Tokyo in 3 Days: The Lucalvry Itinerary

Day 1

The Imperial centre, Ginza, the first omakase

1. 6.30am

   Walk through the Imperial Palace East Gardens at opening (free, the gardens themselves…

   Walk through the Imperial Palace East Gardens at opening (free, the gardens themselves are the city's most architecturally serious classical Japanese space, almost empty at this hour). 60 minutes covers the main keep ruins and the Ninomaru garden.

2. 8.30am

   Breakfast at the Aman Tokyo's Café by Aman in the 33rd-floor lobby, even if you are not…

   Breakfast at the Aman Tokyo's Café by Aman in the 33rd-floor lobby, even if you are not staying there (book ahead). The view across the Imperial Palace gardens is the city's defining sky-lobby moment.

3. 10.00am

   Walk south to Marunouchi for an hour at the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum (a perfectly pr…

   Walk south to Marunouchi for an hour at the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum (a perfectly preserved 1894 red-brick building, contemporary art programme inside) and the Marunouchi Naka-dōri shopping street.

4. 12.30pm

   Lunch at Tsukiji Outer Market (the Outer Market remains, even though the Inner Market h…

   Lunch at Tsukiji Outer Market (the Outer Market remains, even though the Inner Market has moved to Toyosu). Sushidai for chirashi, or Daiwa Sushi at the original Outer Market location for the best counter omakase lunch in central Tokyo. 75 minutes.

5. 2.30pm

   Walk north into Ginza

   Walk north into Ginza. Ginza Six (the eight-floor design-forward department store), Itoya stationery (six floors of Japanese paper and fountain pens), and the Wako clock tower. Pause at Café Paulista on Chūō-dōri for the city's oldest standing coffee house.

6. 5.00pm

   Return to the hotel for an hour

   Return to the hotel for an hour. Tokyo runs hot in the late afternoon and the rest break is non-negotiable.

7. 6.30pm

   Aperitif at the Mandarin Oriental's 38th-floor Mandarin Bar, or, for the smaller-scale…

   Aperitif at the Mandarin Oriental's 38th-floor Mandarin Bar, or, for the smaller-scale alternative, the Bulgari Hotel Tokyo's 40th-floor bar.

8. 8.00pm

   First-night omakase

   First-night omakase. The aspirational booking is Sushi Saito (three Michelin stars, eight seats, six-month wait without a hotel concierge); the realistic booking is Sushi Sho Saito (the second-generation kitchen, easier to access) or Sushi Sawada in Ginza. End the night with a walk back to the hotel via the Ginza Chūō-dōri pedestrian zone (Saturday evenings, Sundays).

Day 2

Aoyama, Harajuku, Shibuya, the city's youngest half

1. 8.30am

   Breakfast at Higashiya Ginza (a more refined, less queue-led alternative to the famous…

   Breakfast at Higashiya Ginza (a more refined, less queue-led alternative to the famous bakeries) for matcha and wagashi.

2. 9.30am

   Metro to Omotesandō

   Metro to Omotesandō. Walk the full Omotesandō boulevard from Aoyama to Harajuku — the architecturally most serious stretch of contemporary commercial buildings in central Tokyo (Tadao Ando's Omotesandō Hills, Toyo Ito's Tod's, the Prada Aoyama by Herzog & de Meuron). 90 minutes.

3. 11.30am

   Cross into Harajuku via the Meiji Jingumae intersection

   Cross into Harajuku via the Meiji Jingumae intersection. The Meiji Shrine and its forested approach (the city's most atmospheric Shinto shrine, 60 minutes including the walk in and out).

4. 1.30pm

   Lunch at Maisen Aoyama (the original tonkatsu institution, wait 20 minutes, worth it) o…

   Lunch at Maisen Aoyama (the original tonkatsu institution, wait 20 minutes, worth it) or Trattoria Tsukiji Paradiso back at the Outer Market if you skipped Day 1.

5. 3.00pm

   Walk south through Daikanyama (a quieter, more residential neighbourhood, the home of T…

   Walk south through Daikanyama (a quieter, more residential neighbourhood, the home of Tsutaya Bookstore — the most beautifully designed bookshop in Asia) and Nakameguro (the Meguro River cherry-blossom strip in season).

6. 5.30pm

   The Shibuya Sky observation deck at the top of the Shibuya Scramble Square Tower (book…

   The Shibuya Sky observation deck at the top of the Shibuya Scramble Square Tower (book ahead, the best 360° view of central Tokyo, the city at sunset is the moment to be there). 60 minutes.

7. 7.00pm

   Return to the hotel for a brief reset

   Return to the hotel for a brief reset.

8. 8.30pm

   Dinner at Den (three Michelin stars, contemporary kaiseki, the chef Zaiyu Hasegawa is t…

   Dinner at Den (three Michelin stars, contemporary kaiseki, the chef Zaiyu Hasegawa is the city's most genuinely creative kitchen — book three months ahead) or, for an easier-to-book Roppongi alternative, Sushi Tokami in Ginza or the legendary L'Effervescence in Aoyama.

Day 3

Asakusa and the old town, Tsukiji morning return, the final omakase

Three days is not Tokyo. But three days done in this order is enough to know whether you'll come back — and almost everyone does, repeatedly.

1. 7.00am

   Metro to Asakusa

   Metro to Asakusa. Senso-ji Temple at opening (the city's oldest temple, the Nakamise-dōri shopping street still empty before 8am). 60 minutes.

2. 8.30am

   Breakfast at one of the Asakusa-station coffee stands or, for the more atmospheric opti…

   Breakfast at one of the Asakusa-station coffee stands or, for the more atmospheric option, at the Tsukiji Outer Market again (the Outer Market is meaningfully better on the second visit because you know where to look).

3. 10.00am

   Walk or metro to Yanaka — the post-war old-town neighbourhood that survived the 1945 bo…

   Walk or metro to Yanaka — the post-war old-town neighbourhood that survived the 1945 bombing and remains the most authentically pre-war Tokyo street network in the city. The Yanaka Ginza shopping street, the Yanaka Cemetery (cherry blossom in season), and the SCAI The Bathhouse contemporary gallery in a converted bathhouse. 90 minutes.

4. 12.30pm

   Lunch at Kayaba Coffee in Yanaka (a 1938 coffee house, recently restored) or, for a mor…

   Lunch at Kayaba Coffee in Yanaka (a 1938 coffee house, recently restored) or, for a more substantial meal, back to Ginza for unagi at Hyotei or Chikuyotei.

5. 3.00pm

   Free afternoon

   Free afternoon. The serious options: the teamLab Borderless or teamLab Planets digital-art experiences (book ahead, two hours minimum); the Nezu Museum in Aoyama for classical Japanese decorative art (the garden alone is worth the visit); a Ginza shopping circuit; or a return to Daikanyama for the bookshop and a coffee at Saturdays NYC Daikanyama.

6. 6.30pm

   Final aperitif at the Park Hyatt Tokyo's New York Bar (book a window table ahead — the…

   Final aperitif at the Park Hyatt Tokyo's New York Bar (book a window table ahead — the *Lost in Translation* view, still cinematic, still worth doing once) or, for the alternative, the Aman Tokyo's lobby bar.

7. 8.30pm

   Final-night dinner

   Final-night dinner. Three options worth the splurge: Sushi Saito (if the concierge has succeeded) for the canonical Tokyo omakase; Narisawa in Aoyama (two Michelin stars, contemporary Japanese, the country's most acclaimed kitchen for sustainability-led cooking); or Den a second time, because some Tokyo meals are worth repeating. End with a walk through Ginza or a cab to the Imperial Palace gardens for a final midnight loop.