Mid-range · 6-hour walk · Tokyo
Asakusa to the Skytree in six hours
The oldest temple in the city, the river park, the tallest tower in Japan, then Ueno's museums and market lanes.
The three-hour route is Harajuku and Shibuya, which is the Tokyo of the last thirty years. This is the older half — shitamachi, the low city, where the merchants lived — plus the one piece of modern Tokyo that is genuinely worth the ticket. Senso-ji at eight in the morning is a different building from Senso-ji at noon, so start there.
The route, stop by stop
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Senso-ji
Founded in 645 and rebuilt after 1945. The great paper lantern at Kaminarimon weighs 700 kg. Come before nine or after six.
50 min here Walk here → -
Nakamise-dori
Two hundred metres of stalls on the temple approach, trading here since the 1600s. Buy the ningyo-yaki and the kaminari-okoshi; skip the plastic.
30 min here Walk here → -
Sumida Park
The riverbank between the temple and the tower, and one of the oldest cherry-blossom spots in the city — the trees were planted by a shogun in the 1700s.
25 min here Walk here → -
Tokyo Skytree
Six hundred and thirty-four metres, the tallest tower in the world when it opened. Two decks; the lower one is enough unless the air is unusually clear.
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Ueno Park
Arrive by metro from the previous stop
Japan's first public park, and it holds the National Museum, the science museum and a zoo. The Tokyo National Museum is the best single collection of Japanese art anywhere.
50 min here Walk here → -
Ameya-Yokocho
A post-war black market that never quite stopped. Four hundred stalls under the railway between Ueno and Okachimachi, loudest and best in the early evening.
35 min here Walk here →
More in Tokyo
Every walking route in Tokyo, or the full Tokyo guide for where to stay and what a day costs.