Even on a tight schedule, Shinjuku Gyoen earns the hours.
Allow 1.5–2 hrs.
A genuinely beautiful, spacious escape minutes from Shinjuku's chaos — sweeping lawns, a formal Japanese pond garden and one of the city's best, calmer cherry-blossom spots. It's not free and closes relatively early, and in cherry season even this large garden fills up; off-season it's blissfully quiet.