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# Tokyo Autumn Leaves With Kids: Ginkgo First, Maples Later
- URL: https://www.nipponstays.com/tokyo-autumn-leaves-with-kids-where-to-stay/
- Published: 2026-09-05T01:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-06T12:05:02.000Z
- Description: Tokyo's ginkgo and maples peak two weeks apart. Where to base with kids for the Gaien avenue, Shinjuku Gyoen, and Rikugien, without a car.
- Author: Hideaki Yasukawa
- Tags: Tokyo, Seasonal, #2026-09-momiji-stay-01

For Tokyo autumn leaves with kids, the two-week gap between the city's ginkgo and its maples is the fact that actually decides where to sleep. The Meiji Jingu Gaien ginkgo avenue usually shows color from mid-November, best in the last third of November, holding into early December in a mild year, while the maples at Shinjuku Gyoen and Rikugien run later, from late November into mid-December. A family without a car does best based in Nishi-Shinjuku, where [Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo](https://www.trip.com/hotels/tokyo-hotel-detail-994639/keio-plaza-hotel-tokyo/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=tokyo-autumn-leaves-with-kids-where-to-stay&trip%5Fsub3=D19118080&ref=nipponstays.com) and [MIMARU Tokyo Shinjuku West](https://www.trip.com/hotels/tokyo-hotel-detail-54552657/mimaru-tokyo-shinjuku-west/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=tokyo-autumn-leaves-with-kids-where-to-stay&trip%5Fsub3=D19119074&ref=nipponstays.com) are a single, no-transfer subway hop from both sites, with rates from ¥19,000 for two at the MIMARU outside peak week. If the trip lands in the first half of November, skip Rikugien and the Gyoen's maples altogether and build the visit around the ginkgo instead — they will not have turned yet.

## The two-week gap that decides your dates

Tokyo's autumn color does not arrive all at once: the ginkgo turns first, the maples turn roughly two weeks later, and a single one-week trip usually only lines up cleanly with one of the two.

The ginkgo avenue at Meiji Jingu Gaien (Icho Namiki) is 300 meters long and lined with 146 trees. Its official listing puts the best viewing in late November and into December, with the canopy holding color into early December in a mild season. In recent seasons the trees have been lit in the evening between 4:30 and 7:30pm through the peak window — as of this check (August 2026), the organizer had not yet posted 2026 dates or confirmed whether the evening lighting will run again. The food-and-craft festival that used to share the name "Icho Matsuri" has not returned since 2019, so treat the trees, not a festival, as the only fixed part of the plan.

Shinjuku Gyoen's maples color later, typically mid-November into mid-December, with the densest stand around Momijiyama on the garden's east side. Rikugien, across town near Komagome, follows a similar late-November-to-early-December window and layers a ticketed evening illumination on top of its daytime entry.

| Park                                   | Peak window (typical)                                                                                   | Nearest station and exit                                                                    | Stroller?                                                       | Entry fee                                                    |
| -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Meiji Jingu Gaien Icho Namiki (ginkgo) | Color from mid-November, best in the last third of November, holding into early December in a mild year | Aoyama-itchome Stn (Oedo/Hanzomon Line), Exit 1 — 5-min walk                                | Yes — paved avenue                                              | Free (public street)                                         |
| Shinjuku Gyoen (maples)                | Mid-Nov to mid-Dec                                                                                      | Shinjuku-gyoenmae Stn (Marunouchi Line), Exit 1 — 5-min walk                                | Yes on main paths; gravel on some side paths                    | ¥500 adult, ¥250 senior/student, free under 15               |
| Rikugien (maples)                      | Late Nov to early Dec                                                                                   | Komagome Stn (JR Yamanote Line, South Exit / Tokyo Metro Namboku Line, Exit 2) — 7-min walk | Fine on the main loop; narrow and crowded near the pond at peak | ¥300 adult daytime; evening illumination ticketed separately |

## Base 1 — Nishi-Shinjuku: one subway hop to gold, another to red

Basing in Nishi-Shinjuku puts a family within a single, no-transfer subway ride of both the ginkgo avenue and Shinjuku Gyoen's maples, which is the real advantage this neighborhood has over anywhere else in Tokyo in November. The Toei Oedo Line runs direct from Shinjuku Station to Aoyama-itchome in about seven minutes; the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line runs direct from Shinjuku to Shinjuku-gyoenmae, two stops, in about five.

[Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo](https://www.trip.com/hotels/tokyo-hotel-detail-994639/keio-plaza-hotel-tokyo/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=tokyo-autumn-leaves-with-kids-where-to-stay&trip%5Fsub3=D19118080&ref=nipponstays.com) is a 5-min walk from Shinjuku Station's West Exit and is large enough to carry multiple restaurants and family-size rooms — useful when a toddler's dinner schedule does not match the rest of the trip. [MIMARU Tokyo Shinjuku West](https://www.trip.com/hotels/tokyo-hotel-detail-54552657/mimaru-tokyo-shinjuku-west/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=tokyo-autumn-leaves-with-kids-where-to-stay&trip%5Fsub3=D19119074&ref=nipponstays.com) is an apartment-style property with a kitchenette in every room, about a 10-min walk from the station's South Exit; it suits a family that wants to make its own breakfast rather than find a restaurant table for four at 7am. [Hotel Gracery Shinjuku](https://www.trip.com/hotels/tokyo-hotel-detail-1841600/hotel-gracery-shinjuku-tokyo/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=tokyo-autumn-leaves-with-kids-where-to-stay&trip%5Fsub3=D19118101&ref=nipponstays.com) is a 5-min walk from the JR East Exit in Kabukicho, and its Godzilla-themed lobby floor is a genuine draw for kids in its own right; families staying there tend to keep to the direct station route rather than wander Kabukicho's main strip after dark. [Hyatt Regency Tokyo](https://www.trip.com/hotels/tokyo-hotel-detail-994617/hyatt-regency-tokyo/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=tokyo-autumn-leaves-with-kids-where-to-stay&trip%5Fsub3=D19118213&ref=nipponstays.com) is quieter and set back from the station — a 4-min walk from Nishi-Shinjuku Station on the Marunouchi Line — and, as of this check (August 2026), runs a shuttle bus to Shinjuku Station that was reinstated in September 2025 after a pandemic-era pause. For a longer list of family-oriented options in the same neighborhood, see the [Shinjuku family hotels guide](https://www.nipponstays.com/family-hotels-shinjuku/).

## Base 2 — Marunouchi: one train, no transfer, to Rikugien

The Marunouchi Hotel sits a 1-min walk from Tokyo Station's Marunouchi North Exit, and JR's Yamanote Line runs direct from there to Komagome for Rikugien in about 15 minutes with no transfer — the same one-seat logic that makes Nishi-Shinjuku work for the ginkgo and the Gyoen. The same base also reaches Koishikawa Korakuen, a smaller strolling garden near Iidabashi, in a similarly short subway ride, if a second garden fits the day.

The trade-off is the ginkgo avenue: from Marunouchi it takes a subway change and roughly 20 minutes rather than a direct hop, so this base is the better call only when the maples — not the ginkgo — are the trip's priority, which usually means dates in the back half of November or later.

## What is worth skipping with small children

Of the three sites compared here, only Shinjuku Gyoen has a flat, non-timed daytime fee; the ginkgo avenue is a public street with no admission at all, and Rikugien's evening illumination is ticketed and timed separately from its ¥300 daytime entry (checked August 2026).

That timed evening ticket, plus the crowding that builds on Rikugien's narrower paths after dark in peak week, makes the night illumination a hard sell once a toddler's bedtime is in play. Tokyo's late-November dusk falls by around 4:30–5pm, so a daytime visit to any of the three still delivers color in the "golden hour" light without a ticket queue. If the illumination matters to an older child, the ginkgo avenue's free, unticketed 4:30–7:30pm lighting (in recent seasons) is the lower-friction way to see Tokyo's leaves after dark.

The from-prices below are ordinary-week rates, not a preview of what November costs: the same room type routinely climbs several rate tiers in peak week, the cheapest room categories disappear from the calendar months ahead of the trip, and the table is best read as a ranking rather than a quote — plug in your own dates before booking. Families needing more than four beds in one room should start instead from the [Tokyo hotels for five guide](https://www.nipponstays.com/tokyo-hotels-family-of-five/), and Keio Plaza and Hyatt Regency both carry connecting-room stock worth checking in the [connecting rooms guide](https://www.nipponstays.com/tokyo-hotels-connecting-rooms/).

| Name                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | Area           | From price (2 guests) | Best for                                                             | Walk to the leaves                                                        |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------- | --------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo](https://www.trip.com/hotels/tokyo-hotel-detail-994639/keio-plaza-hotel-tokyo/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=tokyo-autumn-leaves-with-kids-where-to-stay&trip%5Fsub3=D19118080&ref=nipponstays.com)           | Nishi-Shinjuku | ¥24,000               | Families wanting size, multiple restaurants, and space to spread out | 5-min walk to Shinjuku Stn West Exit, then a 2-stop subway to either site |
| [MIMARU Tokyo Shinjuku West](https://www.trip.com/hotels/tokyo-hotel-detail-54552657/mimaru-tokyo-shinjuku-west/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=tokyo-autumn-leaves-with-kids-where-to-stay&trip%5Fsub3=D19119074&ref=nipponstays.com) | Nishi-Shinjuku | ¥19,000               | Families cooking their own breakfast in a kitchenette                | 10-min walk to Shinjuku Stn South Exit, then subway                       |
| [Hotel Gracery Shinjuku](https://www.trip.com/hotels/tokyo-hotel-detail-1841600/hotel-gracery-shinjuku-tokyo/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=tokyo-autumn-leaves-with-kids-where-to-stay&trip%5Fsub3=D19118101&ref=nipponstays.com)    | Kabukicho      | ¥21,000               | Kids who want the Godzilla lobby as part of the trip                 | 5-min walk to Shinjuku Stn East Exit, then subway                         |
| [Hyatt Regency Tokyo](https://www.trip.com/hotels/tokyo-hotel-detail-994617/hyatt-regency-tokyo/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=tokyo-autumn-leaves-with-kids-where-to-stay&trip%5Fsub3=D19118213&ref=nipponstays.com)                 | Nishi-Shinjuku | ¥32,000               | A quieter base, with a hotel shuttle to the station                  | 4-min walk to Nishi-Shinjuku Stn; shuttle also runs to Shinjuku Stn       |
| [The Marunouchi Hotel](https://www.trip.com/hotels/tokyo-hotel-detail-688434/marunouchi-hotel/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=tokyo-autumn-leaves-with-kids-where-to-stay&trip%5Fsub3=D19698779&ref=nipponstays.com)                   | Marunouchi     | ¥30,000               | A direct, no-transfer run to Rikugien                                | 1-min walk to Tokyo Stn Marunouchi North Exit                             |

For a day trip that leaves the 23 wards entirely, the [Takao vs Okutama comparison](https://www.nipponstays.com/takao-vs-okutama-autumn-day-trip/) covers that version of the trip; this guide stays inside central Tokyo. For the national picture of when leaves turn region by region, see the [Japan autumn leaves timing guide](https://www.nipponstays.com/japan-autumn-leaves-when-and-where/). Both Shinjuku Gyoen ([Ministry of the Environment](https://www.env.go.jp/garden/shinjukugyoen/english/index.html?ref=nipponstays.com)) and Rikugien ([Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association](https://teien.tokyo-park.or.jp/en/rikugien/access.html?ref=nipponstays.com)) publish current hours and fees on their official pages; the Gaien avenue's access details come from the [Japan National Tourism Organization](https://www.japan.travel/en/spot/378/?ref=nipponstays.com).

## FAQ: Tokyo autumn leaves with kids

### When does the Gaien ginkgo actually turn?

Most years the avenue shows color from mid-November, best in the last third of November, holding into early December in a mild year. The trees have been lit in the evening between 4:30 and 7:30pm in recent seasons, though the organizer had not confirmed 2026 dates or lighting as of this check (August 2026).

### Which park is best with a stroller?

Shinjuku Gyoen is the easiest: its main paths are paved and wide, and admission (¥500 adult, free under 15) is a flat daytime fee with no timed-entry queue. Rikugien's paths narrow near the pond and get crowded in peak week, so expect slower going there.

### Is Rikugien's night viewing worth it with kids?

Only if bedtime is flexible: the evening illumination needs a separate ticket on top of the ¥300 daytime entry, and the paths are most crowded after dark in peak week. A daytime visit before the light-up crowds arrive shows the same maples without the wait.

### Do Tokyo's autumn parks charge for children?

Shinjuku Gyoen is free for anyone under 15, regardless of residency. Rikugien charges ¥300 for adults but is free for elementary-school-age children; junior-high-age students enter free only if they live or attend school in Tokyo, so families visiting from elsewhere should confirm the child rate at the ticket window. The Gaien ginkgo avenue is a public street with no fee for anyone.