Free Things to Do in Tokyo
The best city in the world for spending nothing
Tokyo has a reputation as expensive, and the flights and hotels earn it. But day to day it is one of the best cities anywhere for spending nothing at all. The grandest shrines are free. The people-watching is free. Some of the best skyline views in the city are free observation decks that tourists walk straight past on their way to paid ones. This list is proof you could fill a week here on a train pass and food money.
65 places
Year round When
The places
⛩ Shrine · Harajuku Meiji Shrine Tokyo's most serene major shrine, set within 170 acres of forested grounds. The wide gravel path lined with...
⛩ Shrine · Asakusa Senso-ji Temple Tokyo's oldest temple, founded in 645 AD. Walk through the Kaminarimon gate, along the Nakamise shopping la...
⛩ Shrine · Yanaka Nezu Shrine Often called Tokyo's answer to Fushimi Inari, this quiet shrine has a long tunnel of red torii gates leadin...
⛩ Shrine · Shinjuku Hanazono Shrine Dedicated to the god of business and prosperity, tucked directly behind Shinjuku's neon chaos. The contrast...
⛩ Shrine · Shiba Zojo-ji Temple The historic main temple of the Jodo sect of Buddhism, with Tokyo Tower looming directly behind it. The com...
⛩ Shrine · Akasaka Hie Shrine A hilltop shrine in the middle of Tokyo's political and business district, famous for its twin tunnels of t...
⛩ Shrine · Ueno Yushima Tenman-gu A shrine over 1,600 years old dedicated to the god of learning. The courtyard is covered in ema wooden plaq...
🌿 Park · Harajuku Yoyogi Park A vast open park where Tokyo comes to play. Weekend musicians, unicyclists, dog walkers, and picnickers fil...
🌿 Park · Ueno Ueno Park Tokyo's oldest public park, home to five major museums, a zoo, a lake with rowboats, and the city's most fa...
🌿 Park · Kichijoji Inokashira Park A beloved local park built around a large lake, with rowboat rentals, a small zoo, and weekend street music...
🌿 Park · Yanaka Yanaka Cemetery More park than cemetery. Wide tree-lined avenues, cats everywhere, old Tokyo quiet. One of the best cherry ...
👁 Viewpoint · Bunkyo Bunkyo Civic Center Tokyo's best-kept viewpoint secret: a completely free observation deck on the 25th floor of a civic buildin...
⛩ Shrine · Setagaya Gotokuji Temple The birthplace of the maneki-neko, the beckoning cat. Thousands of white lucky cat figurines of every size ...
⛩ Shrine · Takanawa Sengakuji Temple The burial place of the 47 ronin, whose story of loyalty and revenge is Japan's most famous samurai tale. I...
🌿 Park · Setagaya Todoroki Valley Tokyo's only natural ravine: a kilometre of dense green canopy, a stream, and a walking path that feels lik...
🌿 Park · Marunouchi Imperial Palace East Gardens The former grounds of Edo Castle, free to enter and remarkably uncrowded. Massive stone walls, the foundati...
👁 Viewpoint · Shinjuku Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building Twin observation decks at 202m, completely free, in Kenzo Tange's cathedral-like government towers. On clea...
👁 Viewpoint · Shibuya Shibuya Crossing Up to 3,000 people cross at once at the world's busiest intersection. Touristy, yes, but standing in the mi...
⛩ Shrine · Chofu Jindaiji Temple Tokyo's second oldest temple, founded in 733 AD, sitting in a leafy pocket of Chofu that feels like a count...
⛩ Shrine · Kanda Kanda Myojin Shrine A 1,300 year old shrine guarding Tokyo's old merchant district, now adopted by the Akihabara tech crowd who...
⛩ Shrine · Yoyogi Yoyogi Hachimangu Shrine A small wooded shrine on a hill between Yoyogi-Hachiman Station and the Tomigaya backstreets. Locals stop i...
🌿 Park · Suginami Wadabori Park A long green corridor along the Zenpukuji River in Suginami where local life happens: baseball practice, ba...
🌿 Park · Asakusa Sumida Park The riverside park stretching along both banks of the Sumida River between Asakusa and the Skytree. A class...
🌿 Park · Koto Kiba Park A huge open park in eastern Tokyo built over former lumber yards, with wide lawns, barbecue pits, and the M...
🌿 Park · Shinjuku Shinjuku Chuo Park The green space directly behind the Tokyo Metropolitan Government towers, where office workers eat lunch an...
🌿 Park · Hiroo Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park A hilly, wooded park in the embassy district with a pond, stone bridges, and paths that drop steeply throug...
👁 Viewpoint · Ebisu Yebisu Garden Place Tower The 38th and 39th floors of this Ebisu tower are a free observation space ringed with restaurants, looking ...
🎵 Nightlife · Kagurazaka Hyogo Yokocho Alley The most atmospheric lane in Kagurazaka: black wooden fences, stone paving, lantern light, and discreet ryo...
🏛 Museum · Harajuku Design Festa Gallery An ever-mutating warren of small galleries in the Harajuku backstreets where any artist can rent a wall. Gr...
🗼 Landmark · Marunouchi Tokyo Station The 1914 red brick station that anchors Marunouchi, beautifully restored and far more than a transit hub. B...
🗼 Landmark · Shinjuku Godzilla Head A life-size Godzilla head looming over the Toho cinema building in Kabukicho, roaring and breathing mist on...
🗼 Landmark · Sasazuka Sasazuka Station The Keio Line station at the heart of Sasazuka, the unglamorous west-side neighbourhood Daniel called home ...
🏘 Neighbourhood · Kagurazaka Kagurazaka Tokyo's old geisha quarter on a sloping street of cobbled alleys, now layered with French bistros and patis...
🏘 Neighbourhood · Yanaka Yanaka The Tokyo that survived: low wooden houses, temple after temple, cats on walls, and craftsmen still at work...
🏘 Neighbourhood · Kichijoji Kichijoji Consistently voted the neighbourhood Tokyoites most want to live in: Inokashira Park at its heart, the Harm...
🏘 Neighbourhood · Shinjuku Shinjuku A city in itself: the world's busiest station surrounded by skyscrapers, department stores, the neon of Kab...
🏘 Neighbourhood · Daikanyama Daikanyama Tokyo's most effortlessly stylish pocket, all low-rise boutiques, terrace cafes, and leafy backstreets. Anc...
🏘 Neighbourhood · Nakameguro Nakameguro The canal-side neighbourhood that defines fashionable low-key Tokyo. Cherry trees arch over the Meguro Rive...
🏘 Neighbourhood · Ebisu Ebisu A grown-up neighbourhood with some of the best eating and drinking in Tokyo, from the izakaya alley of Ebis...
🏘 Neighbourhood · Ichigaya Ichigaya A quiet stretch along the old Edo castle moat where fishermen cast lines in the middle of the city. The che...
💍 Special · Chofu Where Daniel Proposed A quiet corner of the Jindaiji temple grounds, surrounded by old trees and the sound of spring water. This ...
👁 Viewpoint · Chiyoda Chidorigafuchi The Imperial Palace moat, lined with hundreds of cherry trees that lean out over the water. During sakura s...
⛩ Shrine · Ikebukuro Zoshigaya Kishimojin A 16th-century temple in a quiet pocket ten minutes from Ikebukuro chaos, reached by a lane of ancient zelk...
⛩ Shrine · Kagurazaka Akagi Shrine A 700-year-old shrine rebuilt by architect Kengo Kuma in glass and timber, with a cafe in the grounds. The ...
🌿 Park · Odaiba Odaiba Seaside Park An artificial beach with the single best view of Rainbow Bridge and the Tokyo skyline across the water, plu...
👁 Viewpoint · Marunouchi KITTE Marunouchi The old central post office turned shopping hall, with a free rooftop garden looking straight down on Tokyo...
⛩ Shrine · Asakusa Asakusa Shrine Shinto shrine right beside Senso-ji's main hall, dedicated to the three men who founded the temple. Its 164...
⛩ Shrine · Fukagawa Tomioka Hachiman Shrine Founded in 1627, this is Tokyo's largest Hachiman shrine and the birthplace of officially sanctioned sumo, ...
⛩ Shrine · Toranomon Atago Shrine Hilltop shrine from 1603 sitting on the highest natural hill in central Tokyo, reached by a famously steep ...
⛩ Shrine · Akasaka Akasaka Hikawa Shrine Quiet wooded shrine whose main sanctuary was built in 1730 by the eighth shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune and has ...
⛩ Shrine · Asakusa Imado Shrine Small shrine north of Senso-ji that claims to be the birthplace of the maneki-neko beckoning cat and enshri...
⛩ Shrine · Yotsuya Suga Shrine Modest neighbourhood shrine in Yotsuya whose adjacent crossed staircase became world famous as the final sc...
⛩ Shrine · Bunkyo Gokokuji Temple Shingon Buddhist temple founded in 1681 by the fifth shogun for his mother, and almost unique in Tokyo for ...
🌿 Park · Shirokanedai Happo-en Free-to-enter Japanese strolling garden attached to a famous wedding venue, with roots going back 400 years...
🌿 Park · Komazawa Komazawa Olympic Park Big Setagaya sports park built for the 1964 Olympics, with brutalist stadiums, a landmark control tower, an...
🏛 Museum · Ryogoku Sumo Museum One-room museum inside Ryogoku Kokugikan stadium tracing sumo history through rotating exhibits of woodbloc...
🏛 Museum · Marunouchi Intermediatheque Free cabinet-of-curiosities museum run by the University of Tokyo inside the old Tokyo Central Post Office,...
👁 Viewpoint · Sangenjaya Carrot Tower Observation Deck Free 26th-floor observation lounge atop the orange-tinted Carrot Tower above Sangenjaya Station, looking ba...
👁 Viewpoint · Asakusa Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center Kengo Kuma's stacked-house tourist center directly across from Kaminarimon, with a free 8th-floor terrace t...
🏮 Market · Yurakucho Oedo Antique Market Japan's largest outdoor antique market, filling the plaza of the Tokyo International Forum roughly the firs...
🛍 Shopping · Asakusa Nakamise Shopping Street One of Japan's oldest shopping streets, a 250-meter approach of around 90 stalls running from Kaminarimon t...
🛍 Shopping · Oshiage Tokyo Solamachi The 300-plus-shop complex at the base of Tokyo Skytree, mixing character stores and a big food hall with th...
🗼 Landmark · Shibuya Hachiko Statue Bronze statue outside Shibuya Station honouring Hachiko, the Akita who kept returning to meet his dead owne...
🗼 Landmark · Nihonbashi Nihonbashi Bridge The 1911 double-arched stone bridge that marks kilometre zero of Japan's national highway network, successo...
🗼 Landmark · Azabudai Azabudai Hills Mori's 2023 mega-development wrapped around the 330-meter Mori JP Tower, Japan's tallest skyscraper, with H...
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