go in coin lockers in the Honmaru Garden, and the shop holds larger bags (no valuables or breakables). Pushchairs can be left at the management office or the keep entrance.

Golden Week (29 April to 5 May) and Obon in mid-August are the busiest weeks, when the castle limits entry to the keep and routes the queue through the garden. Cherry-blossom season brings big crowds too. An early window on those days gives you the most room.

Walk about 20 minutes, or take the Town Sneaker loop bus (North Course) from the station's Oshiro exit to the Matsumoto-jo / Shiyakusho-mae stop, about 10 minutes. You enter the grounds only through the Kuromon Gate on the south side.

The keep is lit from sunset until 22:00 all year, so you can see it from the moat after closing. The keep itself is only open to climb during opening hours, including during the evening cherry-blossom viewing in the garden.

Children aged 5 and under; a visitor with a disability certificate plus one caregiver, on showing the certificate; and visitors wearing yukata or other traditional dress during the castle's mid-August extended hours. None of them needs a ticket from us.

Matsumoto Castle Ticket Concierge is an independent booking service for international visitors. We are not Matsumoto Castle or Matsumoto City. We book the castle's timed e-ticket on your behalf and answer your questions in English.

Yes, in most places, but not near the stairs, which the castle keeps photo-free for safety. Drones are banned across the castle and the park.