Tokyo, Japan 4 Day Itinerary
4-Day Tokyo Itinerary
Tokyo has more Michelin stars than any other city in the world. It has held this record for years and the margin is not close. This is the least useful fact about eating in Tokyo, because the restaurants that matter most to how you actually experience the city cost between 600 and 1,200 yen for a bowl of something exceptional and have six seats. The ramen shop, the standing sushi counter, the basement tonkatsu place with a handwritten menu: these are what Tokyo’s food culture actually is. The Michelin stars are a footnote.
The same logic applies to the city generally: the things that make Tokyo worth four days are not the landmarks on every itinerary, though some of those are excellent. They are the neighbourhoods that work at street level, the transit system that is the best in the world, and a culture of craft and specificity that extends from the third-generation knife sharpener in Kappabashi to the izakaya that has served the same three dishes since 1962.
Getting There: Airport Transfer
Haneda (HND) is the closer airport, 15 to 20 kilometres from central Tokyo. The Keikyu Line reaches Shinagawa in 13 minutes (around JPY 310); the Tokyo Monorail reaches Hamamatsucho in 20 minutes (JPY 500). Both connect easily to the broader metro network. A taxi from Haneda runs JPY 6,000 to 9,000 depending on destination and traffic.
Narita (NRT) is 60 to 70 kilometres east of the city. The Keisei Skyliner is the best option: 41 minutes to Nippori (JPY 2,570), from which JR and metro connections reach most of Tokyo quickly. A Narita taxi costs JPY 20,000 to 25,000 and is not worth it unless you have a very specific reason.
Get a Suica or Pasmo IC card immediately upon arrival. Both are contactless smart cards usable on every train, metro, and most buses in Tokyo. In 2026, a Tourist PASMO card is available at both airports. Load JPY 3,000 to 5,000 initially; you can top up at any station machine. The card also works at convenience stores, vending machines, and coin lockers throughout the city. Using one instead of buying individual tickets saves approximately 30 minutes per day of queue time. You can also add a Suica to your Apple Wallet digitally.
Japan entry: Register your arrival details via Visit Japan Web before departure. Japan requires your passport to be valid only for the duration of your stay, though six months’ validity is the standard travel guideline. Many nationalities enter Japan visa-free for 90 days; check your specific passport against Japan’s current exemption list.
Where to Stay
Shinjuku is the most practical base: the station connects to every major line including the Narita Express and Keikyu, and the neighbourhood contains everything from high-end hotels to excellent budget options. Hotel Gracery Shinjuku (mid-range, rooms themed around Godzilla, which is either appealing or alarming) and Tokyu Stay Shinjuku (mid-range, good amenities) are both well-placed. The Park Hyatt on the upper floors of the Shinjuku Park Tower occupies the space made famous by Lost in Translation; the price is commensurate with that heritage.
Asakusa is a better base for first-timers who want to walk to old Tokyo, since Senso-ji and the traditional craft streets are outside the door, and the Asakusa and Asakusa-bashi areas have good value business hotels.
For those who prefer a quieter neighbourhood, Yanaka has small guesthouses and the best preserved pre-war streetscape in Tokyo.
Day 1: Tsukiji, Hamarikyu, Shibuya
Morning: Tsukiji Outer Market
The inner wholesale market moved to Toyosu in 2018, but the Tsukiji outer market remains: a dense grid of food stalls and restaurants selling sashimi, oysters, tamagoyaki (sweet rolled omelette), and every manner of pickled, dried, and fermented Japanese ingredient. Arrive by 7:30 AM for the best selection. A tuna sashimi breakfast bowl (maguro don) at one of the many counters costs JPY 1,000 to 2,000 and is better than most things you will eat in any restaurant that evening.
Late Morning: Hamarikyu Gardens
A 15-minute walk from Tsukiji, the Hamarikyu Gardens are a daimyo estate from the Edo period now operated as a public park at the edge of Tokyo Bay. The tidal pond at the centre changes with the sea; the plum and cherry trees are spectacular in season. Admission is JPY 300. The contrast between the garden’s relative calm and the expressway interchange overhead is characteristic of Tokyo.
Afternoon: Shibuya
Shibuya Crossing is the busiest pedestrian intersection in the world; the scramble that fires in all directions when lights change has become the defining visual shorthand for Tokyo. The crossing is best observed from above: the Mag’s Park observation point at the top of Shibuya 109 is free, or reserve a table at the café in the Shibuya Sky tower for the elevated view. The crossing itself is much less interesting at street level than from above.
The Shibuya neighbourhood beyond the crossing has been undergoing massive redevelopment since 2019. The Shibuya Scramble Square tower and Shibuya Stream have added significant architecture; the underlying neighbourhood of back streets with izakaya and live music venues remains intact a few minutes from the main drag.
Evening: Shimokitazawa
Take the Keio Inokashira Line two stops from Shibuya to Shimokitazawa. This is the neighbourhood that Tokyo residents point to when asked where they actually spend leisure time: concentrated vintage clothing shops, independent bookshops, vinyl record stores, live music venues (most run small shows from 7 PM), and a soup curry restaurant scene that extends into the late evening. Dinner at any of the izakaya on the back streets costs JPY 2,000 to 4,000 with drinks.
Day 2: Asakusa, Yanaka, Akihabara
Morning: Senso-ji Temple, Asakusa
Tokyo’s oldest temple, founded in 628 CE, is also one of its busiest. Arrive before 8 AM to have the main hall to yourself; the Nakamise approach road of souvenir stalls does not fully open until 10 AM but the temple grounds are accessible from early morning. The Kaminarimon gate and its famous red lantern are the standard photograph. More interesting is the Senso-ji main hall itself and the smaller Asakusa Shrine adjacent.
After the temple, Kappabashi Street (10 minutes northwest of Senso-ji) is the wholesale district for restaurant equipment and food-presentation materials. The food replicas in the shop windows (plastic sushi, wax ramen bowls, silicone tempura) are made here and are one of the few genuinely distinctive Tokyo souvenirs that are also useful objects.
Late Morning: Yanaka
Yanaka survived the firebombing raids of 1945, which makes it structurally unique in central Tokyo: a neighbourhood of wooden shophouses, a covered shopping street (Yanaka Ginza), family-run restaurants open since the postwar period, and a cemetery that doubles as the most atmospheric walk in the city. The Yanaka Cemetery is not morbid in the way Western cemeteries read; cherry blossom viewing (hanami) takes place here every April. The Nezu Shrine at the southern edge of the area is less visited than Fushimi Inari in Kyoto but has a similar tunnel of torii gates.
Afternoon: Akihabara
Akihabara is the electronics and anime district. The electronics floors of Yodobashi Camera are genuinely impressive in scale and selection; the anime and manga shops on the side streets cater to a fandom culture that is specific and deeply serious. Whether this interests you is a reliable self-sorting mechanism for the neighbourhood.
Evening: Ueno
Ueno is ten minutes from Akihabara by foot or a single metro stop. The Ueno-Okachimachi area along Ameyoko Market is a street market running under the elevated train tracks with food, clothing, and goods at prices significantly below the rest of Tokyo. The evening stalls selling yakitori and takoyaki (octopus dumplings) with beer are one of the more enjoyable cheap dinners in the city.
Day 3: Meiji Shrine, Harajuku, teamLab
Morning: Meiji Shrine and Yoyogi Park
Meiji Shrine is a Shinto shrine in a 70-hectare forest of cedars and cypresses, built in 1920 to enshrine Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. The main approach via the southern Omotesando entrance passes under a 12-metre-tall wooden torii before entering a forest that makes it genuinely difficult to remember you are in the centre of a city of 14 million. The shrine is free and open daily; Sunday mornings occasionally have traditional ceremonies.
Yoyogi Park immediately adjacent is the largest park in central Tokyo. On weekends, it draws an extraordinary range of activity: rockabilly dancers in one corner, families, joggers, food trucks, and occasionally small festivals.
Late Morning: Harajuku and Omotesando
Takeshita Street is the teen fashion street; crowded, idiosyncratic, and best experienced with some detachment. Omotesando, two minutes south, is the luxury retail street: the Omotesando Hills mall by Tadao Ando is architectural enough to be worth entering; the Prada and Louis Vuitton buildings by Herzog & de Meuron and Jun Aoki respectively are worth noting from the street. The side streets off Omotesando (Ura-Harajuku) have the better independent fashion and homeware shops.
Afternoon: teamLab Borderless or teamLab Planets
teamLab operates two Tokyo venues: Borderless (reopened 2024 in Azabudai Hills) and Planets (Toyosu). Both are immersive digital art environments using projection across entire rooms; both are consistently among the most-visited attractions in Tokyo and book up weeks ahead. Borderless is the larger and more architecturally ambitious; Planets is more focused and can be done in 90 minutes. Book in advance at teamlab.art. Tickets are typically JPY 3,200 to 3,800.
Evening: Shinjuku
Shinjuku’s Golden Gai is the most singular drinking district in Japan: six alleys of approximately 280 tiny bars, each seating 5 to 10 people, some specialising (jazz, punk, poetry, horror film), most requiring no more than the capacity to sit down and drink. A beer costs JPY 600 to 1,000 and many bars charge a small cover (JPY 500 to 1,000). The district is impossible to explain fully in advance and very easy to spend three hours in without noticing.
Day 4: Roppongi, Ginza, Departure
Morning: Roppongi Art Triangle
The “Art Triangle Roppongi” is a marketing name for three serious museums within walking distance: the Mori Art Museum on the 53rd floor of Roppongi Hills Mori Tower (contemporary art, with the Tokyo City View observation deck at the same price), the National Art Center (architecture by Kisho Kurokawa, large temporary exhibitions), and the Suntory Museum of Art in Midtown Tokyo. The Mori has the best permanent programming and the view is exceptional; the combination ticket for exhibition and Tokyo City View is around JPY 2,400.
Afternoon: Ginza
Ginza is Tokyo’s luxury shopping district but also the location of the Itoya stationery store (nine floors of Japanese stationery, craft paper, and writing instruments, which is specific but excellent), the Kabukiza Theatre (traditional Kabuki runs most months; single-act tickets are available without a full-day commitment at around JPY 1,000 to 2,000), and the Tsukiji Outer Market is 15 minutes on foot if you want a second visit.
Before Departure
Luggage forwarding (takuhaibin) from your hotel to Narita or Haneda airport costs around JPY 1,500 to 2,000 per bag and allows you to spend your last day bag-free on the metro. Book via the hotel concierge the evening before. It is one of the most useful logistics options in Japan and is rarely mentioned in guides aimed at Western travellers.
Transit Notes and a Real Scam Warning
Tokyo’s metro and JR network is the most reliable urban transit system in the world. The Suica IC card covers virtually all of it. Individual journey fares range from JPY 170 to 300 for most in-city trips. Taxis exist but are expensive (JPY 730 flag-fall) and slow in traffic; Uber and DiDi operate and show the price before departure.
The one genuine scam worth flagging: taxi drivers at tourist-heavy areas (Shibuya, Shinjuku station east exit) occasionally quote flat rates rather than using the meter. The flat rate is always higher than metered. Insist on the meter or use the ride-hailing apps. Official taxis from the designated stands at major stations are reliable; avoid anyone who approaches you unprompted.
The Robot Restaurant in Shinjuku, previously on most tourist itineraries, closed permanently. Skip any reference to it in older guides.