Chidorigafuchi Boat Pier — Local services in Tokyo

This was my favorite activity in Tokyo! Include me in anything that involves nature and boats and I’ll be in my happy place. Located near the Imperial Palace (another cool place to stop by), this park hosts 170 different types of cherry blossoms that line the riverside. A beautiful site day or night! You’ll have two options when you buy your tickets, one hour or 30 minutes, take the one hour for ¥1000, you’ll need it!

During sakura season the boats open at 9:30am and close at 4 or 5pm depending on the day, there is also a night session that ends at 10pm. I read many reviews from people who waited two hours or more to get a boat, we arrived at 8:30 am and were the first people there. After we left there was actually no line, it looked like we rushed to get there early for no reason! I still recommend getting to Chidorigafuchi early, you just never know what the crowd...

This place was amazing and getting on the water first allowed me to get some beautifully unique photos during peak cherry blossom season with a sunny and clear sky. My fiance was so happy with the scenery she cried on the boat.

This was a bucket list item and securing this spot was amazing to have the moat to ourselves for a few minutes.

To get on the first boat today I got here at 6:10 in the morning. The boats didn't start until 10 (note that opening times change depending on the time of year, i.e. opening time is at 9 when the cherry blossom festival is on).

The second person came around 5 minutes after me. There were not many people in line until around 8, after this the line grew quite quickly so if you want to be in the first set of boats you will want to get here at least 1.5 - 2 hours before opening.

If you come I hope you enjoy it as...

Photos are from April 10 Thursday, around 10:30am. Even though the peak of the blossoms has passed, it is still very very beautiful. So glad we did this.

We took the subway to Kudanshita station. The walking path from there to the boat pier is very nice, even that alone is worth going there. We arrived just before 10am. There were 20-30 people lined up. They opened at 10am. There is one payment machine and the line took about 25 minutes. We were able to get on a boat right after paying without waiting.

At most 2 adults + 2 kids can fit on a boat (swan boat) if the combined age of the kids are less than 12. So we divided into 2 boats as one parent and one kid each. We booked for 30 mins and it was about enough time to get to the end and come back with photos and videos along the way. 60 mins may be better if...