With kids · Tokyo · Japan
Tokyo with kids
Family-tested sights, a calm base and the practical details that make travelling with children easier.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answer
Tokyo is an easy big city for families: clean, orderly and full of convenience stores and baby rooms, with trains that run like clockwork. Children love the Ghibli Museum, teamLab, Odaiba's Gundam, the Skytree and the parks, and Tokyo Disney Resort is 15 minutes from the centre by train. Top picks: Ghibli Museum, teamLab Planets and Tokyo Skytree. Families usually base themselves in Ginza and Marunouchi.
Key facts
- Family picks
- 7
- Best area for families
- Ginza and Marunouchi
- Rainy-day options
- 2
- Busiest months
- April
Best things to do with kids
Museum · Mitaka
1.Ghibli Museum
Designed by Hayao Miyazaki on the edge of Inokashira Park, this whimsical museum has recreated animation studios, a small cinema showing Ghibli short films seen nowhere else, a giant plush Catbus that young children can climb on, and a robot soldier from Castle in the Sky in the rooftop garden.
Walk to the museum through Inokashira Park from Kichijoji Station, about 15 minutes.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Book ahead
- Tickets are sold only in advance for set entry times and sell out quickly; none are sold at the door.
- Kids
- Art
- Rainy day
Experience · Toyosu
2.teamLab Planets
In this immersive digital-art museum you walk barefoot through rooms of knee-deep water, mirrored light installations and a garden of suspended orchids, with artworks that respond to your movement. It is in Toyosu, a short ride on the Yurikamome line from Shimbashi.
Wear shorts or trousers that roll above the knee, as you will wade through water, and avoid skirts in the mirrored rooms.
- Time needed
- 1.5–2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Book ahead
- Tickets are sold for timed entry and sell out at weekends; book online.
- Kids
- Art
- Rainy day
- Photo spot
Viewpoint · Oshiage
3.Tokyo Skytree
At 634 metres, the Skytree is the world's tallest tower, with observation decks at 350 and 450 metres. On clear days the view stretches to Mount Fuji, and the Solamachi shopping complex, an aquarium and a planetarium sit at its base.
Pay for the upper deck only if the sky is clear; on hazy days the lower deck is enough.
- Time needed
- 1.5–2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Book ahead
- Timed tickets bought online save queuing at weekends and holidays.
- Views
- Kids
- Iconic
- After dark
Island · Odaiba
4.Odaiba
This artificial island in Tokyo Bay, reached across the Rainbow Bridge by the driverless Yurikamome line, has a seaside park facing the skyline, a replica Statue of Liberty and a life-size Unicorn Gundam statue outside DiverCity Tokyo Plaza. Shopping malls and family attractions fill the rest.
Sit at the front of the Yurikamome for the view as it loops onto the Rainbow Bridge, and stay for the illuminated skyline at dusk.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Free
- Kids
- Views
- After dark
- Free
Park · Ueno
5.Ueno Park
Ueno Park gathers three national museums, a concert hall and Ueno Zoo, Japan's oldest zoo, around Shinobazu Pond, where you can hire pedal boats among the lotus leaves. In cherry-blossom season its central avenue becomes one of the city's busiest hanami picnic spots.
Arrive early in blossom season to see the trees before groups claim every patch of ground.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Nature
Neighbourhood · Akihabara
6.Akihabara
Akihabara's electronics stores now share the streets with multi-storey shops for anime, manga, figures and retro video games, plus arcades full of crane games and themed cafés. Large stores such as Yodobashi Akiba sell everything from cameras to rice cookers.
Explore the side streets west of Chuo-dori for second-hand games and figures; on some Sunday afternoons the main street is closed to traffic.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Shopping
- Free
- Kids
- After dark
Street · Harajuku
7.Harajuku and Takeshita Street
Takeshita Street is a narrow, packed lane of youth fashion, crêpe stands, rainbow sweets and character shops beside Harajuku Station. A few minutes away, tree-lined Omotesando is Tokyo's architectural shopping avenue, with flagship stores by Tadao Ando, Toyo Ito and SANAA.
Go on a weekday morning to avoid shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, then explore the quieter backstreets of Ura-Harajuku.
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Shopping
- Free
- Food
- Kids
Rainy-day ideas
- teamLab Planets — Wear shorts or trousers that roll above the knee, as you will wade through water, and avoid skirts in the mirrored rooms.
- Ghibli Museum — Walk to the museum through Inokashira Park from Kichijoji Station, about 15 minutes.
Where families should stay
$$$$ · Best for luxury, families, shopping and first-timers
Ginza and Marunouchi
Ginza's main street, Chuo-dori, is lined with department stores such as Mitsukoshi and Matsuya and luxury flagships, and becomes a pedestrian zone on weekend afternoons. Next door, Marunouchi surrounds Tokyo Station, the shinkansen terminus, with the Imperial Palace East Gardens a short walk west and Tsukiji Outer Market to the south.
- Good
- Shinkansen and airport links at Tokyo Station; Calm, spacious streets; Excellent dining and food halls
- Watch out
- Among the most expensive hotels; Quiet late at night
- Nearby
- Tokyo Station, Imperial Palace East Gardens, Tsukiji Outer Market, Kabuki-za
Family travel tips
- Children under 6 travel free on trains and subways with a fare-paying adult, up to two children per adult.
- Most stations have lifts, but they can be far from the platform or exit you need; allow extra time with a stroller.
- Department stores have excellent baby rooms with changing tables and nursing areas.
- Avoid the morning rush hour (about 7:30–9:30am) with children and strollers.
- Book the Ghibli Museum and teamLab well ahead; both sell out, especially in school holidays.
Day trips for families
- Kamakura (About 1 hour by train) — The seaside former capital has the 13-metre bronze Great Buddha at Kotoku-in, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine and dozens of Zen temples in wooded hills.
- Yokohama (About 30 minutes by train) — Japan's second-largest city has the country's largest Chinatown, the Minato Mirai waterfront with the Cup Noodles Museum, the red-brick warehouses on the harbour and the traditional Sankeien garden.
- Kawagoe (About 30–60 minutes by train) — Nicknamed 'Little Edo', Kawagoe has a street of clay-walled kurazukuri merchant houses, the wooden Toki no Kane bell tower and Kashiya Yokocho, a lane of old-fashioned sweet shops.
- Tokyo Disney Resort (About 15 minutes by train from Tokyo Station) — Two parks, Tokyo Disneyland and the nautical-themed Tokyo DisneySea, sit on the bay in Urayasu.
When to go with children
The best months overall are March–May and October–November. April is the busiest, so book the big sights early. Weather by month.
Questions travellers ask
+Is Tokyo good for kids?
Tokyo is an easy big city for families: clean, orderly and full of convenience stores and baby rooms, with trains that run like clockwork. Children love the Ghibli Museum, teamLab, Odaiba's Gundam, the Skytree and the parks, and Tokyo Disney Resort is 15 minutes from the centre by train.
+What can kids do in Tokyo?
Ghibli Museum, teamLab Planets, Tokyo Skytree, Odaiba and Ueno Park.
+Where should families stay in Tokyo?
Ginza and Marunouchi: Department stores, polished boulevards and Tokyo Station.