Tokyo Attractions: 16 Top Sights and Day Trips With Prices
Apr 16, 2024
Tokyo runs on a schedule most visitors discover too late. At 7:00 a.m. you can stand almost alone in front of a 1,400-year-old temple. By 9:00 you can be eating a tuna rice bowl at a market stall. By noon that same temple has a line out to the street, and the people in it have been awake for hours doing nothing.
Start with Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa, Meiji Jingu in Harajuku, Shibuya Crossing and Shinjuku Gyoen. Most of Tokyo's best attractions are free or cost less than ¥1,000, and the ones that sell out are easy to spot: anything with a timed ticket. With extra days, Kamakura and Hakone make easy day trips, and Nikko and the Mount Fuji area sit about two hours out.
Senso-ji is Tokyo's oldest temple and one of the most visited sights in the city. You enter through Kaminarimon, the gate with the giant red lantern. From there, the Nakamise-dori street of snack and souvenir stalls leads to the main hall.
Entry is free. The main hall opens at 6:00 a.m. and closes at 5:00 p.m., opening half an hour later from October through March, according to Senso-ji's official site. The grounds stay open after that, lit up and nearly empty. Asakusa Station is a few minutes' walk away on the Ginza, Asakusa and Tobu lines.
Go before 9:00 a.m. or after dark to miss the midday tour groups. Asakusa has much more than the temple, from rickshaw rides to Sumida River cruises.
The Meiji Shrine honors Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. It opened in 1920 and sits in a large forest next to Harajuku Station. Walking the gravel approach under the torii gates takes about 10 minutes and feels nothing like the streets outside.
The shrine is free and open from sunrise to sunset, so closing time slides from 4:00 p.m. in December to 6:30 p.m. in June. Inside the grounds, the Inner Garden costs ¥500. It peaks in June, when about 1,500 iris plants bloom. The Meiji Jingu Museum charges ¥1,000 for adults and closes on Thursdays. Both JR Harajuku Station and Meiji-jingumae Station put you at the entrance.
At the shrine you can buy charms or write a wish on an ema, a small wooden plaque left hanging for the priests. When you leave, Takeshita Street in Harajuku is five minutes away, packed with crepe stands and youth fashion shops. It's busiest on weekend afternoons, so pair a weekday morning at the shrine with lunch in Harajuku.
Shibuya Crossing is the scramble intersection outside Shibuya Station's Hachiko exit, where every light turns red at once and hundreds of people cross in all directions. Walking across is free, and the crossing is busiest right after dark on a Friday.
For a view from above, try the second-floor windows of the station buildings or pay for the Shibuya Sky rooftop, which costs ¥2,700 online before 3:00 p.m. and ¥3,400 for later slots. Sunset times sell out days ahead.
Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden was a residence of the Naito family in the Edo period and became an imperial garden before opening to the public after World War II.
The grounds mix a French formal garden, an English landscape garden and a traditional Japanese garden with ponds and teahouses.
Adults pay ¥500 and children 15 and under get in free. The garden opens at 9:00 a.m. and closes at 6:00 p.m. from March 15 through September, or 4:30 p.m. through the winter. It shuts on Mondays, except during cherry blossom season and the chrysanthemum exhibition in early November, per the Ministry of the Environment's garden page.
It's a 10-minute walk from the south exit of Shinjuku Station. Alcohol isn't allowed inside, which makes this the calmest of Tokyo's big cherry blossom spots.
The wholesale Tsukiji Fish Market moved to Toyosu in October 2018, but the outer market's hundreds of small shops and restaurants stayed. This is where you eat tamagoyaki on a stick, grilled scallops and bowls of sashimi over rice for breakfast.
Walking through costs nothing, and most stalls charge ¥300 to ¥1,500 a plate. The market asks visitors to come after 9:00 a.m., since the early hours belong to professional buyers. Most shops close by 2:00 p.m., according to the Tsukiji Outer Market calendar. Many shut on Sundays, public holidays and wholesale market holidays.
Take the Hibiya Line to Tsukiji Station, or walk 10 minutes from Ginza. Go on a weekday around 9:30 a.m. for the best selection. If you want to see the tuna auction, that now happens at Toyosu Market, where places on the lower deck are assigned by online lottery. Anyone can watch from the second-floor walkway without entering the lottery.
teamLab runs two digital art museums in Tokyo, and they are the city's hardest tickets to get on short notice. teamLab Planets in Toyosu has you walk barefoot through shin-deep water and mirrored rooms. teamLab Borderless moved from Odaiba to Azabudai Hills in February 2024.
Planets costs ¥3,800 for adults and runs through the end of 2027. Borderless charges ¥3,600 to ¥5,600 depending on the date, per teamLab's Borderless page. Both use timed entry and sell out on weekends and school holidays, so book before you fly.
Shin-Toyosu Station serves Planets, and Kamiyacho or Roppongi-itchome serve Borderless. Wear shorts or pants you can roll up for Planets, since you wade through water in several rooms.
At 634 meters, Tokyo Skytree is the tallest tower in the world according to Guinness World Records, and it's a 20-minute walk or one train stop from Asakusa. Since April 2026 the price changes by date: ¥1,800–3,600 for the Tembo Deck at 350 meters, or ¥3,000–4,800 for the combined ticket with the Tembo Galleria at 450 meters.
The base of the tower has the Tokyo Solamachi shopping mall and the Sumida Aquarium, so it's an easy half day to combine with Senso-ji and a good rainy-day option.
Akihabara is the anime and electronics capital of Tokyo, two stops from Tokyo Station on the JR Yamanote Line. It started as a market for radio and electronics parts after World War II and is now the city's center for anime, manga, retro video games and figures.
On Sundays, Chuo-dori closes to cars from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. between April and September, and until 5:00 p.m. from October through March, according to the Akihabara Tourism Promotion Association. It's cancelled in bad weather.
For shopping, start at the multi-floor stores along Chuo-dori, then work through the side streets for used games and collectible shops. Akihabara is also a popular shopping and entertainment district for maid cafes, where staff dressed as maids serve drinks and snacks. Most charge an entry fee on top of food.
Odaiba is a man-made island in Tokyo Bay, reached by the driverless Yurikamome line or on foot across Rainbow Bridge. It has changed more than any other part of Tokyo since 2021. Palette Town closed in stages between 2021 and 2022, which shut the VenusFort mall and the Mega Web car showroom along with the Ferris wheel and Zepp Tokyo. The Unicorn Gundam statue outside DiverCity Tokyo Plaza ended its display on August 31, 2026, according to the official Gundam statue site.
What still draws visitors:
Odaiba Seaside Park: a free beach walk facing Rainbow Bridge.
Tokyo Aqua Symphony: a free fountain show in the bay that opened in March 2026.
Miraikan: the national science museum, good in bad weather.
Tokyo Joypolis: an indoor amusement park at DECKS.
Come in the late afternoon. Watch the fountains, then see Rainbow Bridge light up from the beach after sunset.
Ueno Park is a large public park next to JR Ueno Station, and it's free to enter. It holds several of Japan's major museums along with Ueno Zoo and Shinobazu Pond, where you can rent pedal boats. In late March and early April, its main path is one of Tokyo's busiest cherry blossom spots.
The Tokyo National Museum has the country's largest collection of Japanese art and artifacts, from samurai armor to Buddhist sculpture.
Adult admission is ¥1,000. It opens 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with late hours until 8:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and closes on Mondays, per the Tokyo National Museum.
The East Gardens sit on the grounds of the former Edo Castle, the seat of the Tokugawa Shogunate. You can climb the stone base of the old castle keep, walk the moats and see a Japanese garden that changes with the season.
Entry is free. The gardens open at 9:00 a.m. and close between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. depending on the season, according to the Imperial Household Agency. They close every Monday and Friday, which catches out more visitors than any other rule in this guide.
Enter at Ote-mon gate, a 10-minute walk from the Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station. The inner palace grounds are separate and open only on guided tours or for the New Year and Emperor's Birthday greetings.
Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea sit next to each other in Urayasu, about 15 minutes from Tokyo Station on the JR Keiyo Line. Disneyland follows the classic layout of the California park. DisneySea is unique to Tokyo, built around the water, with more rides aimed at teens and adults.
DisneySea now has eight themed areas, called ports. The newest port is Fantasy Springs, which opened in June 2024 with areas based on *Frozen*, *Tangled* and *Peter Pan*. Journey to the Center of the Earth, set inside the volcano at Mysterious Island, is still one of the most popular rides in either park.
Price: a 1-Day Passport for adults starts at ¥8,900, and most dates from September 2026 through January 2027 run ¥9,900–12,400, per the Tokyo Disney Resort ticket page.
Tickets: dated and sold online only, up to two months ahead.
Hours: vary by day, often 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Getting there: Maihama Station, then the monorail for DisneySea.
We'll build a costed, pre-planned Japan itinerary you can customise to your taste.
These four day trips are the most popular from Tokyo. Each works as a single day, though Hakone and the Mount Fuji area are better with an overnight stay.
Kamakura, in Kanagawa Prefecture, was Japan's political capital from the late 12th century. Today it has dozens of temples and shrines, plus a surf beach and hiking trails that link the hill temples with the Great Buddha.
The main sight is the Great Buddha at Kotoku-in, a bronze statue about 11.3 meters tall that has sat in the open air since its temple hall was destroyed centuries ago.
Admission is ¥300, plus ¥50 to step inside the statue, per Kotoku-in's official site. It's open 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., closing half an hour earlier from October through March.
Kamakura is about an hour from Tokyo Station on the JR Yokosuka Line, then a short ride on the Enoden train to Hase and a seven-minute walk. Near Kamakura Station, Komachi-dori is lined with snack shops selling local shirasu (whitebait) dishes.
Hakone, in western Kanagawa Prefecture, is a mountain hot spring area inside Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park.
It's one of the most famous hot spring towns in Japan, with ryokan, day-use baths and views of Mount Fuji on clear days.
The Odakyu Romancecar reaches Hakone-Yumoto from Shinjuku in about 80 minutes, with a reserved seat costing ¥1,200 each way on top of the fare. The Hakone Freepass costs ¥7,100 over two days. It covers the round trip plus local transport, including the ropeway and Lake Ashi boats, per Odakyu's Hakone Freepass page.
The classic loop takes the Hakone Tozan Railway uphill, crosses the ropeway over the steaming Owakudani valley and drops you at Lake Ashi for a boat to Hakone Shrine.
Nikko is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the mountains north of Tokyo. Its centerpiece is Nikko Toshogu, the shrine where Tokugawa Ieyasu is enshrined, with gold leaf and painted carvings covering almost every surface.
Adults pay ¥1,600 and school-age children ¥550. The shrine opens 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. from April through October and closes an hour earlier in winter, per Nikko Toshogu.
The Tobu SPACIA X runs from Asakusa to Tobu-Nikko in about 1 hour 50 minutes, with a standard adult seat at ¥3,140 to ¥3,540. JR Pass holders can ride the shinkansen to Utsunomiya and change to the JR Nikko Line.
Beyond the shrines, Lake Chuzenji and Kegon Falls are a bus ride up the mountain, and the elevator to the base of the falls costs ¥600. Fall colors peak around the lake in October.
Mount Fuji is Japan's highest mountain at 3,776 meters, and it sits on the border of Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures. For most visitors the best base is Lake Kawaguchiko on the Yamanashi side, with lake views, hotels that face the mountain and the Chureito Pagoda viewpoint a short train ride away.
By bus: highway buses from Shinjuku reach Kawaguchiko Station in about 1 hour 45 minutes for ¥2,200.
By train: the Fuji Excursion is faster and costs ¥4,200 with a reserved seat.
Best months: late fall through winter, when the air is clearest. Clouds usually hide the peak on summer afternoons.
Climbing: only in summer, with a ¥4,000 fee on every trail, according to the official Mount Fuji climbing site. The 2026 season ran from July to September 10 and has ended.
The Yoshida Trail also requires advance booking and caps climbers at 4,000 a day. If the outdoors is why you're coming, Fuji is only the start of Japan's natural beauty, from coastal parks to mountain trails.
Spring and fall are the easiest months to sightsee, and they are also the busiest. Each season changes which attractions are worth prioritizing.
Late March to early April: cherry blossoms at Shinjuku Gyoen and Ueno Park. Shinjuku Gyoen drops its Monday closure during blossom season and may require a reservation on peak days.
June: about 1,500 iris plants bloom in the Meiji Jingu Inner Garden, and the garden opens earlier and closes later that month. Rain is frequent, which makes teamLab and the museums useful backups.
July and August: hot and humid, often above 30°C, with haze that hides Mount Fuji on most afternoons. This is the only time you can climb Fuji.
October and November: fall colors peak around Lake Chuzenji in Nikko in October and reach central Tokyo's parks in late November.
December to February: the clearest air of the year and the best odds of seeing Mount Fuji from an observation deck or from the Kawaguchiko shore.
Avoid Golden Week, April 29 to May 5, and the Obon period in mid-August if you can. Domestic travel peaks then, trains fill up and hotel rates climb. New Year is quieter for crowds, but many shops and some attractions close from December 29 through January 3.
Tokyo is easy with children. Trains are clean and on time, and most big stations have elevators and baby rooms. Tokyo Disneyland and teamLab Planets top most kids' lists. Ueno Zoo and the Sumida Aquarium at Tokyo Skytree suit younger children, and the Miraikan science museum in Odaiba works better for older ones.
Plan early starts, since lines are shortest before 10:00 a.m. and most family attractions open by 9:00. Strollers are easy on the JR lines and harder in older subway stations, where elevators can be at the far end of the platform.
Plan at least three full days for the city and add one day for each day trip. Three days is enough for the main neighborhoods plus one museum or teamLab visit. With five days you can add Disney or a day trip to Kamakura or Hakone without rushing.
For a ready-made plan, this Tokyo and surroundings itinerary covers the city and Yokohama in five days.
If you want to base yourself in Tokyo and take several day trips, The Tokyo Radius itinerary spends eight days in the city with a night in Hakone.
Start in Asakusa on your first morning. Senso-ji is quiet early, and Tokyo Skytree is close by for the afternoon. On day two, go west to Meiji Jingu and Harajuku, then walk to Shibuya and finish in Shinjuku for dinner.
Keep each day to one side of the city. Tokyo's sights are far apart, and crossing town at 8:00 a.m. or 6:00 p.m. means standing on a packed train for 40 minutes.
Tokyo's trains and subways reach every attraction in this guide. Get a Suica card or Welcome Suica, a prepaid tourist version valid for 28 days, and tap in and out at the gates. Sales of regular Suica and PASMO cards have also resumed after the chip shortage.
The Japan Rail Pass rarely pays off for a Tokyo-only trip. A 7-day ordinary pass costs ¥50,000. The price for passes bought overseas rises to ¥53,000 on October 1, 2026, according to the official Japan Rail Pass site. It makes sense only if you're also taking the shinkansen to Kyoto or Osaka.
A hotel near a JR Yamanote Line station saves the most time. That loop connects Tokyo Station, Ueno, Shibuya and Shinjuku. You can also browse all our places to visit in and around Tokyo to book tours and tickets.
