Autumn at one of the top spots in Tokyo – Shinjuku Gyoen [SPOT REPORT]

There are many places in Tokyo to enjoy the nice autumn weather and the beautiful autumn foliage, but one of the top spots is for sure Shinjuku Gyoen. The park has three different entrance gates which can be all reached within a five to ten minutes walk from JR Shinjuku Station, Shinjukugyoenmae Station or Sendagaya Station. The entrance fee is 500 yen.

Shinjuku Gyoen is huge and has a wide variety of different trees and flowers. All through the year something is blooming - that why it is always great to have a walk there. During the cherry blossom season (there are numerous different cherry trees) and during autumn season it can be quite busy in the park.

There are so many beautiful different maple trees from the typical red Japanese ones to the huge yellow maple trees. During my visit on 22nd November 2022 part of the maple trees had already lost their leaves, some were still a beautiful red while many were still green. This means you can enjoy the autumn foliage in Shinjuku Gyoen for a long time, since not all of the leaves are turning red/yellow at the same time.

The same goes for the ginkgo trees, which also turned into golden yellow, but some were still green.

My favorite was the huge maple tree avenue at the formal garden. The whole avenue was shining so beautifully yellow and all the huge leaves on the ground gave me a typical autumn feeling. Also, it's a lot of fun for kids to walk through them and listen to the sound of the leaves under foot.

Even though it is autumn season right now in Japan the rose garden in Shinjuku Gyoen's formal garden area was so beautiful. Hundreds of different kinds of roses were blooming there.

Also, one special thing in the park is that you can even enjoy cherry blossom in the fall there. Jugatsu Zakura are special cherry blossom trees, which are blooming only in fall/winter.

If you want to use the chance and see autumn foliage and cherry blossoms at the same time, you should use the chance to visit Shinjuku Gyoen at the end of November.