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Ghibli Park is known as the Studio Ghibli theme park but doesn’t contain any rides. Instead, it’s an immersive experience in the world of Studio Ghibli films.
You can walk through scenes from the animations, snap a selfie next to famous characters like Totoro, and even look around iconic buildings like World Emporium (the antique shop from Whisper of the Heart).
Ghibli Park opened in Nagoya, Japan in November 2022. It features five areas spread out over the large, leafy Expo 2005 Aichi Commemorative Park.
In this Studio Ghibli Park review, I share how to get tickets (which sell out fast), what to expect in each area, how to get there, films to watch before you visit, and whether it’s worth it.
Contents
- Ghibli Museum vs Ghibli Park
- Ghibli Park Opening Hours
- Ticket Options for Ghibli Park
- How to Book Ghibli Park Tickets
- Ghibli Park Tips
- Ghibli Park Areas, Photos, and What to Expect
- How to Get to Ghibli Park
- Ghibli Park Map
- Films To Watch Before Visiting Ghibli Park
- Is Ghibli Park Worth it?
- More Japan Posts
Ghibli Museum vs Ghibli Park
Firstly, I want to clear up some confusion about Ghibli Museum vs Ghibli Park.
Ghibli Museum is the original Studio Ghibli attraction, which opened in 2001 in Tokyo. It features props, drawings, and information about how the animations are made in a quirky building.
Ghibli Park in Nagoya opened in 2022 and is much larger, with five areas spread over a park. There are recreations of scenes and even whole buildings from the films.
Both are worth visiting, but we prefer Ghibli Park. That said, Ghibli Museum is much easier to access on the average trip to Japan (most people visit Tokyo) and requires less of a time commitment (a few hours vs a whole day).
Ghibli Park Opening Hours
Ghibli Park Japan is open from 10am to 5pm (from 9am on weekends, national holidays, and during school holidays).
It is closed on Tuesdays and occasional extra days.
Ticket Options for Ghibli Park
Ghibli Park ticket options changed in 2024, and you can no longer buy tickets to individual areas. Honestly, this makes booking easier, and if you are travelling to Nagoya, you might as well see it all.
Each ticket gives you an assigned entrance time for Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse, but you no longer get an assigned time for the other areas.
Note that prices are 500 yen ($3) higher on weekends and holidays. It’s best to visit on a weekday to avoid the crowds (it’ll still be busy, though).
There’s also a 110 yen ($1) booking fee.
There are two ticket options for international guests at Ghibli Park:
Ghibli Park O-Sanpo Day Pass Premium
Access to all five areas and five buildings. This is the best pass if you want to see everything (recommended) but allow a full day.
Cost: 7300 yen ($45) for adults and 3650 yen ($23) for kids aged 4-12.
Ghibli Park O-Sanpo Day Pass
Access to all five areas, but you can’t go inside five buildings. This is worth considering if you have limited time (or budget) and want to focus on Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse.
Cost: 3500 yen ($22) for adults and 1750 yen ($11) for kids aged 4-12.
Ghibli Park Tickets on Klook
If you are unsuccessful with the booking process below, or you are looking for last-minute tickets, check for Ghibli Park packages such as the Klook Ghibli Park Day Tour from Nagoya (O-Sanpo Day Pass plus bus transport and bento lunch).
These will cost more than booking yourself, but they have late availability.
How to Book Ghibli Park Tickets
You must be prepared to book tickets to Ghibli Park as they sell out quickly—usually in under an hour.
Bookings open at 2pm JST on the 10th of each month for two months in advance. So, on 10 September, tickets are released for the whole of November.
You need to be ready to book before the release time, so check what time 2pm Japan Standard Time is in your current location.
To increase our chances of a better spot in the queue, Simon and I both used our laptops to book. The more devices, the better!
Here’s how to book:
- Decide which date (ideally with a few backup options), ticket, and time you want.
- From 30 minutes to 5 minutes before 2pm JST, go to the Ghibli Park International Ticket Page and click through to the Lawson Ticket page. You will be added to a queue and given an estimated wait time. This is given randomly (as long as you join before 2pm), so even though Simon joined after me, he had a five-minute wait time, while I had a 45-minute wait time.
- When you reach the front of the queue (you’ll be notified), select the month and ticket type. I recommend Premium tickets.
- On the next page, select your preferred time for Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse (I recommend 11am or 12pm) from the date on the calendar.
- Select the number of people and then your email and phone number. Go through authentication.
- Enter details of your group leader and create a 4-digit password for the site. Note you’ll need the passport number of the lead person and your address in Japan (just put your first hotel if you’re not sure).
- Enter your credit card details. Our Visa didn’t work, but our Mastercard did (a common issue on Japanese websites). Be sure to have backups.
- Success!
Note that the group leader must bring their passport to Ghibli Park, and it may be checked (ours was).
You can show your ticket on your phone, but you must have a smartphone and internet connection (pre-saved PDFs aren’t allowed).
To be on the safe side, print out your ticket. We used the printer in Lawson convenience stores, which have an English option. It costs 10 yen (6¢) and you need coins to pay for it.
Ghibli Park Tips
- You can’t eat outside food in Ghibli Park areas, but you can in the rest areas in the park.
- Food options include a Mos Burger truck in the Mikazuki Rest Area (outside the official park areas), Transcontinental Flight Café inside Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse, Flying Oven in Valley of Witches, a cafeteria near the main park entrance, and a few snack stands.
- You have one hour from your allocated time to enter Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse. Expect a long queue.
- Other areas don’t have allocated times, but there may be queues. Dondoko Forest and Hill of Youth are most crowded after 3pm.
- There’s no reentry to the areas except for Valley of Witches.
- Plan your time wisely, as it’s hard to fit everything into a day. Our Ghibli Park guide below has estimated times for each area. Start with the areas that are most important to you.
- Be prepared to take your shoes off to go inside the house in Dondoko Forest.
Ghibli Park Areas, Photos, and What to Expect
Ghibli Park includes the following five areas spread out amongst Aichi Commemorative Park.
You’ll need to show your ticket (and passport of lead person) for entrance into each area. Some buildings require a premium ticket.
Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse and Hill of Youth are closest to the park entrance/station and are a few minutes walk apart.
Valley of Witches and Mononoke Village are 5-10 minutes from Grand Warehouse.
Dondoko Forest is the most remote and is a 10 to 15-minute walk from Grand Warehouse along a lovely forested path.
There’s also a real-life Cat Bus shuttle that runs between Mononoke Village and Dondoko Forest. It costs 1000 yen ($6) one way, and you can buy tickets from vending machines in the park.
Hill of Youth
Time to Visit: 15 – 30 minutes.
Distance from Station: 300 metres.
Facilities: Toilets and water fountain at the entrance.
Photos: Not allowed inside.
Hill of Youth is inspired by the films Whisper of the Heart and The Cat Returns.
The main attraction is the World Emporium, the antiques shop from Whisper of the Heart. A premium ticket is needed to go inside. At 11am we only had a short wait.
Outside the Emporium is the Cat Bureau, a little house which you can peek in to see the Baron inside.
The World Emporium is a walk-through attraction with so many details to explore—cuckoo clocks, antique furniture, dolls, and the Baron as he originally appears in the film.
Best of all is the grandfather clock from the film. Make sure you wait to see the show where the sheep turns into a fairy. You will appreciate the Emporium much more if you’ve seen Whisper of the Heart.
Downstairs you can see the violin workshop and even play the violin and piano. Both floors have terraces with views of the park.
Hill of Youth is easy to fit in before you visit the Grand Warehouse. Apparently, it is busiest after 3pm.
Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse
Time to Visit: 3-4 hours.
Distance from Station: 400 metres.
Facilities: Toilets and cafe.
Photos: Allowed in most areas (not in food exhibit).
Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse is the focal point of Ghibli Park. The large indoor space features many exhibits, a cinema, playrooms, cafe, and gift shop.
You’ll need to enter within an hour of your allocated time and expect a long queue. We joined the queue 25 minutes before our 12pm time and entered at 12.05pm.
Once inside we went down the stairs then to the left and straight to the Central Exhibit Room (a red building). This is the most popular area and we’re glad we went first as it was a lot busier by 1pm.
You won’t want to miss it as it features 14 scenes from Studio Ghibli films where you can take your photo as if you were a character in the scene.
We had a 15-minute wait to get inside, and there were individual queues for each film scene (five minutes for No Face, but most were shorter).
Highlights were sitting next to No Face from Spirited Away, catching Sheeta as she falls in Castle in the Sky, and fighting Porco Rosso.
Other attractions in Grand Warehouse are:
The impressive mosaic Central Staircase with the Giant Flying Ship.
Garden in the Sky, where you can see a huge robot soldier from Castle in the Sky (the queue was long for a photo here, so we skipped it).
The Director’s Room from Spirited Away—see Yubaba at work. We waited a few minutes to look inside.
Milk Stand Siberi-An. We waited five minutes to buy a castella cake sandwich with sweet bean filling (koshi-an is creamy, while tsubu-an is chunkier). The treat is from The Wind Rises.
You have to eat your cake at the stand—there are a few benches.
Cinema Orion shows a changing Ghibli short film about three times an hour. It’s in Japanese, but we still got the gist of the cute Mei and the Cat Bus.
There are several special exhibitions, including one on food in the Ghibli films (no photos allowed).
This leads to the Everything Ghibli exhibit, which features movie posters, a room where you can chat with Totoro at a bar, and the chance to go inside a Cat Bus.
There’s also a children’s playroom, Minami-machi where you can shop in real tiny shops, and much more!
It takes so long to explore that unless you eat before you go inside, you’ll likely need to visit the Transcontinental Flight Café, which is outside (but within the ticketed area).
The food wasn’t great, but we were glad to take a break. Of course, we had to queue for 15 minutes to order.
The counter-service menu includes sandwiches, pizza slices, and sweets. We were grateful for vegetarian options—we got pizza slices and a guacamole sandwich. I believe the guacamole and hummus sandwiches are vegan.
There’s also a gelato stand next to the cafe (no queue on a cold day).
Your final stop in the Warehouse will likely be the Adventurous Flying Squadron shop. There are some fun Ghibli souvenirs, but it was so crowded I couldn’t get near some shelves. Checkout was fast and efficient, though.
Three hours (12-3pm) was just enough for our visit (including lunch) but we could have done with more time.
Dondoko Forest
Time to Visit: 1 hour (including walk there).
Distance from Station: 1000 – 1300 metres (depending on route).
Facilities: Toilets, small souvenir shop with drinks (both on way to area).
Photos: No longer allowed inside the house.
You’ll find all the My Neighbor Totoro attractions in Dondoko Forest. (You should definitely watch the film before visiting.)
It’s a 10-15 minute walk from the Warehouse. We took the shorter route through the temple-like gate and over the hill on a forest path. It wasn’t very steep, but if you want a flatter but longer route, you can go around the hill.
We found it a bit hard to find, so see Google Maps and look for Dondoko Forest written in Japanese on signs (どんどこ森).
Mei and Satsuki’s house is the highlight of Donodoko Forest. You’ll need a premium pass to enter this Japanese-Western house from the film and must take off your shoes.
It’s wonderfully recreated and you can explore so many details and even look inside cupboards. There’s a tatami mat living room, kitchen, bathroom, and the dad’s book-filled office.
Dondoko-do is the other attraction up stairs on the hill above the house. It’s a 5-meter-tall wooden structure of Totoro where kids 12 and under can play inside. We skipped it as it was getting late.
Mononoke Village
Time to Visit: 10 minutes (or longer if you make gohei-mochi)
Distance from Station: 800 metres.
Facilities: Small shop.
Photos: Allowed.
We found Mononoke Village the most disappointing area, so I’d leave it until last in case you run out of time.
It was a 15-minute walk from Donodoko Forest past Valley of Witches.
The area is inspired by the Japanese mountain village landscape in Princess Mononoke, but we didn’t recognise much from the film.
There’s a Lord Okkoto mosaic slide and a demon spirit statue.
The main structure is the grass-roofed house Tatara-ba. The only thing inside is the opportunity to make a local speciality called gohei-mochi (rice cakes) on a charcoal grill (1200 yen/ $7.50 per person). There was a long wait, so we skipped that.
Valley of Witches
Time to Visit: 1 – 2 hours
Distance from Station: 800 metres.
Facilities: Toilets, cafe.
Photos: Allowed (TBC)
Valley of Witches is the newest area at Ghibli Park (opened March 2024) and wasn’t yet open on our visit.
It’s the second largest area in the park and sounds fantastic, celebrating witches from Studio Ghibli films.
I would make this a priority, perhaps heading here at 10am before a 12pm reservation at Grand Warehouse.
It includes:
- The Okino Residence (premium needed) and Guchokipanya Bakery (real bread sold) from Kiki’s Delivery Service.
- Howl’s Castle (premium needed) and Hatter’s Millinery (selling hats, sweets, and books) from Howl’s Moving Castle.
- The House of Witches (premium needed) from Earwig and the Witch.
- Carousel – One of the only real Ghibli Park rides, but it’s more for kids. It costs 500 yen ($3) for kids/ 1000 yen ($6) for adults.
- Flying Machine – Another paid ride for kids (500 yen/ $3). Adults can only ride when accompanying a child.
- Flying Oven – A restaurant with European-style pies and quiches.
There’s also a hot dog stand, gift shop, play area, clock tower, fountain and more to explore.
How to Get to Ghibli Park
Ghibli Park is located outside Nagoya, between Tokyo and Kyoto/Osaka, but closer to the latter.
Nagoya is on the Shinkansen line, so it’s easy to reach from major cities. However, you’ll then need to take two local trains to reach Ghibli Park, and the trip can take a while.
Use Navitime to check train times.
Ghibli Park is doable as a day trip from Kyoto or Osaka. Or you could stop on the way between Tokyo and Kyoto (leave your luggage in lockers at Nagoya Station or use an overnight luggage forwarding service). An overnight stay in Nagoya isn’t necessary unless you want to shorten your day.
It’s best to get an early start and aim to arrive at Ghibli Park for the 10am opening (9am on weekends). You’ll need the full seven hours of opening to see it all.
Nagoya Station to Ghibli Park
Most visitors will pass through Nagoya Station on the way to Ghibli Park.
Leave Nagoya Station and follow signs for the Higashiyama Subway Line. Take this line to Fujigaoka Station (the last station). This takes just under 30 minutes.
At Fujigaoka Station, exit and transfer to Linimo, a Mag-Lev (magnetically levitated) train. Take it to Aichikyūhaku-kinen-kōen (Expo Memorial Park) Station. This takes about 15 minutes.
Take Exit 2 to reach the entrance to Expo 2005 Aichi Commemorative Park.
Outside the station, you’ll find a Lawson convenience store (for snacks and some Ghibli souvenirs), toilets, an info centre with lockers, and a cafe.
To reach Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse, head straight ahead and go down the Elevator Tower.
There is no official entrance to Ghibli Park, and you only have to show your ticket to get into each of the five areas.
We arrived at Nagoya Station at 9.15am and reached Ghibli Park at 10.15am, so allow around an hour.
We used our Suica cards (we had the Apple Wallet version) to tap in for local transport in Nagoya.
Kyoto to Ghibli Park
We visited Ghibli Park as a day trip from Kyoto, which took about 1.5 hours from Kyoto Station.
We got the 8.45am Nozomi Shinkansen from Kyoto Station, which only takes 30 minutes to get to Nagoya (it is pricey, though), then followed the directions above.
We left Ghibli Park at 4pm and arrived at the Shinkansen tracks at Nagoya Station at 5.10pm. The train back to Kyoto was very crowded (we had to sit apart), so you might want to book seats for a small fee.
Osaka to Ghibli Park
To get from Osaka to Ghibli Park, take the Shinkansen from Shin-Osaka Station to Nagoya, which takes 50 minutes.
Then follow the directions above from Nagoya to Ghibli Park.
Allow around two hours from Osaka to Ghibli Park.
Tokyo to Ghibli Park
Travelling from Tokyo to Ghibli Park takes longer, so I don’t recommend it as a day trip. It makes more sense to stop there on your way to Kyoto or spend the night in Nagoya.
The Shinkansen from Tokyo Station to Nagoya takes 1 hour 40 minutes then follow the directions above.
Ghibli Park Map
Films To Watch Before Visiting Ghibli Park
Hopefully, you are a Studio Ghibli fan if you are visiting Ghibli Park, but if you are a casual viewer, I recommend watching as many of the films as you can to get the most out of the experience. You’ll appreciate the park details so much more.
Studio Ghibli films are available on Netflix outside the US/Canada (where I believe they are on Max).
Here are the Ghibli films I’d prioritise:
Before Visiting Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse
- My Neighbour Totoro – A gentle, iconic Ghibli film. You can meet Totoro and see the Cat Bus in the Warehouse and go inside a replica of the girls’ house in Dondoko Forest. A must-see.
- Spirited Away – In the Warehouse there’s a photo op with No Face and you can see inside Yubaba’s office. One of the most popular Ghibli films.
- Castle in the Sky – The Warehouse features a robot soldier, airship, and some cool scenes in the Central Exhibit Room.
You’ll also find scenes from The Secret World of Arrietty, Porco Rosso, From Up on Poppy Hill, and more.
Before Visiting Valley of Witches
Valley of Witches features buildings from all three of these films.
- Kiki’s Delivery Service
- Howl’s Moving Castle
- Earwig and the Witch
Before Visiting Hill of Youth
- Whisper of the Heart – You can go inside the Emporium antique shop that features in this sweet teen love story set in Tokyo. You’ll enjoy your visit so much more if you watch this first.
- The Cat Returns – A spin-off of Whisper of the Heart featuring Baron the cat. You can peek inside the Cat Bureau in Hill of Youth. Less important than watching Whisper.
You could also watch the dark and epic Princess Mononoke before visiting Mononoke Village, but it felt like less of a connection than the other areas. There are a few scenes in the Warehouse, though.
Is Ghibli Park Worth it?
Ghibli Park is well worth visiting if you are a Studio Ghibli fan. The more Ghibli films you’ve seen, the more you’ll get out of the experience.
We loved seeing scenes from the animations come to life and walking through shops and houses that had been recreated with such detail.
It’s a full and tiring day out, and you need to be prepared for crowds and queues, but it was worth it for us.
If you have limited time in Japan (or are on a tight budget), you might prefer to visit the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo instead.
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