The Kyoto Imperial Palace (Gosho) was the residence of the Japanese emperor from the late fourteenth century until the move to Tokyo in 1869. The current buildings are a 1855 reconstruction in the shinden-zukuri aristocratic style, after a series of palace fires through the Edo period. The complex occupies a quiet corner of the much larger Kyoto Gyoen park, which makes up most of the green space in central Kyoto.
Free guided tours used to be tightly controlled but the palace now allows self-guided visits to the inner precincts during opening hours; the audience halls, the Hi no Omashi (emperor's everyday residence), the inner-court Oikeniwa garden, and a long sequence of formal courtyards are open to walk through. The Sento Imperial Palace next door, with its excellent strolling garden, is by separate (free) reservation. Combine with a long walk through Gyoen park, which has weeping cherries, plum groves, and old camphor trees.