Shinjuku Gyoen wheelchair accessibility

Shinjuku Gyoen was an imperial garden until 1949 and opened to the public after the war. The grounds combine three formal traditions on one site: a 17,000-square-metre French formal garden of geometric flowerbeds, an English-style landscape garden of open lawns and feature trees, and a Japanese strolling garden with three ponds, several tea houses, and seasonal cherry and plum groves. A heated greenhouse (the conservatory) is at the south-east end of the park.

The park is best known nationally for hanami (cherry blossom) viewing in late March and early April, when around 1,000 cherry trees flower. The autumn maples in November are the other peak season.

Use the Shinjuku Gate (north-west, closest to Shinjuku Station) for the main visitor centre, the largest set of loan wheelchairs, and direct access to the French formal garden. The gate is fully step-free, with a ramp from the street to the ticket plaza.

Use the Sendagaya Gate (north-east) if you arrive from JR Sendagaya Station; this gate puts you straight into the English landscape garden. Use the Okido Gate (east) if you arrive from Marunouchi Shinjuku-gyoenmae exit 2; this gate has a short ramp and a small visitor centre with loan wheelchairs.

French formal garden: 17,000 square metres of geometric flowerbeds and an avenue of plane trees on the west side of the park. Paved paths.

English landscape garden: open lawns with feature trees on a gentle slope through the centre of the park. Sealed paths.

Japanese strolling garden: three ponds, four tea houses, and a stone-lantern circuit on the south-east side. Sealed main path; some side paths to the tea-house verandas are unsealed gravel.

Conservatory (Onshitsu): a heated greenhouse with rare tropical plants on the far east side of the park. Step-free entrance, lift to the upper viewing gallery.

Rakuu-tei tea house: a working tea house in the Japanese garden where matcha and a sweet can be ordered for around 800 yen. Step-free entrance and a sliding screen at the side that wheelchair users can use.

Multi-purpose toilets are at each of the three gates, at the central rest house, and at the conservatory. The central rest house also has a cafe and a small museum about the park's history; both are step-free.

Benches are arranged across the park, with shaded seating under the plane-tree avenue and around the central pond. The Japanese garden has covered tea-house verandas with limited bench seating.

Subway: Tokyo Metro Marunouchi line to Shinjuku-gyoenmae Station. Exit 1 is step-free with a lift to the surface, two minutes' roll from the Shinjuku Gate; exit 2 puts you at the Okido Gate.

JR: JR Shinjuku Station (south or new south exits, both lift-served) is a ten-minute step-free roll to the Shinjuku Gate. JR Sendagaya Station is a five-minute step-free roll to the Sendagaya Gate.

Bus: Toei buses serving Shinjuku 3-chome stop within a five-minute walk of the Shinjuku Gate; the buses are low-floor with retractable ramps.

Accessible taxi: pre-book a wheelchair-accessible taxi to a drop at the Shinjuku Gate. The pavements around the park are wide and level.

Plan the loop counter-clockwise. Enter at the Shinjuku Gate, take the French garden first, cross into the English garden, then circle the Japanese garden, finishing at the conservatory before returning to the Shinjuku Gate.

Time your visit for early morning or late afternoon during hanami. The cherry-blossom weeks bring the park's largest crowds; an early arrival lets you take the French and English gardens before the lawns fill up.

Pack water and a light snack. The central rest house cafe has a step-free entrance but limited seating; an outdoor bench on the perimeter circuit is often the easiest way to take a long rest.

Check the conservatory schedule. The conservatory closes ahead of the rest of the park; aim to reach it within an hour of opening or in the last hour before closing.

Address: 11 Naitomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo. Visitor entrance: Shinjuku Gate (main), Sendagaya Gate, Okido Gate. All three are step-free. Opening hours: 09:00 to 18:00 in spring and summer, 09:00 to 16:30 in autumn and winter; closed Mondays. Admission: 500 yen for adults; free for disability-handbook holders plus one carer. Time to allow: 2 to 3 hours for the full perimeter loop.

Meiji Jingu in Yoyogi is a 10-minute step-free metro ride west on the Marunouchi-then-Chiyoda transfer. Shinjuku's western department-store cluster is a 10-minute step-free walk north of the Shinjuku Gate. The Imperial Palace East Gardens are a 15-minute step-free Marunouchi-line ride east.