3 Day Tokyo Itinerary: What to Book for Each Night, With a Day in Asakusa

A good 3 day Tokyo itinerary is built backward from where you want to be at 17:00 (5 p.m.) each day, with one slot a night chosen from the booking table below. This one spends day 1 in Asakusa, day 2 around Meiji Jingu, Harajuku and Shibuya, and day 3 around Tsukiji and Ginza. Three of the night options carry booking rules: Shibuya Sky tickets go on sale up to two weeks ahead, Kabukiza single-act seats open online at noon the day before, and a private ozashiki, a gathering with geisha, is usually requested at least two to three days ahead. The rest you can walk into.

Miyakodori is a machiai-chaya in Asakusa, a traditional teahouse founded in 1950 where private gatherings with geisha are held. Asakusa is our neighborhood, so day 1 is the part of this plan we know first-hand. Outside Asakusa we have not walked these routes ourselves: every opening time, ticket rule and travel time below comes from an official page or from Tokyo Metro’s own route search, checked on 6 November 2026, and each source is listed at the end. Many travel times start at Asakusa Station, so if you are staying elsewhere, run your own starting point through the same route search.

Daytime is easy to fill in Tokyo, so this page spends its effort on the nights: which ones need a booking, by when, and how long the trip takes from where you will be standing.

3 Day Tokyo Itinerary at a Glance

Each day is anchored on the place where you stand at 17:00, because that decides which night options are within easy reach.

Day 1 in Tokyo: Asakusa

Spend the first day in Asakusa. Our guide to Asakusa to Ueno and the day between them sets out an order: Senso-ji early, Kappabashi in the late morning, Ueno at midday and Asakusa again at the end of the day. For more stops, see our guide to the best things to do in Asakusa, and if you land at Haneda or Narita first, our airport to Asakusa guide covers the trains.

Do the temple itself in daylight. The Senso-ji Main Hall closes at 17:00, but every day from sunset to about 23:00 the temple lights the Main Hall, the five-storied pagoda, Hozomon and Kaminarimon, so the same walk looks different after dark.

Day 2 in Tokyo: Meiji Jingu, Harajuku and Shibuya

Start at Meiji Jingu, which closes at sunset. The shrine lists 6:10 to 16:10 for November, and the hours change by month. From Asakusa Station, Tokyo Metro’s route search gives about 35 to 40 minutes to Meiji-jingumae, with one change from the Ginza Line to the Chiyoda Line.

Harajuku and Shibuya fill the rest of the day. The route search gives about 5 minutes from Harajuku Station to the Shibuya Scramble Square building: 2 minutes on the JR train, then a 3-minute walk. We have not walked the streets between the two, so we leave that stretch of the day to you.

Be in Shibuya by 17:00. If Shibuya Sky is your pick for this night, read its ticket rules in the night 2 table before you travel.

Day 3 in Tokyo: Tsukiji and Ginza

Spend the morning at Tsukiji Outer Market. From Asakusa Station the route search gives about 26 minutes with no change: 13 minutes on the Toei Asakusa Line, then a 13-minute walk. The shops keep their own hours, and we could not find one set of opening times for the market, so check the market’s English page and the shops you care about before you go.

From the market to the Kabukiza in Ginza is an 11-minute walk by the route search, so an afternoon in Ginza can end at the theater door at about 17:00.

Tokyo at Night: What to Book, and by When

Read each table from the place where you stand at 17:00. The middle columns give the booking rule and the hours that matter, and the last column gives the trip from your 17:00 spot. Each table runs from the free options to the ones that cost more. Our guide to cultural things to do in Tokyo at night describes several of these options in more detail.

Opening times and ticket rules were checked on each venue’s own page on 6 November 2026. Travel times and fares are from Tokyo Metro’s route search for weekday departures on Monday 9 November 2026. They are the search’s figures, not ones we timed ourselves.

Night 1: From Asakusa

The Engei Hall’s own pages are in Japanese, and we found no mention of English-language shows on them. English-language rakugo is a separate event: the English Rakugo Association stages shows at the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center on some Sunday afternoons, from 14:00 to 16:00, with tickets sold through Peatix.

Night 2: From Shibuya

Sunset comes early in the cooler months, so a 17:00 arrival at Shibuya Sky will miss it. Skytree’s website listed sunset at 16:41 on 6 November, so for daylight at the top, choose an entry before about 16:30 and check the sunset time for your date. Entries from 15:00 fall in the higher online price band.

Night 3: From Ginza

From the 4th level you cannot see the hanamichi, the raised walkway that runs through the audience, and the main stage may be partly hidden. English captioning costs ¥1,000 per act, in cash. For how kabuki compares with rakugo, sumo and an ozashiki, see our guide to traditional entertainment in Tokyo.

The Ozashiki as One Option

At an ozashiki, a private gathering with geisha, you sit in a tatami room while the geisha pour drinks, talk with you, play games and dance to live shamisen (a three-stringed lute). It is not a tea ceremony.

It fits a weekday night with nothing else booked. Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays are closed days, and a special opening needs at least a week’s notice and a surcharge, arranged by phone or email rather than the booking form. On a short trip the simplest plan is to put the ozashiki on one of your weekday nights, as night 1 in Asakusa or as night 3 after Ginza.

A visit starts between 14:00 and 20:00 and lasts one to three hours, and a single guest can book. No introduction is needed: a first-time visitor can request an ozashiki online, in English. The floors are tatami, but two rooms are set with tables and chairs and one has a table over a sunken floor, so nobody has to kneel. The tatami room page shows all three.

Miyakodori stands at 3-23-10 Asakusa, Taito-ku, behind Senso-ji to the north. From Asakusa Station on the Ginza Line it is a 13-minute walk, through the temple grounds and about three minutes beyond them, or a 4-minute taxi.

It suits some itineraries and not others. If your nights fall on Saturdays, Sundays or public holidays, we are closed unless we arrange a special opening, and a viewpoint or the small-bar alleys may suit you better. If you would rather not sit for an hour or more, one of the free viewpoints is the lighter choice.

If you have just an afternoon free, the 75-minute Ozashiki Tea House is a shared session that runs mainly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 15:00 and ends at 16:15. You can book online until 14:00 on the day, and after that by phone or on the spot. It includes a dance with live shamisen, questions for the geisha, a game, and matcha with a Japanese sweet, and ordering one drink is required, paid separately. English support is available. Current rates for every plan are on our pricing page.

Getting Around Tokyo and Getting Home

• Route search. Tokyo Metro’s own route search covers JR and Toei lines as well, and it can look up the first and last train for a date. Enter your own hotel as the starting point: the times above that start at Asakusa Station assume you are staying in Asakusa.
• Last trains. According to JNTO, last trains in most Japanese cities leave around midnight to 1 a.m. On Monday 9 November 2026 the route search’s last trip from Shibuya Station to Asakusa Station left at 23:51 and arrived at 00:24, and the last trip from the Kabukiza to Asakusa Station left at 00:04 and arrived at 00:23. Saturday 14 November gave the same 23:51 from Shibuya. Look up your own date before you commit to a late slot.
• Subway pass. The Tokyo Subway Ticket is sold to overseas visitors and to domestic visitors who live outside Tokyo and seven nearby prefectures. It costs ¥1,000 for 24 hours, ¥1,500 for 48 hours and ¥2,000 for 72 hours from your starting time, and it covers every Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway line. JR trains are not included, so the Harajuku to Shibuya ride on day 2 is paid separately.
• Whether the pass pays. Staying in Asakusa, the route search’s IC card fares come to ¥504 for the two subway rides on day 2 (¥252 each way) and ¥440 on day 3 (¥220 each way), both under the ¥1,000 price of a 24-hour ticket. On this plan, single fares cost less. A different hotel changes the sum.

Sources

Pages checked on 6 November 2026. Hours, prices and rules change, so confirm on the venue’s own page before you go. Pages marked Japanese were read in Japanese.

• Tokyo Metro, route search: travel times, IC card fares and last trains, queried on 6 November 2026 for weekday departures on Monday 9 November 2026 and for one Saturday, 14 November 2026.
• Tokyo Metro, Tokyo Subway Ticket: prices, the lines covered and who can buy it.
• Senso-ji, lighting schedule (Japanese): sunset to about 23:00 every day.
• Senso-ji, visiting the Main Hall (Japanese): the Main Hall closes at 17:00.
• Taito City, Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center: building hours, terrace hours, free admission and the walk from Asakusa Station.
• Asakusa Engei Hall, tickets (Japanese): session times, night tickets, walk-in sales and group reservations.
• English Rakugo Association: English-language shows at the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center.
• Tokyo Skytree and its ticket page: opening hours, last entry, sunset time, ticket prices and the counter fee.
• Tobu Railway, access to Asakusa and Tokyo Skytree Town: the 3-minute ride on the Tobu Skytree Line.
• Shibuya Sky, tickets (Japanese): prices, sales window, sold-out rule, the passport check from 19 November 2026 and the hours for 19 November. Also its FAQ (Japanese; opening hours and last entry) and access page (Japanese; the 14th-floor entrance).
• Tokyo Metropolitan Government, observatories (Japanese): hours, closing days, waiting time and the rule on reservations. Its facilities page (Japanese) gives the station access.
• Kabuki Web, single-act tickets for the 4th level: sales times, seat numbers, the view and English captioning.
• Kabuki Web, single-act times for November 2026: acts, times and prices for 1 to 25 November.
• Kabuki Web, Kabukiza Gallery: the Kabukiza Tower address, 4-12-15 Ginza, and the walk from Exit 3 of Higashi-Ginza Station.
• Meiji Jingu, how to visit: opening hours by month.
• Tsukiji Outer Market, English page: the market’s own page, where we found no single set of opening hours.
• JNTO, nightlife guide: last trains in Japanese cities. Its yokocho feature describes Nonbei Yokocho, Omoide Yokocho and Golden Gai.