MOA Museum of Art

Before you go

• Strollers cannot go on the escalator walkway from the lower entrance or into the Tea Garden (the outdoor garden with the restaurants and tea room), so a stroller you bring has to be folded or left at the reception desk before the escalators, and the museum may ask you not to use one inside when it is crowded. Free loaner strollers are available at reception, and one visitor collected theirs at the exhibition reception after the escalators.
• By car, park in the free 3rd-floor lot (200 spaces, open 9:00 to 17:00) and enter on the 3rd floor, where one visitor moved around the main building by elevator without folding the stroller; the road up is narrow, and the lot by the escalator entrance has just 15 spaces. The catch is that the Tea Garden below is reached by stairs only and, by one 2019 review, the circular hall with the kaleidoscope can be reached only by escalator, not by elevator (a 2022 review says that area has no elevator). The museum also posted a notice titled "Kaleidoscope renewal" on September 7, 2026, but its contents could not be confirmed, so if the hall is your reason to go, check the official site first.
• By public transport, take the bus from stop 8 at JR Atami Station to the last stop, MOA Museum of Art, which is at the escalator entrance; the ride takes about 7 minutes by the museum's count and about 10 by the tourist association's, and the fare is 200 yen for adults and 100 yen for children. On a weekday in August 2026 the station bus stop had a long line, and walking takes about 20 minutes uphill.
• Admission is 2,000 yen for adults and free for junior-high students and under. No timed reservation is needed unless you arrive by large tour bus. Hours are 9:30 to 16:30 with last entry at 16:00; closed Thursdays (open if it is a public holiday), on exhibition changeover days and over the New Year (which can vary by year).
• Allow 1 to 2 hours for the galleries alone and 2 to 3 hours with the garden and a meal, plus about 10 minutes each way on the escalators. The display cases are very clear, and a sign warns visitors not to bump their foreheads on the glass.
• The nursing room is on the 2nd floor of the main building and has a changing table, but a May 2026 review (baby of 6 months) found no diaper bin, and in July 2024 a family with children aged 2 and 0 was refused when they asked to use it without admission. LUSCA Atami in the station building has a baby room on its 3rd floor. Babies of any age may enter, but staff may ask you to step out of a gallery for a while if a baby disturbs other visitors.
• The restaurants and cafés inside are for ticket holders only, so eat early: on a weekday in November 2025 one family could not get into any restaurant because of the lines, while a visitor who lunched at the café a little early in August 2026 got in without waiting, though many people were waiting when they left. Hana no Chaya, the Japanese restaurant in the Tea Garden, takes no reservations and is closed Wednesdays, Thursdays and exhibition changeover days. Jalan lists outside food as not allowed and does not say whether that covers baby food or a water bottle.