Shurijo Castle in 2026: the rebuilt main hall and the timed entry

Source: Wikimedia Commons · Alankang, CC BY-SA 4.0

Shuri Castle's main hall burned down in 2019 and opens to the public on 23 November 2026. From that morning the entry fee changes, and the hall itself is entered on a 30-minute slot booked in advance.

Main hall opens

Noon, 23 November 2026

Adult entry from that date

¥1,000, hall included

Monorail from the airport

27 minutes, ¥360

1What opens on 23 November 2026

Shuri Castle sits on a hill on the east side of Naha. The main hall at the top of it, the red building where the Ryukyu kings held court, burned on 31 October 2019, and it opens to the public again on 23 November 2026.

That Monday is a public holiday and the opening is not a quiet one: Okinawa Prefecture runs a ceremony in the morning, so the hall's doors open at noon rather than at park opening. The day before, the whole park is shut for the completion ceremony run by the Cabinet Office's Okinawa general bureau.

The rest of the complex comes back in stages: the north hall and the south hall, the two long buildings that frame the courtyard, are not part of this opening. The park's own phrase for the years since the fire is 見せる復興, reconstruction on show, which is why visitors have watched the work from a deck over the site.

Source: Wikimedia Commons · Zairon, CC BY 4.0

2The entry fee from 23 November 2026

The fee for the paid area changes on the day the hall opens: ¥400 for an adult until 21 November, ¥1,000 from 23 November, and 22 November in between, when the park does not open at all.

The prices include tax, and the main hall adds nothing: the interior visit carries no extra charge, and the fee is the same with or without a hall slot.

The annual pass moves with it: ¥800 up to 21 November and ¥2,000 from 23 November, and ¥600 then ¥1,500 for the Okinawa-resident version, both sold at the 広福門 ticket window rather than online.

Two groups keep free entry, paperwork in hand: Okinawa residents aged 70 and over, and anyone holding a physical disability certificate, a 療育手帳 or a mental-health welfare certificate, who may bring one carer in free. A digital ミライロID counts.

The window takes cards, electronic money, the transport IC cards and QR payment. 楽天ペイ is the one to check: the park lists it at the 広福門 window, the restaurant and the tea house, and not the shops.

Source: Wikimedia Commons · そらみみ, CC BY-SA 4.0

3The monorail pass that cuts the entry fee

The cheapest adult ticket on the day is not the ¥1,000 one. Show a ゆいレール one-day or two-day pass at the window and the park applies the group price of ¥800, a discount printed on its own fee page.

Whether the pass is worth buying is arithmetic you can do on the platform. The one-day pass is ¥1,000 and the two-day pass ¥1,800, with children at ¥500 and ¥900, sold at every station and valid for 24 or 48 hours from the moment of purchase. A return from the airport to Shuri is ¥720 and the discount is ¥200, so a castle-only day returns ¥920 against a ¥1,000 pass. Ride anywhere else on the line and the pass is ahead.

The monorail itself runs from 那覇空港駅 to 首里駅 in 27 minutes for ¥360, or ¥180 for a child, along 19 stations. It takes Suica and the other transport cards at the gate and sells its own card, OKICA, from the machines, and the line has one operator, so there is nothing to change.

Most visitors ride up from the city rather than the airport, which is why the castle usually lands on a second day rather than the first.

4Booking the main hall in 2026

Seeing the inside of the main hall means holding a slot: 30-minute blocks, in advance, through the park's own web ticket system, with no extra charge.

The opening weeks went on sale in two batches, at 13:00 on 1 September 2026 and 13:00 on 1 October, covering entry dates from 23 November to 31 December. From 1 January 2027 each date's slots are released at 13:00 on the first day of the month two months before.

If you have not booked, the door is not closed: slots still free can be bought on the web up to 15 minutes before they start, or at the 広福門 window on the day. What is not possible is walking into the hall because the paid area let you in.

Free admission does not skip the booking: certificate holders, Okinawa residents over 70 and annual pass holders all book a slot, and children below school age are the one group that does not need one. One online order covers up to nine tickets. Groups of ten or more go by lottery, and the park will not take group bookings for the hall at all between 23 November and 6 December 2026.

The last slots of the day have their own timings. From December to March the 17:00 to 17:29 slot means passing the 奉神門 checkpoint by 17:30 and the hall door by 17:40; from April to November the 18:00 to 18:29 slot means 18:30 and 18:40.

Source: Wikimedia Commons · Naokijp, CC BY-SA 4.0

5What the paid area includes

The ticket gate sits at 奉神門, and everything below it is free. 守礼門, the 園比屋武御嶽石門 stone gate beside it, 歓会門, and the walk up past 瑞泉門 and 漏刻門 to the 広福門 ticket counter all cost nothing. The park's own free area is the grounds inside 歓会門, 木曳門, 久慶門 and 継世門.

Past 奉神門 the ticket buys the courtyard in front of the main hall, the 世誇殿 with the reconstruction exhibition room inside it, the 東のアザナ, and the 女官居室 where the museum shop 球陽 sits. A raised deck shows the outside of the main hall when the hall slots are full, which is what the ticket covers without a booking.

Only the hall interior needs a slot. Nothing else in the paid area does, and walking the enclosure is the larger part of the visit.

Food is inside the park. 首里杜館, the visitor centre on the free side, holds a restaurant open 11:00 to 17:00 with the last order at 16:30 and a café open 09:00 to 17:00; the 首里城茶屋 in the 系図座・用物座 serves Okinawan sweets 09:30 to 17:30, and the 球陽 museum shop runs 08:30 to 19:00 from April to November.

The paid area is up-slope and stepped. Strollers and wheelchairs are lent free at the 首里杜館 information desk and the 奉神門 desk, baby-care rooms sit at 首里杜館 and 系図座・用物座 on the free side and at 世誇殿 inside, and 木曳門 carries a wheelchair route into the grounds. A large suitcase does not come around with you: lockers are at 首里杜館, the 広福門 counter and 系図座・用物座.

The whole park, free and paid, is non-smoking apart from the marked places.

Source: Wikimedia Commons · そらみみ, CC BY-SA 4.0

6The 2026 opening hours and the November closures

The free area and the paid area keep different hours. The grounds inside the walls run 08:00 to 19:30 from April to November and 08:00 to 18:30 from December to March. The paid area runs 08:30 to 19:00 in the warmer months with the last entry at 18:30, and 08:30 to 18:00 in winter with the last entry at 17:30. Tickets stop half an hour before the paid area closes.

Two dates in November break that pattern. 22 November 2026 is a Sunday and the park is closed all day, free and paid, for the main hall's completion ceremony. On 23 November the free area closes at 11:15 and reopens behind the ceremony, the paid area stays shut until 12:00, and the hall opens at the same moment: the 23rd starts with a crowd outside a closed gate.

The evening belongs to the free side. The walls are lit every night from sunset to sunrise, at 守礼門, 園比屋武御嶽石門, the 綾門大道, 久慶門 and the lawn by 首里杜館, dimmed to 30% after midnight. The paid area closes half an hour before the free area, so the end of the day is the gates, the walls and the lights.

The summer window is the one that moves. On 28 May 2026 the park announced a trial that cut the paid area's July to September hours to 08:30 to 19:00 with the last entry at 18:30, and the car park with it. Check the park's hours page before booking a summer flight around it.

7Getting there without a car

The monorail is the simple way up: 27 minutes and ¥360 for an adult, ¥180 for a child, from 那覇空港駅 to 首里駅. From the station the walk to 守礼門 is about 15 minutes and to 首里杜館 about 20, climbing the whole way, with the castle wall as the thing you are walking towards.

Buses cut the walk to almost nothing. 那覇バス routes 7 and 8, the 首里城下町線, run from 首里駅前 to the 首里城前 stop, which is one minute from 守礼門. Routes 14 (牧志開南循環線), 17 (石嶺〔開南〕線) and 346 (那覇西原線) stop at 首里城公園入口, five minutes from the same gate, and route 1 (首里牧志線) serves that stop as well. The 山川 stop, on routes 9, 13, 25, 97 and 125, leaves about 15 minutes on foot.

A taxi from the airport is about 10 km and 40 to 60 minutes in traffic, from 国際通り 4 km and 15 to 25 minutes, and between 識名園 and the castle about 3 km and 10 to 20 minutes.

Driving is possible and the park would rather you did not on a busy morning: the 首里杜館 car park opens at 08:30, drivers are asked to keep the stay under three hours, and when it fills the park points them at the private car parks around the hill.

Source: Wikimedia Commons · Kugel~commonswiki, CC BY-SA 4.0

Source: Wikimedia Commons · そらみみ (Soramimi), CC BY-SA 4.0

8Around the castle on the same walk

園比屋武御嶽石門 is a stone gate a few steps from 守礼門 and part of the same World Heritage listing as the castle, and the kings passed through it on the way out of the grounds. 龍潭 and the neighbouring 円鑑池 are artificial ponds dug in 1427 and 1502, with the red 弁財天堂 on the island in the bigger of them, rebuilt in 1968, and the 天女橋 leading across to it.

円覚寺 was the Zen head temple of the kingdom from 1494 and the burial temple of the second Shō line, destroyed in the Battle of Okinawa. Its 総門, the stone walls either side and the 放生池 have been put back since 1968, and the 放生橋 over the pond is original, a nationally designated important cultural property.

The 金城町石畳道, the stone-paved lane left in the old capital's streets below 玉陵, is listed among the spots near 首里駅 on the monorail's own station page. It is a street rather than a site, with no ticket and no gate.

玉陵, five minutes below the castle, is the mausoleum the second Shō kings were buried in from 1501, a World Heritage site and a national historic site. It opens 09:00 to 18:00 with the last entry at 17:30, every day of the year. An adult pays ¥300 and a child up to junior high ¥150, with under-sixes free beside a parent, groups of 20 or more at ¥240 and ¥120, Naha residents over 65 at half price, and a disability certificate bringing the holder in free with one carer.

識名園, the royal family's garden on the south side of the city, is a separate ticket. It runs 09:00 to 18:00 with the last entry at 17:30 from April to September and 09:00 to 17:30 with the last entry at 17:00 from October to March, and closes on Wednesdays, or the next day when a Wednesday is a public holiday. An adult pays ¥400 and a child up to junior high ¥200, with the same free and half-price rules as the mausoleum.

Source: Wikimedia Commons · Renate Hano, CC BY-SA 4.0

Source: Wikimedia Commons · 663highland, CC BY 2.5

Source: Wikimedia Commons · 663highland, CC BY 2.5

Source: Wikimedia Commons · 663highland, CC BY 2.5

9How long to allow in 2026

The park publishes its own walking times: 首里杜館 to 守礼門 5 minutes, 守礼門 to the ticket gate 15, the gate to the main hall entrance 15, the interior about 15, and the rest of the paid area back down to 首里杜館 about 40. With the 20 minutes from 首里駅, a hall visit and the paid area come to roughly two and a half hours, or three with the ponds on the way down.

The 30-minute slot is the time you enter, not the time you have. The hall takes about 15 minutes to walk through, which is why the blocks work.

The park also publishes how busy it expects to be: 08:30 to 11:00 heavy crowds, 11:00 to 12:00 crowded, 12:00 to 14:00 relatively quiet, 14:00 to 17:00 normal, 17:00 to closing relatively quiet.

The last hour belongs to the free area: the paid area shuts at 19:00 in summer while the walls and gates outside it stay open until 19:30 with the lighting on, so an evening that skips the hall costs nothing.

Source: Wikimedia Commons · Kugel~commonswiki, CC BY-SA 4.0

10The questions a first visit asks

Do I have to book the main hall? Yes, and the booking is free. Slots are 30 minutes, bought through the park's own web ticket system, and they are separate from the entry ticket.

How much is the castle in 2026? An adult pays ¥1,000 for the paid area from 23 November 2026, with high school at ¥760 and junior high and primary at ¥370; until 21 November the same tickets are ¥400, ¥300 and ¥160, without a hall. Below school age is free either way.

When is the park open? Free area 08:00 to 19:30 from April to November, paid area 08:30 to 19:00 with the last entry at 18:30; winter closes earlier on both. The park is shut all day on 22 November 2026.

How do I get there from the airport? Monorail to 首里駅, 27 minutes and ¥360, then 15 to 20 minutes uphill on foot, or bus 7 or 8 from 首里駅前 to 首里城前, one minute from 守礼門.

Does it work with children or a wheelchair? Strollers and wheelchairs are lent free, there is a wheelchair route through 木曳門, baby-care rooms sit on both sides of the ticket gate, and children below school age go in free without a hall booking.

11Questions and answers

The date, the fee, the hall booking and the way up the hill, in the order a first visit asks them.

Keep reading

Suica vs ICOCA vs PASMO 2026: only the machine differs First Japan trip: the ten decisions, in order

← Back to Japan Trip Zero