One Week in Tokyo: Offbeat Itinerary
A full week in Tokyo means you can finally stop optimising every hour and let one day be genuinely loose. This is the 6-day plan plus a real catch-up day; if you’d rather use that extra day on Kamakura or Hakone instead, see the 7-day Beyond Tokyo route .
| Day | Focus |
|---|---|
| 1 | Old Tokyo: Tsukiji, Asakusa, Skytree, Akihabara |
| 2 | Youth culture: Meiji Shrine, Harajuku, Shibuya, Shinjuku |
| 3 | Modern Tokyo: teamLab, Tokyo Tower, Ginza |
| 4 | Ueno and Yanaka’s old shitamachi |
| 5 | Imperial Palace gardens, Shimokitazawa |
| 6 | Toyosu tuna deck, teamLab Planets, Odaiba |
| 7 | Catch-up day, souvenirs, sento |
Book these before you go:
- teamLab Borderless timed slot , ¥3,600-5,600
- Shibuya Sky sunset slot , sells out days ahead
- A hotel on the Yamanote loop on Agoda
Day 1: Old Tokyo, east side
Tsukiji Outer Market before the crowds thicken; the tuna auction and wholesale side moved to Toyosu in 2018, so this is stalls and grilled seafood breakfast, not the auction floor itself. Asakusa follows for Senso-ji, free, with Nakamise’s shopping street doubling as the city’s longest snack aisle. Tokyo Skytree, a short walk over the river, runs roughly ¥1,800-2,100 online, booked ahead. Akihabara closes the day.
Day 2: Youth culture, west side
Meiji Shrine to start, free, donation optional. The Harajuku exit lands you on Takeshita Street within thirty seconds. Shibuya takes the afternoon: the Scramble Crossing at ground level, then Shibuya Sky, roughly ¥2,700 before 3pm and ¥3,400 after. Shinjuku closes the day with the free 45th-floor observatories, which beat either paid deck. Dinner in Omoide Yokocho, drinks in Golden Gai.
Day 3: The modern stuff
teamLab Borderless, reopened at Azabudai Hills in 2024 after the original Odaiba site closed in 2022, needs a timed slot booked before you fly. Give it a real afternoon. Roppongi and Tokyo Tower are close enough for a dusk walk straight after. Ginza in the evening rounds out the day.
Day 4: Ueno and the old shitamachi
Ueno Park in the morning for the Tokyo National Museum and Ameyoko market’s louder, cheaper contrast. Yanaka in the afternoon, one of the few areas spared by WWII bombing, its narrow shitamachi backstreets and the long Yanaka Cemetery walk feeling like an earlier build of the city, inexplicably full of cat cafes.
Day 5: Slow morning, Imperial Palace, Shimokitazawa
Ease off deliberately. The Imperial Palace East Gardens are free, need no booking, and sit a short walk from Tokyo Station. Shimokitazawa takes the afternoon and evening, a good reset after four days of major sights.
Day 6: Toyosu and the waterfront
The wholesale market that used to sit at Tsukiji lives here now, and Toyosu is worth the trip for a sushi breakfast watched over from the public observation deck alone. teamLab Planets, also in Toyosu, is wetter and more physical than Borderless, priced ¥3,800 weekdays and ¥4,200 weekends and holidays, worth booking even as a second teamLab visit since the two barely overlap. Odaiba is a short hop further for a waterfront walk, a Rainbow Bridge view, and the giant Gundam statue anchoring DiverCity Tokyo Plaza.
Day 7: Whatever you didn’t get to, plus souvenirs
What should you actually do with a genuinely free day?
Double back. Missed a sold-out Shibuya Sky slot, or want a second pass through Senso-ji before the crowds arrive, or simply liked Yanaka enough to go back for a longer coffee: do that. If you booked the Ghibli Museum, it likely landed here or on day six, since tickets release on the 10th of the month for entry about a month out and vanish within minutes.
Spend part of the afternoon in a depachika for gifts that travel well: boxed sweets, tea, small ceramics. An urban sento or onsen facility is a genuinely good way to spend your last evening, soaking out a week of walking before a flight undoes it in economy class.
Where to stay, eating, and transport
Shinjuku or Asakusa both work well as a base. Compare rates on Agoda . Get a Suica or Pasmo IC card on arrival. Conveyor-belt sushi chains run around ¥120 a plate; ramen is ¥800-1,200 a bowl; izakaya dinners land ¥2,500-4,500 with drinks.
Skip the nationwide JR Pass if this trip stays inside Tokyo, it runs roughly ¥50,000 for seven days, and paying per ride with an IC card comes out cheaper. Cash still matters at smaller stalls, tipping isn’t customary anywhere here, and last trains stop around midnight, with taxis afterward adding a 20% night surcharge.
Book teamLab, Shibuya Sky, and the Ghibli Museum, if any are on your list, before you leave home. A full week gives you room to be spontaneous about almost everything except those three. See the Tokyo hidden gems guide for what to slot into day seven.