Tokyo, Japan
Five days in Tokyo lets you cover the big neighborhoods properly plus one day trip, but only if you fight the city's geography instead of letting it fight you. Tokyo is enormous: Asakusa to Shibuya is 45 minutes on the train, so this itinerary keeps each day inside one cluster: the old east side on day one, the Shibuya-Harajuku-Shinjuku west on day two, the bay and Ginza on day three, Kamakura as a day trip on day four, and the stylish southwest plus Roppongi to finish.
Three things to book before you fly: a sunset slot at Shibuya Sky (sells out weeks ahead), teamLab Planets in Toyosu (two to three weeks ahead for weekend dates), and any restaurant you have your heart set on. Everything else, including the Skytree and most museums, you can book a day or two out or just walk up.
The historic low city, all strung along the Ginza line so no ride today is more than 10 minutes. Start at dawn to see Senso-ji without the crowds, end with Akihabara neon.
Senso-ji before the crowdsFree
Tokyo's oldest temple, founded 645. The main hall opens at 06:00 and the approach is nearly empty before 09:00; you get the Kaminarimon gate and giant lantern almost to yourself.
Nakamise and the Asakusa backstreets300-1,000 JPY snacks
The 250 m shopping street wakes up around now. Grab a fresh melon pan at Kagetsudo (about 300 JPY), then browse the quieter craft shops on Denboin-dori one street over.
Tokyo SkytreeFrom 2,100 JPY online
Walk 20 minutes across the Sumida River to the 634 m tower. The Tembo Deck at 350 m is enough; the higher gallery adds cost, not much view. Weekday morning slots rarely sell out.
Tempura lunch in Asakusa1,500-2,500 JPY pp
Back across the river: Daikokuya has served tendon (tempura over rice) since 1887, around 2,000 JPY a bowl. Queue moves fast.
Ueno Park and the Tokyo National Museum1,000 JPY
Ginza line three stops to Ueno (180 JPY). Japan's oldest and best museum: do the Honkan building for samurai armor, swords, and kimono in about two hours. Closed Mondays.
Ameyoko market streetFree to walk
The old black-market street under the Yamanote tracks south of Ueno Station: dried seafood, candy stalls, standing bars, and a lot of shouting.
Akihabara evening1,200-3,000 JPY pp with dinner
One stop south. Arcades (GiGO and Taito towers), retro game hunting at Super Potato, and a ramen dinner around 1,200 JPY. The neon looks best after dark.
The whole day runs down one 4 km spine of the Yamanote line, and most of it you walk: forest shrine in the morning, youth-culture Harajuku, Shibuya at golden hour, Shinjuku after dark.
Meiji ShrineFree
A 100,000-tree forest in the middle of the city, entered through an 12 m torii gate a minute from Harajuku Station. Free, opens at sunrise, and calm before 10:00.
Takeshita Street and Ura-Harajuku600-2,000 JPY snacks and browsing
Cross the station bridge into maximum teen Tokyo: crepe stands (600-800 JPY), vintage shops, and the quieter Cat Street boutiques behind it.
Lunch off Omotesando600-1,500 JPY pp
Harajuku Gyoza Lou does plates of six gyoza for about 600 JPY with a permanent but fast queue; Afuri around the corner does yuzu shio ramen for about 1,400 JPY.
Walk Omotesando to ShibuyaFree
Tokyo's architecture runway: flagship buildings by Ando, SANAA, and Kuma. Continue 20 minutes on foot to Shibuya via Miyashita Park's rooftop lawn.
Shibuya Crossing and Shibuya Sky2,200 JPY online, 2,500 JPY door
Watch the scramble from street level, then take your pre-booked lift up Shibuya Scramble Square. Book the sunset slot online weeks ahead; the open-air roof at 229 m is the best view in Tokyo.
Omoide Yokocho yakitori2,000-3,000 JPY pp
Yamanote line five minutes to Shinjuku. Smoky postwar alleys by the west exit where 10-seat counters grill skewers; expect 2,000-3,000 JPY per person with a beer, some stalls add a small seating charge.
Golden Gai or the free Metropolitan Government viewFree-2,000 JPY
Golden Gai packs 200 tiny bars into six alleys; look for ones with prices posted and no cover, drinks 700-1,000 JPY. Teetotal alternative: the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building north observatory at 202 m is free until 22:00 (last entry 21:30).
Market breakfast, garden, and department-store Tokyo, all within a 2 km walk, then one short train out to the bay for teamLab in the evening slot when tickets are easier to get.
Tsukiji Outer Market breakfast2,000-4,000 JPY pp
The inner wholesale market moved to Toyosu but the outer market still has 400-odd shops. Graze: tamagoyaki skewers about 200 JPY, grilled scallops, then a tuna don (2,000-3,500 JPY). Most stalls wind down by 14:00.
Hamarikyu Gardens300 JPY entry
A 10 minute walk south: an Edo-era duck-hunting garden with a tidal pond, skyscrapers behind. Matcha and a sweet at the Nakajima teahouse on the island runs about 1,000 JPY.
Ginza lunch and shopping1,500-2,500 JPY pp lunch
Walk 15 minutes north. Lunch sets at katsu and sushi counters run 1,500-2,500 JPY for food that costs triple at dinner. Then Itoya (12 floors of stationery) and the Uniqlo global flagship.
Kabukiza single-act ticket1,000-2,000 JPY
The kabuki theater sells cheap single-act (hitomaku-mi) tickets online for that day: 40-90 minutes of full-production kabuki from the fourth floor without committing to a four-hour program.
teamLab Planets, Toyosu3,800-4,200 JPY depending on date
Yurakucho line to Toyosu then a short walk, or the Yurikamome from Shimbashi for the elevated bay views. You wade barefoot through water installations here; wear trousers you can roll up. Book two to three weeks ahead.
Dinner under the Yurakucho arches2,500-4,000 JPY pp
Back toward Ginza: the gado-shita izakaya strip under the elevated train tracks between Yurakucho and Shimbashi, yakitori and beer with trains rattling overhead.
Japan's 13th-century samurai capital, one direct train from Tokyo Station. Temples in the morning, the Great Buddha and the coast in the afternoon, back by dinner.
JR Yokosuka line to Kamakura950 JPY
Direct from Tokyo Station, about 55 minutes, around 950 JPY each way on your Suica. Sit on the right for glimpses of the coast at the end.
Tsurugaoka Hachimangu and Komachi-doriFree; snacks 300-600 JPY
Kamakura's grand Shinto shrine at the top of a long ceremonial approach. Walk back down via Komachi-dori's snack street: sweet-potato soft serve and rice crackers.
Hasedera temple400 JPY
Ride the tiny Enoden line two stops to Hase (or buy its 800 JPY day pass). Hillside temple with a 9 m eleven-headed Kannon, a bay view terrace, and hydrangea paths that mob out in June.
Shirasu-don lunch near Hase1,200-1,800 JPY pp
The local specialty is shirasu (whitefish) over rice, about 1,200-1,800 JPY at the family places between Hasedera and the Buddha.
Kotoku-in Great Buddha300 JPY
The 13.35 m bronze Amida Buddha has sat in the open air since a tsunami took its hall in 1498. Five minutes from Hasedera on foot.
Enoden to Enoshima260 JPY train; island free
The little train runs between houses and then right along the beach. Cross the causeway onto Enoshima island, climb through the shrine gates, and look for Mount Fuji to the west on clear days.
Return via Fujisawa650 JPY train
Odakyu line from Katase-Enoshima back to Shinjuku, about 70 minutes for around 650 JPY. Dinner near your hotel; you have earned a conveyor-belt sushi night.
Tokyo's most livable corner in the morning, then art and a final skyline in Roppongi. Everything before dinner sits on a 3 km walkable arc through Nakameguro, Daikanyama, and Ebisu.
Nakameguro canal walk500 JPY coffee
The Meguro River is lined with cherry trees (spectacular late March) and small shops. Coffee at Onibus, a converted two-story house by the tracks, about 500 JPY.
Daikanyama T-SiteFree to browse
Fifteen minutes uphill: the Tsutaya bookstore campus that made every design magazine, plus the surrounding boutiques and Log Road's converted rail-line strip.
Ramen at the original Afuri, Ebisu1,200-1,600 JPY pp
Walk down to Ebisu for the original branch of the yuzu ramen shop, about 1,400 JPY from the ticket machine. Alternative: the Ebisu Yokocho alley if you want variety.
Mori Art Museum, Roppongi HillsAbout 2,000 JPY, varies by exhibition
Hibiya line two stops to Roppongi. Contemporary art on the 53rd floor with the Tokyo City View observatory attached; open until 22:00 most nights (until 17:00 Tuesdays).
Azabudai Hills and Tokyo Tower1,500 JPY main deck
Walk 15 minutes east through the new Azabudai Hills district to Tokyo Tower, and go up the 150 m main deck at dusk when the tower lights come on.
Farewell dinner at Gonpachi4,000-6,000 JPY pp
The cavernous Nishi-Azabu izakaya that inspired the Kill Bill set: skewers, soba, and theater. Book a few days ahead; 4,000-6,000 JPY per person. Quieter option: any Ebisu izakaya you passed at lunch.
Trains do everything. Add Suica to Apple Pay or Google Wallet, or buy a Welcome Suica card at the airport, and tap in everywhere: metro rides run 180-330 JPY, JR Yamanote loop rides 150-170 JPY. If you will ride the subway a lot, the tourists-only 72-hour Tokyo Subway Ticket is 1,500 JPY and covers all Tokyo Metro and Toei lines (not JR), sold at airports and BIC Camera stores. Trains stop around midnight to 01:00 and taxis start at 500 JPY, so plan the last train or budget 6,000 JPY plus for a cross-town cab. From Narita take the Keisei Skyliner to Ueno (2,570 JPY, 41 minutes); from Haneda the Keikyu line reaches Shinagawa in about 15 minutes for around 330 JPY.
Shinjuku
The best-connected hub in the city: JR, metro, and the direct Narita and Haneda services all stop here, and the neighborhood itself fills two evenings with Omoide Yokocho and Golden Gai. Book the east side for nightlife, the west for quieter hotel towers.
Asakusa
Old Tokyo at two-thirds the price of the west side, with Senso-ji on your doorstep and direct Ginza line access. Quiet after 20:00, which is either a flaw or the whole point.
Shibuya or Ebisu
Best for nightlife and food density, with the Yamanote line linking you everywhere. Ebisu, one stop south, gets you the same access with calmer streets and some of the best izakaya in Tokyo.
Put Suica in your phone wallet before you land (Apple Pay adds it in a minute); it pays for trains, buses, konbini, vending machines, and most taxis. Keep 10,000-20,000 JPY in cash anyway for ticket-machine ramen shops and small shrines.
The 72-hour Tokyo Subway Ticket (1,500 JPY, passport required) pays for itself in five rides a day, but remember it excludes JR lines like the Yamanote loop.
Book Shibuya Sky the moment your dates are fixed; sunset slots go weeks out. teamLab Planets needs two to three weeks. The Ghibli Museum is a lottery-like sale on the 10th of the month prior at 10:00 JST and sells out in minutes.
Most museums close Mondays (Tokyo National Museum, Ghibli, many others). Plan museum days accordingly; Mori Art Museum is the useful exception, closing Tuesdays instead.
Eat your expensive meals at lunch: 1,500 JPY lunch sets at places charging 5,000 JPY at dinner. After 19:00, department store food halls (depachika) discount their bento 30-50 percent.
Carry a small bag for your trash; public bins vanished from Tokyo streets years ago and eating while walking is frowned on. Konbini have bins for things you bought there.
Last trains leave around midnight and the network does not restart until about 05:00. If you stay out in Golden Gai past 00:30, you are committing to a taxi or a very late night.
Five days covers the major neighborhoods (Asakusa, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ginza, Harajuku) at a humane pace plus one day trip, which is more than most first visits manage. What it does not allow: two day trips. If you want Hakone or Nikko as well as Kamakura, add a sixth day rather than compressing the city days, because Tokyo distances eat schedule slack fast.
Budget 10,000-16,000 JPY per person per day on the ground: 3,500-6,000 JPY on food if you do ticket-machine lunches and one bigger dinner, 800-1,000 JPY transit, 2,000-4,000 JPY on admissions, plus incidentals. Hotels run from about 15,000 JPY a night for a clean business-hotel double in Asakusa or Ueno to 35,000 JPY and up in Shibuya or Shinjuku.
No. The 7-day national JR Pass costs 50,000 JPY and only makes sense with long-distance shinkansen travel (a Tokyo-Kyoto round trip alone is about 28,000 JPY). Inside Tokyo you will spend 800-1,000 JPY a day on trains with a Suica, and even the Kamakura day trip is under 2,000 JPY round trip on regular JR lines.
Three genuinely need it: Shibuya Sky (sunset slots sell out weeks ahead), teamLab Planets (two to three weeks for weekends), and the Ghibli Museum (monthly sale on the 10th, gone in minutes). The Skytree, Tokyo Tower, and major museums can be booked a day ahead or walked into outside holidays. Popular restaurants and any sushi counter over 10,000 JPY should be reserved when you book flights, often via your hotel concierge or TableCheck.
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