Tokyo
Tokyo holds more Michelin stars than any other city on earth, and behind Harajuku it has a forest of a hundred thousand trees planted by hand in the 1920s.
Tokyo in a nutshell
Tokyo: what to expect
We read 138,000+ planned stops in the city on Stippl to see how Tokyo really gets planned.
Tokyo is navigated by station rather than by neighbourhood, and that is the thing to get straight first. Twenty-three wards, each with its own character, and one IC card that works on every train, subway and bus is the whole system. The short list is Shibuya Crossing by day and after dark, Senso-ji and the Nakamise approach at seven in the morning rather than at midday, the planted forest behind Meiji Shrine, and the alley bars of Golden Gai and Omoide Yokocho. Most travellers give Tokyo 3 nights on Stippl.
Two in five people sleep in Tokyo twice on the same trip, which is not how anyone plans it. 39.6% of the trips that include Tokyo on Stippl stay in the city more than once, because the airports pull you back through it at the end. Building that return leg in from the start beats discovering it while you are booking the last two nights.
Give it three nights on the way in and keep two for the end. Four or five days is what a first visit wants, and splitting them either side of the country is how most people end up spending them anyway. A food tour on the first day is the highest-value single booking, precisely because it settles how to order for the rest of the trip. Keep a morning for Senso-ji before the crowds and one afternoon for Yanaka, the low-rise quarter that survived both the earthquake and the firebombing.
Who Tokyo is for
Foodies
the single strongest theme: Tokyo holds more Michelin stars than any other city, and the cheap end (ramen counters, conveyor sushi, konbini) is genuinely good rather than merely survivable
First-timers in Asia
punctual trains, bilingual signage, no haggling and almost no scams make it the least frictional introduction to the continent
Art and design travellers
the Roppongi museum triangle, teamLab's two sites and the Nakameguro/Shimokitazawa design scene form a real circuit
Pop-culture travellers
Akihabara, Nakano Broadway and the arcade floors are a destination in themselves rather than a curiosity
Solo travellers
eating, drinking and sightseeing alone is culturally normal, and safety is close to absolute
Families
Ueno's museums and zoo, Odaiba's attractions and spotless public toilets everywhere lower the friction considerably
Maybe not for you: anyone hoping to improvise (headline attractions and the best restaurants need booking days to weeks ahead), strict vegetarians (dashi is in almost everything), and anyone who dislikes crowds in the last week of March and first week of April
When to go to Tokyo
Winter
December–February
the coldest and clearest stretch, quiet after New Year week, with February the quietest month of the year
Green season
May
after the first week; warm, dry and green, and the crowds have gone home
Tsuyu
June–mid July
the rainy season: humid and grey rather than tropical
Summer
mid July–August
real heat and humidity, festival and fireworks season, and Obon as the domestic peak
Autumn
September–November
typhoon risk in September, then the year's best weather: October and November are dry, mild and the months our own travellers choose
- Tokyo opens roughly a week before Kyoto; prices and crowds climb with the bloom and Golden Week closes it
- Japan's oldest and best-known fireworks festival, on the river behind Asakusa
- Sumida Park behind Senso-ji, Shinjuku Gyoen and the Meguro River at Nakameguro are the named spots
Add your Tokyo dates and we'll flag the weather
Stippl shows the season, crowds and prices for every stop on your route.
Describe your trip, get a Tokyo itinerary in seconds
Everything in this guide is already in Stippl. Tell the planner how long you have and what you like: it builds the route, the days and the travel times, and you edit whatever you want.
What not to miss in Tokyo
Shibuya Crossing, twice
once by day and once after dark, and from above as well as in it. The Shibuya Sky deck and the free MAGNET rooftop (drink required, from ~¥500) both overlook it; the famous Starbucket vantage point is closed for renovation
teamLab
two separate sites, Borderless and PLANETS. Borderless ¥3,800, closed the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month; PLANETS ¥3,200 and scheduled to close permanently at the end of 2027. Tickets sell out daily at both
Senso-ji and Nakamise, early
Tokyo's oldest temple and its approach street, which is a different place at seven in the morning than at midday
A sumo morning practice or a tournament
stables allow observation of morning training; tournaments run at Ryogoku in January, May and September
Meiji Shrine's forest
70 hectares of planted woodland immediately behind Harajuku, and the sharpest contrast the city offers
A food tour on the first day
repeatedly named the highest-value single booking, precisely because it resolves how to order
The neighbourhoods of Tokyo
Shinjuku
party
The all-in-one district: skyscrapers and department stores by day, Kabukicho's neon and Golden Gai's tiny bars by night. Shinjuku Gyoen garden and the Ni-chome queer quarter sit in the same ward
Kabukicho's neon and Golden Gai's tiny bars, all within one ward.
Shibuya
first visits
Youth-culture ground zero around the scramble crossing; fashion shopping, and Meiji Shrine's forest a few minutes away
The scramble crossing, plus Meiji Shrine's forest just minutes away.
Harajuku
fashion
Street fashion and kawaii culture on Takeshita Street, with Meiji Shrine's woods immediately behind it
Takeshita Street's kawaii fashion scene, with Meiji Shrine's woods right behind it.
Asakusa
budget travellers
The last district where Edo-era Tokyo is legible: Senso-ji, Nakamise street, rickshaws, and the cheapest beds in the centre
Senso-ji and Nakamise street, the most Edo-era corner of the city.
Ueno
museum days
Museum quarter: National Museum, Science Museum, zoo, in one park, plus the Ameyoko market's post-war grit
National Museum, Science Museum and the zoo all in one park, plus Ameyoko market.
Roppongi
art lovers
Art triangle by day (Mori, National Art Center, Suntory), the most international nightlife by night
The Mori, National Art Center and Suntory museums, all in one art triangle.
See every Tokyo neighbourhood on one map
Save the areas you like and Stippl plots your days so you're not crossing the city twice.
Where to stay in Tokyo
Four formats worth knowing: business hotel (small, cheap, immaculate), capsule (from ~€43), hostel (from ~€20), and ryokan (tatami and futon, €39–120)
Shinjuku
The all-in-one district: skyscrapers and department stores by day, Kabukicho's neon and Golden Gai's tiny bars by night. Shinjuku Gyoen garden and the Ni-chome queer quarter sit in the same ward
Shibuya
Youth-culture ground zero around the scramble crossing; fashion shopping, and Meiji Shrine's forest a few minutes away
Harajuku
Street fashion and kawaii culture on Takeshita Street, with Meiji Shrine's woods immediately behind it
Asakusa
The last district where Edo-era Tokyo is legible: Senso-ji, Nakamise street, rickshaws, and the cheapest beds in the centre
Ueno
Museum quarter: National Museum, Science Museum, zoo, in one park, plus the Ameyoko market's post-war grit
Roppongi
Art triangle by day (Mori, National Art Center, Suntory), the most international nightlife by night
What to eat in Tokyo
Regional broths; Tokyo style is soy-based shoyu
From ¥100 conveyor plates to omakase counters
Breaded pork cutlet with shredded cabbage
Charcoal-grilled skewers, eaten with beer
Tokyo's runnier answer to okonomiyaki
Onigiri, bento, egg sandwiches, genuinely good
Discover food spots in Stippl
Find restaurants and markets on the map, save them to your itinerary, works offline too.
Cultural highlights & etiquette
Country etiquette applies here
shoes off indoors, no tattoos at most public baths, tipping is not done, and chopsticks are never stood upright in rice
Silence on trains
phone calls are not made in carriages and conversation is quiet. This is the rule visitors break most visibly
Queue where the paint says
queueing is orderly and marked out on every platform
Stand left on the escalator
Tokyo stands left and walks right; Osaka is the inversion
Nobody eats while walking
people eat standing beside the stall they bought
Do
- Get an IC card (Suica or Pasmo) on arrival. It taps every train, subway and bus and most convenience stores
- Stand left on the escalator, and walk on the right. Osaka is the inversion
- Queue where the paint on the platform says to queue
- Use the coin lockers and the door-to-door luggage forwarding. They change how a Tokyo day works
- Book teamLab and any well-known restaurant days to weeks ahead
Don't
- Do not take phone calls in a train carriage, and keep conversation quiet. This is the rule visitors break most visibly
- Do not eat while walking; people eat standing beside the stall they bought
- Do not ride the subway at 07:00–09:00 or 17:00–20:00 with luggage
- Do not buy a JR Pass for a Tokyo-only stay. It covers no subway and neither the Odakyu line to Hakone nor the Tobu line to Nikko
- Do not base yourself near Narita to save money. It is about 60 km out and the transfer eats the saving twice
Daily budget in Tokyo
Backpacker
€35–50
Hostel dorm €20–32, konbini and ramen, subway pass, free shrines
Mid-range
€85–260
Business hotel or Airbnb €36–128, restaurant meals, paid attractions
Luxury
€300–560
4–5★ from €200, tasting menus, private guides
Track what you actually spend
Set a daily budget per country and log expenses in any currency while you travel.
Fun facts about Tokyo
Tokyo holds 194 Michelin-starred restaurants and 251 stars (2025 guide), more than any other city
Shinkansen average delays run under a minute, and operators issue formal apologies for delays over sixty seconds
Shibuya Crossing moves up to 3,000 people at once
Meiji Shrine's forest is entirely planted: around 100,000 trees donated from across Japan when the shrine was built in the 1920s
teamLab PLANETS is a fixed-term installation and is scheduled to close at the end of 2027
Local tips for Tokyo
Get an IC card on arrival
Suica or Pasmo works on every train, subway and bus and in convenience stores, and removes the need to price individual journeys
The JR Pass is wrong for Tokyo
it covers JR lines and the Shinkansen but not the subway, Odakyu to Hakone or Tobu to Nikko; it earns its price on inter-city travel, not on a city stay
Metro passes beat pay-as-you-go
Tokyo Metro sells 24/48/72-hour tourist passes at roughly €5/€8/€9.50, which earn their price on heavy sightseeing days
Avoid the subway at rush hour
the crush runs 07:00–09:00 and again 17:00–20:00
One of the safest big cities
violent crime against visitors is close to statistically absent
Kabukicho is the one exception
the Shinjuku nightlife district is the one area flagged for care at night: touts, drink-spiking scams and inflated bar bills rather than violence
Frequently asked questions about Tokyo
Front-load it and keep two nights back for the end. 79.4% of the trips that include Tokyo on Stippl start here, and most come back through the city to fly out. Lay both stays into the route in Stippl rather than treating Tokyo as one block. Then ask people who have done it, in subreddits like r/JapanTravel.
Nearly all of them: 88.0% of Japan trips planned on Stippl include Tokyo. It is the arrival airport for most of the country and the start of the rail corridor everything else hangs off, so a route that skips it is doing something deliberate rather than something normal.
For about one traveller in eight: 13.3% of the trips that include Tokyo on Stippl go nowhere else in the country. That is the city-break version, and it works because the day trips out to Hakone, Nikko and Mount Fuji all come back the same night.
It is what most people take, though a first visit wants four or five. Only 20.3% of Tokyo stops planned on Stippl are a single night, and those are almost always an arrival or a departure. The city is navigated by station, so a day covers one or two areas properly and not more.
Haneda if you have the choice, because it sits close in and the transfer is short. Narita is about sixty kilometres out and costs the better part of two hours each way. Flying into one Tokyo airport and out of Kansai near Osaka is standard, and it saves backtracking the length of the country.
Further ahead than for most destinations. Travellers leave 109 days between planning a Tokyo stop on Stippl and arriving, which is over three months, and Japan is planned earlier than any other country in our data. Beds and the headline attractions both reward that.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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