Length
6 days
Best time
October
Pace
Balanced
Includes
Guide + map + tips
from our notebook —
Why we loved Tokyo
Tokyo is the most overwhelming city we have ever loved immediately. You land, you drop your bags, and within a day you are crossing at Shibuya with a thousand people, driving a go-kart through real traffic dressed as a cartoon character, and squeezing into a Golden Gai bar with six stools and a bartender who has been there thirty years. The food alone justifies the flight: conveyor-belt sushi you order on a tablet, ramen so good it reorders your standards, and an omakase counter where each piece arrives in front of you and nobody says much.
Six days gives you the range, from the arcades of Shinjuku to the light rooms at teamLab Borderless to the temple at Senso-ji with the Skytree behind it. And then, when the city has had enough of you, you take the train out to Hakone for a day: a volcanic valley where they boil eggs black in the sulfur, a cruise across Lake Ashi, and a torii gate standing in the water. It is the exhale the trip needs, and then you come back for one more late night.
The trip at a glance.
Some of the highlights of the trip below. The rest? Inside the guide.
Day 1ShinjukuLate landing, one good drink
Arrival · Shinjuku · Bar Orchard
Landing, dropping bags, and one very good drink.
↳ the rest of this day's features and activities inside the guide!
Day 2Shibuya CrossingCrossings, karts, and neon
Shibuya Crossing and Meiji Jingu · Monkey Kart go-karting · Uobei sushi · Gonpachi
The crossing, then go-karts through real traffic in costume.
↳ the rest of this day's features and activities inside the guide!
Day 3Omoide YokochoGame centers, then tiny bars
Shinjuku arcades · Omoide Yokocho · Golden Gai bar hop · Bar Centifolia
Arcades in the afternoon, six-stool bars after dark.
↳ the rest of this day's features and activities inside the guide!
Day 4teamLab BorderlessMarket, sumo, and light
Tsukiji Market · sumo lunch · teamLab Borderless · RED Tokyo Tower · ATOM Tokyo
Breakfast at the market, sumo at lunch, and a building full of light.
↳ the rest of this day's features and activities inside the guide!
Day 5Senso-jiAnime, temples, early night
Akihabara · Kikanbo Ramen · Senso-ji and Skytree · The SG Club
Akihabara, the oldest temple in the city, and a proper cocktail bar.
↳ the rest of this day's features and activities inside the guide!
Day 6HakoneVolcano, lake, black eggs
Hakone Open-Air Museum · Owakudani black eggs · Lake Ashi cruise · Yurakucho Kakida omakase
A day out to the volcano and the lake, then omakase back in town.
↳ the rest of this day's features and activities inside the guide!
what you're getting —
What's inside.
Every Vacationary guide includes these four things. Yours from the moment you download.
Custom illustrated map
A hand-illustrated map for every destination, with every place we recommend pinned and labeled. Color-coded by category so you can see at a glance what's a beach, what's a meal, and what's a moment.
Day-by-day itinerary
Each day mapped out with timing, locations, restaurants, and activities. Built around how we actually traveled, with margin for sleep and improvisation.
Ground-level tips
What we learned that no blog mentioned. Where to get cash, what to avoid, when to book ahead, and the small things that make the trip easier when you're standing there figuring it out.
Local language guide
Common phrases and pronunciation notes for the places where English doesn't cover it. Enough to be polite, enough to be understood.
answers —
About this trip.
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Tokyo