Matsumoto Castle adult ticket
Timed entry to the keep and the Honmaru Garden for visitors aged 16 and over, booked for you in English.
The adult ticket admits one visitor aged 16 or over to Matsumoto Castle on the date and in the 30-minute entry window you choose. It covers the Honmaru Garden and the keep: the six floors of the main keep, built in 1593–94, and the turrets joined to it. We book the castle's timed e-ticket for you in English and send it to you by email.
What the adult ticket covers
Entry to the Honmaru Garden, the inner bailey where the lord's palace stood until it burned in 1727, and to the keep. Inside, you climb the six floors of the main keep: the warriors' corridor and stone-drop hatches on the first floor, the matchlock gun gallery on the second, the windowless hidden floor, the lord's seat room, the strategy room and the moon-deity shrine at the top.
The ticket does not include the Matsumoto City Museum, the Former Kaichi School or the City Museum of Art. They are separate venues with their own admission.
On the day
Go to the Kuromon Gate, the only entrance, on the south side of the castle. Use the e-ticket entrance at the Kuromon ticket office, then show your QR code at the keep entrance. Take a screenshot beforehand, as the signal can be weak when it's crowded.
At the keep entrance you take your shoes off and carry them in a bag you're given. Allow 45 to 60 minutes inside, and more in busy weeks when there may be a wait to enter the keep.
Who it suits, and who it doesn't
It suits anyone who wants a fixed entry window in a busy week, or who would rather not book through a Japanese-language page. It doesn't suit visitors who can't manage steep stairs: there is no lift, and the steepest flight is about 61 degrees. If your plans may change, note that the castle's e-ticket can't be changed or refunded once issued.