From Dogo Onsen to Matsuyama Castle: Roads and Parking for Driving in the City

We could not find an official page with the driving time or the route

We could not find an official page that says how many minutes it takes by car from Dogo Onsen (道後温泉) to Matsuyama Castle (松山城), or which roads to use. The only driving time on the Matsuyama Castle official site and on the Matsuyama Castle page of Iyokan Net is “about 20 minutes” from Matsuyama IC. The “Access” page of the Dogo Onsen official site lists the parking lots and how to come from the airport, stations, and ports, but has no guide to Matsuyama Castle.

What the official pages describe is the city tram. Matsuyama City’s “松山城よくある質問” (Matsuyama Castle FAQ) has a table of ways to get to the Matsuyama Castle Ropeway station. The row for the starting point “from Dogo Onsen” reads as follows.

市内電車で約10分「大街道」下車、徒歩約5分

Translation: “About 10 minutes by city tram, get off at ‘Okaido’, about 5 minutes on foot.”

Source: 松山城よくある質問　松山市公式ホームページ PCサイト

This article lays out what you need if you go by car (the order of roads and both parking lots) and what you need if you switch to the tram (travel time and fare).

Drive, or leave the car and take the tram

This table puts the numbers from the official pages side by side.

Item	By car to the Matsuyama Castle parking lot	Leave the car at Dogo Onsen and take the city tram
Travel time	No official guide was found	Matsuyama City says about 10 minutes; the Iyotetsu timetable says 11 minutes (Dogo Onsen to Okaido)
Walking after you arrive	About 2 minutes on foot from the parking lot to the ropeway station	About 5 minutes on foot from Okaido to the ropeway and lift station
Cost	The Matsuyama Castle parking lot is 420 yen for 2 hours, then 100 yen for every 30 minutes	250 yen per ride (230 yen with cashless payment)
Number of spaces	The Matsuyama Castle parking lot has 12 cars (Matsuyama City) or 10 cars (Iyokan Net)	Dogo Onsen Parking has 92, 93, or 94 spaces

The tram fares are per adult, per ride. Two adults making a round trip pay 1,000 yen in cash or 920 yen cashless (calculated from the fares).

The Matsuyama Castle parking lot has fewer spaces than other lots, and it is first come, first served with no reservations. Whether to choose the tram because of the number of spaces is something you can decide from these numbers.

For the New Year period, Matsuyama City calls for the following on its page about easing congestion around Dogo Onsen.

道後近辺へは、可能な限り、公共交通機関を利用してお越しください。 道後温泉本館へは、市内電車が便利です。

Translation: “When coming to the Dogo area, please use public transport as much as possible. The city tram is convenient for Dogo Onsen Honkan.”

Source: 年末年始の道後温泉周辺の混雑緩和にご協力ください　松山市公式ホームページ PCサイト

This page was updated on December 27, 2019. Its parking numbers differ from the current Matsuyama City page (92 spaces for Dogo Onsen Parking), and it gives “100 spaces” and “65 spaces”. The numbers are old, but the period (12/28 to 1/13) and the way it describes the congested days appear only on this page.

The order of roads from Dogo Onsen to the Matsuyama Castle parking lot, seen in the map data

We checked road names and one-way directions in OpenStreetMap map data. The map data is not an official road register. What we could confirm is that the road is recorded with that name, route number, and one-way direction.

Order	Road	Direction	Intersections passed
1	Prefectural Road 187, Rokkenya-Ishite Line (県道187号 六軒家石手線)	Southwest from in front of Dogo Onsen Parking
2	Prefectural Road 188, Dogo Koen Line (県道188号 道後公園線)	West (one-way)
3	Prefectural Road 20, Matsuyama-Hojo Line (県道20号 松山北条線)	West (one-way)	Kami-Ichiman
4	Prefectural Road 20, Matsuyama-Hojo Line (県道20号 松山北条線)	South (one-way)	Kami-Ichiman → Katsuyama
5	National Route 11	West (one-way)	Katsuyama → Ichibancho 2-chome → Ichibancho
6	Ropeway Street (Matsuyama City Road Ichibancho-Shinonome Line)	North (one-way)	Ichibancho → toward the Matsuyama Castle Parking Lot

In the map data, these sections of Dogo Koen Line, Prefectural Road 20, and National Route 11 are recorded right beside the city tram tracks. The rules for driving beside the tracks are collected in Rules for Driving on the Same Roads as Trams in Matsuyama.

For the entrance and exit of Dogo Onsen Parking, see From Matsuyama Airport to Dogo Onsen. You can enter only by turning right from the south side, the Shiki Memorial Museum side, and the official page does not say which way the exit faces.

The entrance to Ropeway Street is on the eastbound side of National Route 11

For people who come by car, the Matsuyama Castle official site says the following.

お車でお越しの方は、ロープウェー街は一方通行ですのでお気をつけください。

Translation: “If you are coming by car, please note that Ropeway Street is one-way.”

Source: 松山城周辺観光情報 | 観覧ガイド | 四国・愛媛の松山城

In the map data, Ropeway Street is recorded as one-way heading north from Ichibancho intersection (toward the ropeway station). The entrance is attached only to the eastbound lane side of National Route 11. From Ichibancho on the westbound lane side, no road turning into Ropeway Street is recorded.

Cars coming from the Dogo Onsen side run west on National Route 11. We could not confirm from the map data where and how a car that has come west turns before entering Ropeway Street. We have not found an official guide either. We will check road signs on site.

For the Okaido shopping street, and for the “no right turn” and “road is narrow and hard to enter” marks on the same parking map, see From Matsuyama Airport to Matsuyama Castle. We could not read from the map which direction of right turn or which road they mean.

The castle parking lot is first come, first served, and there are three different numbers of spaces

The Matsuyama Castle official site says the following about the parking lot.

松山城駐車場（喜与町駐車場） 所在地：愛媛県松山市喜与町1丁目6-11　※ロープウェイのりばまで徒歩約2分 ご利用は先着順となります。ご予約はお受けしておりません。

Translation: “Matsuyama Castle Parking Lot (Kiyomachi Parking). Location: 1-6-11 Kiyomachi, Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture. Note: about 2 minutes on foot to the ropeway station. The lot is first come, first served. We do not take reservations.”

Source: アクセス・駐車場 | 観覧ガイド | 四国・愛媛の松山城

The fee is the same on the Matsuyama Castle official site, the Matsuyama City official website, and Iyokan Net: a standard car pays 420 yen for 2 hours, then 100 yen for every 30 minutes. The number of spaces differs, as follows.

Page	Number of spaces
Matsuyama City official website (updated April 21, 2025)	12 cars, 8 buses
Iyokan Net	10 standard cars, 8 buses
Matsuyama Castle official site	Not given

The hours also differ. The Matsuyama Castle official site says “8:00～ロープウェイ営業終了時間＋30分後” (8:00 to 30 minutes after the ropeway closes), and Matsuyama City says “午前8時から午後6時（ロープウェイ営業時間に準ずる）” (8 a.m. to 6 p.m., following the ropeway hours). In Matsuyama City’s “松山城よくある質問”, the ropeway hours are 8:30 to 17:30 from February to July and from September to November.

From the parking lot, you go up by ropeway or lift to Chojaganaru (長者ヶ平) on the top side. A round-trip ticket is 520 yen for an adult and 260 yen for a child (elementary school). Matsuyama City’s “登城案内” (Guide to going up to the castle) says it is about 10 minutes on foot from Chojaganaru to near the keep.

Apart from the Matsuyama Castle Parking Lot, the Matsuyama Castle official site also lists the Ninomaru Historic Garden Parking (二之丸史跡庭園専用駐車場).

• 31 standard passenger cars, free
• Opening hours are 9:00 to 17:15 from February to July and from September to November (until 17:45 in August, and until 16:45 from December to January)
• The entrance to the Kuromonguchi castle approach path (黒門口登城道) is in front of the lot, and it is about 25 minutes on foot to the Honmaru Plaza (本丸広場)

This is not a parking lot close to the ropeway station. It is also not described as a substitute for when the lot is full. If you plan to use the ropeway, check where the parking lot is before you set out.

Parking on the Dogo Onsen side

There are 2 paid city-run parking lots around Dogo Onsen Honkan.

Parking lot	Number of spaces	Fee	Hours
Dogo Onsen Parking, Kanmuriyama (道後温泉駐車場（冠山）)	Dogo Onsen official site 93; Matsuyama City official site 92 and 94	100 yen per 30 minutes (first 1 hour free if you bathe at one of the 3 public baths)	5:30-23:30
Dogo Onsen Iwaidani-higashimachi Parking (道後温泉祝谷東町駐車場)	43	100 yen per 30 minutes (first 1 hour free whether or not you bathe)	24 hours

Source: アクセス | 【公式サイト】道後温泉, 本館周辺地図及び市営駐車場（有料）、駐輪場（無料）　松山市公式ホームページ PCサイト

When we checked in September 2026, the Matsuyama City official site gave the number of spaces at Dogo Onsen Parking as 100. The Matsuyama City page updated on October 9, 2026 says 92.

The free temporary tourist parking lot is open only on set days. In Matsuyama City’s calendar “R8年度　臨時駐車場開放日” (Temporary parking lot open days, fiscal year Reiwa 8), all the dates from October 2026 to March 2027 are colored (open days). Open days are shown by color, so this is the result of turning the PDF into an image and checking it by eye. Matsuyama City says the capacity is about 60 spaces, and the Dogo Onsen official site says 60.

Times and fares if you take the city tram

On the Iyotetsu city tram route map (PDF), the tram stops between Dogo Onsen and Okaido are, in order, Dogo Koen, in front of Yuzuki Castle Ruins (道後公園（湯築城跡前）); Minamimachi, in front of the Prefectural Culture Hall (南町（県民文化会館前）); Kami-Ichiman (上一万); Keisatsusho-mae (警察署前); and Katsuyamacho (勝山町). Next to the Okaido stop, it says it is about 5 minutes on foot to the Matsuyama Castle ropeway and lift station.

Reading the Iyotetsu city tram timetable (PDF) for lines 3 and 5 between Dogo Onsen and Okaido gave the following.

Direction	Travel time in the range we read
Dogo Onsen to Okaido	11 minutes (examples taken from the 6:01 departure to the 22:00 departure)
Okaido to Dogo Onsen	12 minutes (examples taken from the 6:26 departure to the 22:13 departure)

Matsuyama City’s official “about 10 minutes” and the timetable’s 11 and 12 minutes are different numbers. The timetable is an image PDF, and “2023年11月1日改正” (revised November 1, 2023) is written at the bottom right. The timetable change of October 16, 2026 covers the suburban trains, route buses, and the Kanko Port connecting bus (観光港連絡バス), and does not include the city tram.

On fares, Iyotetsu’s “電車・路線バスの乗り方” (How to ride trains and route buses) says the following.

降車時に運賃を運賃箱に入れてください。大人250円・小児130円均一料金です。 ※キャッシュレスの場合は大人230円　小児120円

Translation: “Please put the fare in the fare box when you get off. The flat fare is 250 yen for adults and 130 yen for children. Note: for cashless payment, 230 yen for adults and 120 yen for children.”

Source: 電車・路線バス | 電車・路線バスの乗り方 | 伊予鉄

Iyotetsu’s “乗車券・割引” (Tickets and discounts) page has a sentence in its group discount explanation, “電車最低運賃は、大人240円・小児120円となります。” (The minimum tram fare is 240 yen for adults and 120 yen for children), which differs from the numbers above. The notice of the fare revision on April 1, 2026 describes the city tram as “初乗り運賃：250円（均一制）” (initial fare: 250 yen, flat fare system), with a 20-yen discount for cashless payment.

We could not find an official guide to park-and-ride for the city tram. The “パーク＆バスライド” (Park and Bus Ride) on the Iyotetsu site is a guide to free parking lots for passengers of Iyotetsu expressway buses.

What we could not confirm

• How many minutes it takes by car from Dogo Onsen to the Matsuyama Castle parking lot (no official guide was found)
• Which way the exit of Dogo Onsen Parking faces
• How a car that has come west on National Route 11 turns to enter Ropeway Street
• An official page that lists the one-way roads in central Matsuyama other than Ropeway Street
• Which is the current number of spaces: at the Matsuyama Castle parking lot (12, 10, or not given) and at Dogo Onsen Parking (92, 93, or 94)
• Notices of construction or road closures between Dogo Onsen and Matsuyama Castle (we looked at the pages of Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture, and the national government, but found none for this section)

What comes next for this article

The point numbers will match the chapter numbers of the driving video. After we drive the route, we will add the wording on the signs at each intersection, how to turn into Ropeway Street, what the parking lot entrances look like, and the time from Dogo Onsen to the Matsuyama Castle parking lot (with the day of the week and the time of day).