Yokohama Travel Guide

Areas at a glance

• Yokohama Station: department stores and transport, 3 km from the sights.
• Minato Mirai and Sakuragicho: towers, museums, the amusement park, shopping malls.
• Bashamichi, Kannai and Nihon-odori: the old port quarter with historic buildings and the baseball stadium.
• Yamashita Park, Chinatown and Motomachi: seafront, food and an elegant shopping street.
• Yamate: the bluff of Western-style houses, churches and a foreigners’ cemetery with harbour views.
• Shin-Yokohama: the Shinkansen station and the Ramen Museum.

Eating and drinking

In Chinatown, street snacks — pork buns, soup dumplings, sesame balls — cost a few hundred yen, while set lunches in the restaurants are far better value than the all-you-can-eat offers pushed on the street. Yokohama also claims its own style of ramen, iekei, with a rich pork-and-soy broth and thick noodles, and has a brewing tradition going back to the first foreign settlers. The Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum gathers regional ramen shops in a recreated 1958 streetscape.

Money-saving ideas

• The promenades, parks, Osanbashi Pier’s rooftop deck and the Red Brick Warehouse are free.
• A Minatomirai Line day pass, or the combined ticket with the Tokyu line from Shibuya, pays off with three or more rides.
• The Landmark Tower observatory costs less than most Tokyo decks of similar height.

Good to know

Yokohama is very safe and easy to navigate, with English signage throughout the tourist areas. The waterfront is windy in winter. Museums commonly close on Mondays or Tuesdays, and big events at the stadium, arena or Pacifico convention centre can fill trains and restaurants in the evening.

Sample plans