Shinjuku
Neon nights, tiny bars, a vast garden and Tokyo’s best-connected station.
Tokyo destinations
Ten districts and five day trips, each with six pages: an overview, tours and tickets, things to see, getting there, a travel guide and when to go.
Tokyo’s sights are spread across a huge area, but they cluster conveniently around a dozen stations. We have grouped them into fifteen destinations so that each guide covers a place you can explore in a day or less, mostly on foot.
The districts fall into three groups: the modern west and centre, where the towers, shopping and nightlife are; the older east, with temples, museums and markets; and the reclaimed islands of Tokyo Bay. The day trips all lie within about two hours by train or bus.
West & central Tokyo
Skyscrapers, the Scramble Crossing, fashion streets, art museums and the city’s main nightlife districts.
Shibuya & Harajuku
The Scramble Crossing, a rooftop in the sky, a shrine in a forest and Tokyo’s street fashion.
Roppongi & Azabudai
Tokyo Tower, teamLab Borderless, art museums and skyline views from Japan’s tallest building district.
Ikebukuro
Sunshine City, anime shopping, a ramen battleground and good-value hotels on the Yamanote Line.
East Tokyo & the old town
Temples and shrines, the Imperial Palace, museums, market streets and the anime capital of the world.
Asakusa & Skytree
Tokyo’s oldest temple, lantern-lit shopping lanes, river boats and the tallest tower in Japan.
Ginza & Tokyo Station
Elegant shopping streets, the Imperial Palace, Tsukiji’s food stalls and kabuki.
Ueno & Yanaka
Tokyo’s museum park, a boisterous market street and the old town that time forgot.
Akihabara & Kanda
Anime, games, arcades and electronics — with a 1,300-year-old shrine and a town of bookshops next door.
Tokyo Bay
Waterfront views, teamLab Planets, the fish market and the two Disney parks.
Odaiba & Toyosu
teamLab Planets, the tuna auction, a giant Gundam and Rainbow Bridge views across Tokyo Bay.
Tokyo Disney Resort
Tokyo Disneyland and the one-of-a-kind DisneySea, 15 minutes by train from Tokyo Station.
Day trips from Tokyo
Mountains, hot springs, World Heritage shrines, a seaside samurai capital and a harbour city — each one to two hours away.
Mount Fuji & Kawaguchiko
Japan’s sacred peak from its finest viewpoints: Chureito Pagoda, Lake Kawaguchiko and Oshino Hakkai.
Hakone
Hot springs, a volcanic valley, a pirate ship on Lake Ashi and — with luck — Mount Fuji.
Nikko
Gilded World Heritage shrines in a cedar forest, with waterfalls and a mountain lake above.
Kamakura & Enoshima
The Great Buddha, Zen temples, a seaside tram and an island shrine — an hour from Tokyo.
Yokohama
A harbour skyline, Japan’s biggest Chinatown, red-brick warehouses and a cup-noodle museum, 30 minutes from Tokyo.
How to combine them
Neighbouring destinations pair naturally in a single day: Asakusa with Ueno or Akihabara; Shibuya and Harajuku with an evening in Shinjuku; Ginza with Toyosu and Odaiba. For day trips, Mount Fuji and Hakone can be linked over two days, as can Kamakura and Yokohama. Our itineraries put these combinations into 3-, 5- and 7-day plans.
Plan your days in Tokyo
Turn a list of sights into a trip
Timed tickets for teamLab and Shibuya Sky sell out, sumo and food tours run in small groups, and the best Mount Fuji days fill up in sakura and autumn-leaf season. Compare the best-rated options and book in a couple of taps.