Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum: Tickets, Reservations and Getting There from Kanazawa (Ishikawa) or Kyoto

The Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum in Katsuyama (Fukui) is one of the world's leading dinosaur museums, in a city known as Japan's treasury of dinosaur fossils. It is popular with families, and entry works by timed tickets booked ahead, so it helps to plan before you set off. This guide sets out what the museum and the railway companies say on their official pages: tickets, opening hours, busy days, how to get there from Kanazawa (Ishikawa) or Kyoto, and what to know inside. The photos on this page were taken by the site owner.

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The museum at a glance

The museum stands in Katsuyama Dinosaur Forest, a large park at 51-11 Terao, Muroko-cho, Katsuyama (Fukui). The building has 3 floors above ground and 1 below, and you go in on the 3rd floor, then down into the exhibits. The main exhibition room is a dome with no pillars, divided into three zones: Dinosaur World, Earth Science, and the History of Life. According to the museum:

• Dinosaur World shows 51 full dinosaur skeletons, 10 of them made with real fossils, along with a life-size diorama and a large-screen theater.
• Dino Lab is built around a Tyrannosaurus skeleton and explains how dinosaurs' bodies worked and how they lived.
• In the fossil cleaning room, you can watch staff remove rock from fossils found at digs in Fukui Prefecture.

Tickets: timed entry, booked ahead

You buy a ticket for a date and an entry window, most of them an hour long. Once inside, there is no limit on how long you stay, and you can go out and back in on the same date. The prices below are for one person.

Preschool children enter free.

• Where to buy: the museum's ticket page (in Japanese) leads to its sales site on asoview, where you can pay by credit card. Tickets are also sold through some convenience-store ticket services in Japan; those can't be refunded.
• Sales period: from 60 days ahead. Permanent and special exhibition tickets are sold until 15 minutes before the end of each entry window.
• Changes and cancelling: you can cancel by yourself until 16:30 on the day. To change the date, time or number of people, cancel and buy again. The museum doesn't take bookings by phone.
• At the door: show the QR code at the entrance gate on the 3rd floor.
• On the day: if tickets are left, you can buy them at the 3rd-floor information desk or the ticket machines next to it, which take cash, credit cards, electronic money and QR code payment.

Holders of a Japanese disability certificate, and one caregiver, enter the permanent exhibition free, but still need to reserve. If you hold a card from another country, ask the museum whether it is accepted.

Opening hours, closed days and busy dates

The museum asks visitors to check its calendar too, since it sometimes closes for exhibition changes or maintenance. It is busiest on weekends and in school holidays. In 2026, Katsuyama City ran park-and-ride services (park at a temporary car park, then take a shuttle bus) during Golden Week (a string of national holidays from late April to the start of May), from April 26 to May 6, and from August 9 to 17 in the summer holidays. For November 22, 2026, the museum announces a free shuttle bus from a temporary car park and limits on cars entering the park, depending on how full the park's car parks are.

Getting there from Kanazawa (Ishikawa) or Kyoto

All routes by public transport go through JR Fukui Station in Fukui City (Fukui).

• From Kanazawa (Ishikawa): take the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Fukui Station.
• From Kyoto or Osaka: take the Limited Express Thunderbird to Tsuruga and change there to the Hokuriku Shinkansen for Fukui. If you are visiting Japan as a temporary visitor, JR West's Hokuriku One-way Ticket covers Kyoto or Osaka to Fukui on these trains; it is sold as an e-ticket exchange order through travel agencies outside Japan.
• From Fukui Station: change to the Echizen Railway Katsuyama Eiheiji Line and ride to Katsuyama, the last station, then take a bus or taxi. You can tap ICOCA and other nationwide IC cards at stations including Fukui and Katsuyama. Echizen Railway also sells a set ticket for museum visitors: a 1-day pass for the railway plus unlimited rides on Katsuyama's city buses, 1,700 yen for adults and 900 yen for children, at staffed stations. It doesn't include museum admission.
• Direct buses: the museum lists buses from JR Fukui Station straight to the museum on weekends and holidays.
• From Komatsu Airport: take the airport bus.
• By car: from Fukui-Kita Junction on the Hokuriku Expressway, take the Chubu Jukan Expressway (toll-free section) to Katsuyama Interchange, then Route 416: about 30 minutes. The park has free parking for about 1,400 cars, with no roof between the car park and the entrance, so bring an umbrella if it rains. Fukui gets snow in winter, and the museum says you must use winter tires.

Planning to stay overnight on the way? Our Kanazawa (Ishikawa) destination page covers the city.

Inside the museum

The museum's barrier-free page lists help for families and visitors with disabilities:

• Elevators run between floors, and a ramp circles the inside of the dome, giving different views of the skeletons on the way.
• Wheelchairs and strollers can be borrowed at the 3rd-floor information desk, but there are only a few. If you bring your own, use the staffed gate.
• On the 3rd floor there is a first-aid room, a nursing room (hot water for baby formula is available on request), a kids' room for small children to rest, and a baby room for changing diapers.
• There are toilets on every floor, including multipurpose toilets with diaper-changing tables.

My visit

I visited with my family on August 25, 2023. The photos on this page are from that day: the long escalator that takes you down from the entrance through the round atrium, the skeletons standing in rows in the big, dark exhibition hall, the life-size Tyrannosaurus model that moves, and, outside in the park, a huge dinosaur statue with its mouth wide open.

Before you go: a checklist

1. Check the museum calendar for closed days.
2. Buy a timed ticket online, up to 60 days ahead.
3. Plan the train: Fukui Station, the Echizen Railway to Katsuyama, then a bus or taxi.
4. Avoid the busiest dates if you can, or use the shuttle buses when they run.
5. In winter, use winter tires if you drive.

Last reviewed: October 14, 2026. Ticket rules and bus timetables can change; check the official pages below for the day you go.

References

• Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum: Hours and admission (Japanese)
• Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum: Ticket sales (Japanese)
• Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum: How to enter (Japanese)
• Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum: Access and parking (Japanese)
• Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum: Barrier-free information (Japanese)
• Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum: Permanent exhibition (Japanese)
• Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum (English)
• Echizen Railway: Using IC cards (Japanese)
• Echizen Railway: Set ticket for the Dinosaur Museum (Japanese)
• JR West: Hokuriku One-way Ticket