Yanaka

What to see

Yanaka's sights are mostly the streets themselves, but a few fixed points organise the walk. Nezu Shrine, at the southern end, dates from 1706 and is one of the few large shrine complexes in Tokyo that survived intact. Its hillside tunnel of small vermilion torii is the closest thing the city has to Kyoto's Fushimi Inari, with a fraction of the crowd, and in late April the azalea garden below it turns the slope into colour. Yanaka Cemetery, ten minutes north, isn't much of a cemetery for most visitors. It's a broad avenue of cherry trees, cats sunning on the stone, and the grave of Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last shogun, among the Edo-era plots.

From the cemetery it's a short drop to Yanaka Ginza, the 170-metre shopping street that serves as the neighbourhood's living room, and the Yuyake Dandan steps at its top, named for the sunsets they frame. Between these points, the temple-lined lanes of Yanaka are the real exhibit. Wooden houses, stone walls, small shops in their third generation, and the temples that give the district its density of tiled roofs. Don't treat it as a list. It's one continuous sight, and the way to see it is to keep taking the smaller turning.

Where to eat and drink

Yanaka eats standing up and early. Yanaka Ginza is the main course, with menchi-katsu and croquettes handed over hot from family counters, senbei crackers off the grill, tofu, pickles and cat-themed everything. The famous menchi-katsu stand is near the top of the street, and lunch is when the trays are freshest. A few steps away, just off the Yuyake Dandan, Himitsudo shaves natural ice trucked from Nikko on a hand-cranked machine and covers it in homemade fruit syrups. The strawberry milk is the signature. In summer the numbered-ticket queue can run for hours, so collect a ticket early and come back. It's closed on Mondays, and on Tuesdays too from October to May.

Coffee is the neighbourhood's other speciality. Yanaka Coffee roasts small batches to order and sells the beans in handmade paper bags, and a takeaway drip cup is the right companion for the cemetery avenue. Kayaba Coffee is the sit-down option, a kissaten opened in 1938 inside a 1915 machiya townhouse and revived in 2009, with tatami seating upstairs, Russian coffee on the menu and egg sandwiches that sell out. Reserve or arrive at opening, because they don't allow a waiting line. Almost everything shuts by early evening, so plan for lunch and the afternoon rather than dinner. If you need a late meal, head to Nezu or back to Nippori station.

Where to stay

Yanaka has no hotel strip, and that's the appeal. Accommodation here is small. Family-run guesthouses and ryokan-style inns in the lanes around Yanaka Ginza and the cemetery, renovated machiya townhouses rented whole, and a scattering of hostels near Nippori and Nezu stations. Nothing has a lobby bar, and check-in often involves a paper map and a hand-drawn arrow. The Nippori side puts the Yamanote Line and the Keisei Skyliner from Narita at your door, which makes Yanaka a surprisingly practical first or last night in Tokyo. The Nezu and Sendagi side is quieter still, with the Chiyoda Line running straight to Omotesando and Meiji Shrine. Stay here if you want to wake up in old Tokyo and walk to Ueno's museums, and you don't mind that the neighbourhood goes quiet by nine.

How to do it in a day

Take the Chiyoda Line to Nezu and be at Nezu Shrine by nine, walking the torii tunnel while the gravel is still damp and the only company is the shrine cats. Head north to Kayaba Coffee for a Russian coffee and the egg sandwich, ideally with a reservation. Cut into the lanes and take the temple streets slowly up to Yanaka Cemetery. Walk the cherry avenue end to end and find the last shogun's grave. Drop down to Yanaka Ginza for a standing lunch of menchi-katsu and croquettes, then collect a ticket at Himitsudo and spend the wait browsing the street. Once you've had the shaved ice, pick up a drip cup at Yanaka Coffee near Sendagi and loop back through the residential lanes as the light softens. Finish at the top of the Yuyake Dandan steps at sunset (that's what they're named for), then walk five minutes to Nippori station, or carry on south to Ueno for the museums if the day still has hours in it.