Welcome to TOKYOAPP. We’re a small editorial team who’ve spent far too many hours riding the Yamanote Line, arguing about the best ramen in Shinjuku, and queuing at convenience stores for egg sandos we really didn’t need. This is the Tokyo travel guide we wish we’d had on our first trip.
No “hidden gems.” No “vibrant bustling metropolis” nonsense. Just honest, practical, nerdishly specific writing about where to go, what to skip, and how to actually get there — with yen prices, station exits, and takes you can’t really get from a guidebook.
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Start here
If this is your first time in Tokyo, or your tenth, these are the guides to begin with:
- First time in Tokyo? Read our first-timer’s guide to Tokyo — what to prioritise, what’s overrated, and how not to spend your first day jet-lagged in Asakusa.
- Planning your days? Our big list of things to do in Tokyo is the one-stop menu for the whole city.
- Just landed? Our Getting Around guides cover the airport trains, the metro, IC cards, and whether you actually need a JR Pass (spoiler: probably not).
Explore by neighbourhood
- Shibuya — crossing, Shibuya Sky, the eat-your-way-through-a-basement-food-hall district
- Shinjuku — Golden Gai, Omoide Yokocho, and a train station that takes a weekend to figure out
- Asakusa — Senso-ji, Nakamise-dori, and the old-Tokyo vibe everyone wants but few do properly
- Ueno — the park, the museums, Ameyoko market, and the best cherry blossoms in the city
- Akihabara — anime, retro games, weird electronics, maid cafes, and why the vibe has shifted since 2015
- Harajuku — Takeshita Street, Omotesando, and Meiji Shrine all in one afternoon
- Ginza — high-end shopping, basement food halls, and 3000-yen lunch sets you’ll remember for years
- Odaiba — the bayside island with teamLab, the Gundam, and views of the city you won’t get anywhere else
The big-ticket sights
- Tokyo Skytree — the tallest tower in Japan, and is it worth the ticket?
- Shibuya Sky — the newer, arguably better view from the top of Shibuya
- All the observation decks compared — from free (Metropolitan Government Building) to splurge
- Theme parks — Tokyo Disneyland, DisneySea, and whether the latter really is the world’s best theme park
TOKYOAPP is independent and reader-supported. We occasionally use affiliate links to hotels and tours. If you book through one, we earn a small commission — at no cost to you — which helps us keep writing. We only link to things we’d actually recommend to a friend.