Tokyo, Four Sides: Shibuya → Asakusa → Shinjuku → Harajuku
Four neighbourhoods, four entirely different cities — a four-day route through the canonical Tokyo split. Sleep in a design hotel above the crossing, then a tatami room two minutes from a 7th-century temple, then a wood-panelled cocktail bar's worth of Shinjuku at 1am, then end with green tea on the Meiji Shrine path. Built around booked tickets so you never queue.
Entry requirements
Check visa requirements and passport validity for Tokyo before you travel. Requirements vary by nationality and may change.
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Itinerary
Train
Direct airport-to-Shibuya in 90 minutes — buy the 2-way Suica + N'EX combo at the airport JR window for the best discount.
Check-in
Cat Street's design-conscious base — half boutique, half coworking. Ask for a top-floor room on the Cat Street side, not the avenue.
Lunch
First Michelin-starred ramen shop on earth — go for the shōyu with truffle oil. Counter-only, 9 seats. Ticket vending machine at the entrance.
Immersive Art
Barefoot art installation in Toyosu — wade through knee-deep water mirrors and walk under cascading LED waterfalls. 90 minutes plus 20 min each way on the Yurakuchō Line.
Observation Deck
229m open-air rooftop above Scramble Square — pre-book the 18:00 slot to catch sunset behind Fuji on a clear day. Cleanest aerial shot of the crossing you'll get.
Dinner
Solo booth tonkotsu ramen — fill out the order chit (firmness, spice, garlic, extras), pass it through the bamboo window, get a bowl back in 4 minutes flat. Open 24h, queue moves fast.
Cocktails
Ebisu speakeasy on a side street — twelve seats, a 200-bottle absinthe wall, classics done sharper than the Ginza set. Ring the bell.
Breakfast
Onigiri, miso, grilled salmon — the most underrated hotel breakfast in town. Window seat on the second floor over Cat Street.
Metro
Direct shot on the orange Ginza Line — sit in the front carriage; the tunnel between Ueno and Asakusa is the oldest section of the Tokyo metro.
Temple Visit
Enter through the Kaminarimon thunder gate, walk 250m of stalls (taiyaki, age-manju, ningyō-yaki), then the main hall. Slip out the east side to the small Asakusa Shrine — quieter, prettier, almost everyone misses it.
Lunch
1937 okonomiyaki house in a wooden two-storey machiya — cook your own on the table teppan. Tables are 50cm off the floor; shoes at the door.
Check-in
Traditional ryokan four minutes from Senso-ji. Tatami room, futon laid out at turn-down, communal cypress bath on the top floor. Ask for room facing the Sumida.
Observation Deck
634m — tallest tower on the planet. Tembo Deck at 350m has the canonical view across to Fuji on a clear day; Tembo Galleria at 450m has the dramatic glass spiral but on hazy afternoons isn't worth the upgrade.
Walking Tour
Walk back from Skytree across Azumabashi bridge as the city lights kick in — Asahi golden flame to your right, Senso-ji's five-storey pagoda framed ahead.
Dinner
Sukiyaki house since 1895 — the Wagyu shimofuri-yose course, kimono-clad waitresses do the cooking at your table.
Breakfast
Grilled fish, miso, pickles, raw egg on rice, the works. Eat seated on the tatami; you'll regret nothing.
Metro
One transfer at Bakuroyokoyama. Stop at a Family Mart for a hot canned coffee — peak Tokyo morning.
Garden Visit
144 acres of Edo, French, and English garden inside the Yamanote loop. In April it's the city's best hanami spot; year-round it's the antidote to the surrounding skyscrapers.
Lunch
Tempura specialist since 1923 — counter seats, watch the chef fry to order. Get the omakase course and don't fill up on rice.
Observation Deck
The 1958 Eiffel-knockoff that still feels more lived-in than Skytree. Main Deck (150m) is enough — Top Deck Tour upgrade is for the city-light reflection in the floor glass.
Sake Tasting
Six pours across Yamadanishiki, Omachi, and Gohyakumangoku rice strains with an English-speaking host. Genuinely the fastest way to understand the difference between junmai-ginjō and daiginjō.
Dinner
Memory Lane — 70-odd yakitori stalls in a tight pre-war alley west of Shinjuku station. Pick the one with the most smoke and the loudest cook. Kashiwa (chicken thigh) and tsukune (meatball) skewers, draft Sapporo, no English menu, no problem.
Cocktails
Yes, the Lost in Translation bar. 52nd floor, jazz quartet, the Whisky Sour. The view of the Shinjuku grid below is more affecting than any photograph admits.
Breakfast
The Australian ricotta-hotcake import that became a Tokyo institution. Get a window seat overlooking Omotesando-dōri; order the hotcakes with honeycomb butter and the corn fritters.
Shrine Visit
Cedar forest in the middle of the city, sake-barrel offerings stacked at the second torii, the main shrine to the deified Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken at the centre. Try to catch a Shinto wedding procession around noon on weekends.
Lunch
Tonkatsu in a converted 1930s bathhouse — the kurobuta pork loin is the move. Skip the queue by going downstairs to the takeout side and eating in the patio out back.
Walking Tour
400m of Harajuku kawaii on Takeshita — crepes, photo booths, second-hand. Then crossover to Cat Street for the calmer side: A Bathing Ape, Kiddy Land, second-hand denim at Berberjin.
Architecture Walk
The mile-long avenue that doubles as a contemporary architecture portfolio: Tadao Ando's Omotesando Hills, Herzog & de Meuron's Prada, Kengo Kuma's Sunny Hills, SANAA's Dior, Toyo Ito's Tod's.
Park Visit
If it's a Sunday, the entrance hosts the Tokyo Rockabilly Club doing 1950s line-dance routines. Otherwise just sit on the lawn near the south gate and watch the city wind down.
Dinner
Zaiyu Hasegawa's nine-course tasting in Jingūmae — humorous, intensely seasonal, the famous "Dentucky Fried Chicken" course included. Book 60 days out exactly when reservations open. The right send-off.
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