Itinerary Advice: 3.5 days in Tokyo

Hello, I’ve scrolled through a few of these and would love any tips or recommendations.

I am pregnant, we’ll have our toddler, and my husbands preferred travel style is “go with the flow”. I’m trying not to overbook ourselves, and we’re trying to leave one day for wandering in each city, but I’m aware that Japan often requires advance booking and scheduling to ensure you can fit everything in. I’m keen to eat, explore and absorb the culture. Husband is also keen for those things but also a tech/machining geek. Recommendations in those areas welcome.

Staying in Ebisu. Entire stay in Tokyo is 27 Sept – 30 Sept (*remaining trip is 2 days Kanazawa, 2 days Takayama, 5 days Kyoto and 4 days Osaka*).

Day 1:
– landing 5:30am at Haneda
– check into hotel (*arranged early check in*)
– leave this day for wandering around Ebisu, Dainkanyama, maybe head up to Shibuya. Aiming for a relaxing day after our flight.

Day 2:
– teamLAB Planets (9-9:30 booking)
– *Tsukiji Outer Markets* (but I’ve heard it’s not great lately?)
– Ginza (food, shopping)
Is it too much to also consider adding these to this day:
– *Asakusa* (Senso-ji temple)
– *Akhibara*

Day 3:
– Shiyuba crossing
– *nintendo tokyo*?
– Meiji temple
– Harajuku

Day 4:
Check out of hotel by 11am, make our way via train (3.5 hours) to Kanazawa. Would like to arrive by or before dinner.

Are we missing out by not doing the imperial palace? Anything you’d add, remove, or change around? Any tips welcome. Thank you!

6 comments
  1. Even without travelling with a toddler, day 2 and 3 may be too ambitious.

    I think what may be good is if you can make a list in order of priority for each day and be okay with not being able to do things from number 2 onwards.

    Tourist trap gets thrown around a lot and tbh the only place I’ve ever felt was a tourist trap was Tsukiji Market this year. But I wouldn’t not visit it just because of what I said.

  2. Hi, hope you enjoy your stay here in Japan!

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    I think Day 3 is decent, because all the planned areas are close to each other and plans are controllable, whereas Day 2 looks quite busy. From transportation efficiency, if you take taxi from team Lab to Tsukiji, that can be easy and comfortable. From Tsukiji to Ginza is also close by, so I would suggest to choose one more place out of Akihabara or Asakusa.

  3. You can pass on imperial palace. You can’t even go inside. You can only visit the gardens. Not much to see.

    Btw, Nintendo Tokyo is in Shibuya Parco building. You can visit the shibuya scramble crossing first, then head to Shibuya Parco. If I’m not mistaken Nintendo is on the sixth floor. Just beside is the Pokemon Center. Might want to check it out too.

    Also, you might want to add Shibuya Sky? The place is very nice with views of Tokyo.

    Hope these help.

  4. Day 2: Tsukiji outer markers is ok. I still enjoyed it there. Crowded and nothing was phenomenal. But everything was there.

    Go to Asakusa in the day. Lots of great vendors around. Place is dead at night.

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