Weekend Outings from Meijo Koen Station: Every Spot We Actually Go To (Outdoor, Indoor, Mostly Free)
Here's the full list of weekend outings we do — and the ones still on the to-do list — all measured from Meijo Koen Station on the Meijo subway line. Written from the point of view of a dad hauling a three-year-old and a baby.
Note: prices and hours were checked as of July 2026. Before you go, I'd check the official site for each place (the "👉" link under each entry) for the current details.
Outdoor Spots
Meijo Park (Kita Ward) — our home ground
- Getting there: right outside Meijo Koen Station / Price: free
- Lawns, playground equipment, the Ofuke Pond, and "tonarino," the building with the cafe in it. Nagoya Castle is within walking distance if you follow the moat. This place absorbs every possible version of "I just want to be outside for a bit" a weekend can throw at you.
Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens (Chikusa Ward)
- Getting there: Meijo line to Motoyama, transfer to the Higashiyama line, then three minutes' walk from Exit 3 at Higashiyama Koen Station (about 25–30 minutes total)
- Price: 500 yen for adults, free for junior high age and under / 9–16, closed Mondays
- Famous for the koalas, the elephants, and Shabani the handsome gorilla. Zoo plus botanical garden plus a small amusement park zone — far too big to finish in a day. Free for kids, so the value is unbeatable. There are a lot of hills, so bring the carrier as well as the stroller.
Komaki Children's Future Museum (Komaki City) — actually an all-weather indoor facility
- Getting there: Meijo line to Heian-dori, then the Kamiiida line running through to the Meitetsu Komaki line, and Komaki Station is right there (inside the Rapio building, about 40 minutes). Only one transfer, which is quietly a big deal
- Price: free on weekdays even if you live outside the city (first come, first served). On weekends, holidays, and school breaks, non-residents must reserve in advance: 400 yen per person, age 1 and up
- A big floor of climb-on-it play equipment plus a "hands-on plaza" for making things. Don't forget the advance booking on weekends. Three hours free at the municipal parking lot.
Legoland Japan (Kinjo Futo)
- Getting there: about 24 minutes on the Aonami line from Nagoya Station, then five minutes' walk from Kinjo Futo Station (roughly 50 minutes all in)
- Price: 7,900 yen for adults, 5,300 yen for children aged 3–18, free for age 2 and under. Prices vary by date; advance tickets are discounted
- The target audience really is preschool through elementary, and there are plenty of rides a three-year-old can get on. Parking is at the Kinjo Futo lot (max 1,000 yen weekdays / 1,500 yen weekends and holidays).
Minamichita Toy Kingdom (Mihama Town, Chita District)
- Getting there: about 15 minutes' walk from Chita-Okuda Station on the Meitetsu Chita New line. By car, about an hour via the Chita Peninsula Road
- Price: shared admission with Minamichita Beachland. Free for under-twos
- Licca-chan House, a Tomica and Plarail land, and seven more roofed pavilions — nine in total — plus eleven rides. Pair it with Beachland next door (aquarium, sea lion show) and you've got a full day. The pavilions are indoors, so a sudden downpour isn't a disaster.
👉 Official site (Minamichita Beachland & Toy Kingdom)
Shinmei Park + Koukukan boon (Toyoyama Town, beside Nagoya Airfield)
- Getting there: about 20–30 minutes by car (free parking) / Price: both the park and Koukukan boon are free
- The park sits right next to Komaki Airport (Nagoya Airfield), so you watch planes take off and land up close. Playground equipment, plus a shallow splash pond in summer. The attached Koukukan boon has a real helicopter on display, a flight simulator, a kids' corner, and an observation deck — an absurd amount of stuff for something that costs nothing. For a plane-obsessed three-year-old this is heaven.
👉 Koukukan boon official page (Toyoyama Town)
Indoor Spots
Metawater Sewerage Science Museum Nagoya (Kita Ward) — five minutes from the station
- Getting there: five minutes' walk from Exit 1, Meijo Koen Station / Price: free / 9–16, closed Mondays
- A science museum about sewers, on the first floor of the Meijo Water Treatment Center. The hands-on exhibits are more fun than they have any right to be, and it's the perfect answer to "it's raining, take us somewhere nearby." No dedicated parking, but it's next to the station anyway, so walk.
Nex Plaza (Kita Ward, Kurokawa)
- Getting there: five minutes' walk from Kurokawa Station on the Meijo line (one stop from Meijo Koen) / Price: free / 10–17, closed Mondays
- The public information center for the Nagoya Expressway. Design your own expressway and drive it in the simulator, admire the detailed scale models — catnip for a kid who likes vehicles. Free, near a station, and never crowded. All three boxes ticked.
Denki no Kagakukan / Electricity Science Museum (Naka Ward, Fushimi)
- Getting there: Meijo line to Sakae, transfer to the Higashiyama line, get off at Fushimi (about 20 minutes) / Price: free / 9–17, closed Mondays and the third Friday of the month
- Chubu Electric Power's science museum. Lots of press-it, touch-it exhibits, which rates highly with toddlers. Close enough to the FUJI Nagoya Science Museum to do both in one go.
FUJI Nagoya Science Museum (formerly Nagoya City Science Museum; Naka Ward, Fushimi)
- Getting there: five minutes' walk from Fushimi Station / Price: exhibits + planetarium 800 yen for adults, free for junior high age and under. Note: the adult price is scheduled to rise to 1,000 yen from October 2026
- Renamed to "FUJI Nagoya Science Museum" under a naming-rights deal in April 2026. The headliners are the "FUJI Sky Dome" — one of the largest planetariums in the world — plus the giant tornado and the electrical discharge lab. The general planetarium show runs a bit long for small kids, so the exhibit floors alone are plenty for a first visit.
Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology (Nishi Ward, Sako)
- Getting there: three minutes' walk from Sako Station on the Meitetsu line (one stop from Nagoya Station) / Price: 1,000 yen for adults, 300 yen for elementary students, free for preschoolers. Show a Donichi Eco Kippu day pass and adults pay 800 yen
- With kids, the real destination is "Technoland," the indoor play area (included in admission, no extra charge). It runs on same-day numbered tickets, first come first served, in timed slots — so grab a ticket the moment you're through the door. Free parking for about 220 cars.
SCMaglev and Railway Park (Kinjo Futo)
- Getting there: two minutes' walk from Kinjo Futo Station on the Aonami line / Price: 1,000 yen for adults, 200 yen for preschoolers aged 3 and up / 10–17
- Row after row of real Shinkansen and maglev trains. There's a kids' corner with Plarail to play with (ten groups per session, first come first served, timed slots). Same station as Legoland and Sea Life, so mix and match.
Yumore (Kita Ward — local parenting support centers)
- Where: Yumore Yanagihara (inside the Kinshachi shopping street), Heian-dori, and Ajima. All within walking or cycling range of Meijo Koen Station / Price: free
- Parent-and-child drop-in spaces run by the NPO Mamekko. Aimed at ages 0–3, which makes them ideal for a younger sibling's debut outing. Opening days and hours vary by location — check each one's page.
Anitouch Lalaport Nagoya Minato Aquls (Minato Ward)
- Getting there: Meijo line to Kanayama, transfer to the Meiko line, and Minato Kuyakusho Station is right there (about 30 minutes) / Price: weekdays 1,200 yen for adults and 700 yen for age 4 and up; weekends and holidays 1,500 yen for adults and 900 yen for age 4 and up
- An indoor petting zoo where you can meet capybaras and alpacas. It's inside the Lalaport mall, so food, shopping, and nursing rooms are all part of the same trip — which, with kids, is basically the strongest possible setup.
Sea Life Nagoya (the aquarium next to Legoland)
- Getting there: Kinjo Futo, same as Legoland / Price: free for age 2 and under. Prices vary by date, and there's a combo ticket with Legoland
- A small "Lego meets fish" aquarium that takes an hour to an hour and a half. For preschoolers the scale may actually suit them better than the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium. Excellent rainy-day plan.
👉 Official site (within Legoland Japan)
Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium (Minato Ward)
- Getting there: Meijo line to Kanayama, transfer to the Meiko line to the last stop, Nagoyako, then five minutes' walk (about 35 minutes) / Price: 2,030 yen for adults, 500 yen for age 4 and up, free for age 3 and under / 9–17 (until 20 during summer break), closed Mondays
- The orca and dolphin shows are genuinely spectacular. The building is enormous, so the stroller is non-negotiable. The winning three-year-old course is dolphin show, then penguins, then the sardine tornado.
Spa Kids (Nagashima Spa Land's indoor children's pool, summer only)
- Getting there: Kuwana City, Mie Prefecture. About 30–40 minutes by car. There's also a direct bus from the Meitetsu Bus Center / Price: 800 yen, no time limit, re-entry allowed
- An indoor kids' pool restricted to children up to third grade and their guardians, so nobody gets flattened by a big kid. Ideal for a first pool experience. The season is short, so check the official calendar.
Aichi Museum of Flight (Toyoyama Town, Nagoya Airfield)
⚠️ Closed for renovation from June 2026 until the end of January 2027. (On designated viewing days, the second floor and rooftop are partially open, at a reduced rate during the closure: 300 yen for adults, 150 yen for elementary and junior high students, free for preschoolers.)
- Normal price: 1,000 yen for adults, 500 yen for elementary and junior high students, free for preschoolers / Getting there: about 20–30 minutes by car (next to Airport Walk Nagoya)
- Real aircraft on display plus an observation deck looking down on the runway. Once the renovation is done (February 2027 onward), the correct move is to build an "airplane day" combining this with Shinmei Park and Koukukan boon.
👉 Official site (has an opening-days calendar)
Flight of Dreams (Chubu Centrair International Airport)
- Getting there: about 30 minutes from Meitetsu Nagoya Station on the Mu-Sky, or about 40 minutes on the limited express / Price: the Flight Park area is free to enter (some content costs extra) / 10–17
- An indoor theme park where you play underneath the actual first Boeing 787 ever built. Play equipment in a kids' area for ages 0–12, plus aviation exhibits. You can also plane-spot from the Sky Deck, so it's trains and planes in a single day — a pilgrimage site for vehicle-obsessed kids.
Gifu-Kakamigahara Air and Space Museum (Sorahaku; Kakamigahara City, Gifu)
- Getting there: by car, about 15 minutes from the Gifu-Kakamigahara IC on the Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway (about an hour from our place) / Price: 800 yen for adults, free for junior high age and under / weekdays 10–17, weekends and holidays 10–18
- The largest collection of real aircraft in the Tokai region. Planes plus space — the H-II rocket, Hayabusa2 — so there's a lot to look at. Free for junior high and under, so a family visit costs you the adult tickets and nothing else.
The Takeaway: Meijo Koen Station Turns Out to Be a Great Base
- Walking distance: Meijo Park (tonarino), Nagoya Castle, the Sewerage Science Museum, Yumore
- One stop down the Meijo line to Kurokawa for Nex Plaza; Meijo line plus Meiko line for the aquarium and Anitouch
- The through service from Heian-dori on the Kamiiida line gets you to Komaki (Children's Future Museum)
- Via Nagoya Station and the Aonami line for the Kinjo Futo set of three (Legoland, Sea Life, the SCMaglev and Railway Park)
- By car, Nagoya Airfield (Shinmei Park and Koukukan boon) is under 30 minutes. Push on to Centrair and Kakamigahara and you've completed the airplane museum circuit
The free spots alone — Meijo Park, the Sewerage Science Museum, Nex Plaza, the Electricity Science Museum, Koukukan boon, Flight of Dreams — will fill an entire season. That's Nagoya quietly flexing. I'll link detailed write-ups of each from this post as we get to them.
