Tokyo in 4 Days on a Budget (With Daily Costs)
Four days stays entirely inside Tokyo, no day trip out, and goes deeper instead: old Asakusa, new Shibuya/Shinjuku, a Toyosu-and-Ginza day, then the Imperial Palace, Ueno and Yanaka. Rough total across all four days: ¥25,000-39,000 in attractions, food, and local transit, excluding your hotel. Want Kamakura or Hakone added on? The gateway version of this itinerary builds a day trip in; this one keeps every day inside the city.
Book these before you go:
- Hotels: check rates on Agoda for a Yamanote-adjacent room.
- teamLab Borderless and teamLab Planets online tickets, both need advance booking.
- Shibuya Sky, if you’re doing it instead of the free Shinjuku deck, sells out sunset slots days ahead.
| Day | Focus | Rough cost per person |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Asakusa, Tsukiji Outer, Skytree, Akihabara | ¥6,000-7,000 |
| Day 2 | Harajuku, Shibuya, Shinjuku’s free view | ¥6,500-11,000 |
| Day 3 | Toyosu sushi breakfast, teamLab Planets, Ginza | ¥8,800-14,200 |
| Day 4 | Imperial Palace, Ueno, Yanaka | ¥3,500-7,000 |
Get a Suica or PASMO the moment you arrive, physical Welcome Suica at the airport counter or Welcome Suica Mobile loaded before you fly. It’s the default way to pay for trains, buses, and a surprising number of vending machines and convenience stores.
Day 1: Old Tokyo
Start at Senso-ji in Asakusa, free to enter, with Nakamise-dori’s snack stalls doing brisk business before 9am (budget ¥500-800 for breakfast there). Head south to Tsukiji Outer Market for lunch; the wholesale side with the old tuna auction moved to Toyosu in 2018, but the outer stalls still grill scallops and pour bowls of seafood over rice for ¥1,500-2,500. Cross back toward the river for Tokyo Skytree in the afternoon, ¥1,800-2,100 for the 350m deck booked online. Finish in Akihabara, free to wander, with a ramen dinner running ¥800-1,200.
Day 1: roughly ¥6,000-7,000.
Day 2: New Tokyo
Meiji Shrine, free with an optional donation, is a calm start before Takeshita Street in Harajuku turns loud with crepe stands (¥500-700 a crepe). Shibuya Scramble Crossing costs nothing to cross repeatedly; Shibuya Sky above it runs ¥2,700-3,400 depending on time slot and needs booking days ahead. From Shibuya, a short ride toward Roppongi reaches teamLab Borderless at Azabudai Hills (reopened 2024 after the old Odaiba site closed), ¥3,600-5,600, also booked online in advance . Close the day at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku: two 45th-floor observatories, completely free, no booking, plus a free nightly light show on the building’s east face from sunset to around 9pm. Dinner in Omoide Yokocho or Golden Gai runs ¥2,500-4,500 with drinks.
Day 2: roughly ¥9,000-11,000 with both paid attractions, or ¥6,500-8,000 if you skip Shibuya Sky and let the free Shinjuku deck cover the elevated view instead.
Day 3: Toyosu and Ginza
Start early at Toyosu, where a sit-down sushi breakfast near the market runs ¥4,000-8,000+, real money but still a fraction of a formal Ginza omakase seat. teamLab Planets, the wet and immersive cousin of teamLab Borderless, sits in Toyosu too: ¥3,800 on weekdays, ¥4,200 on weekends and holidays, booked online in advance like Borderless. In the afternoon, ride into Ginza for a window-shop past the department stores; the depachika food hall in the basement of Mitsukoshi Ginza sells restaurant-quality bento and desserts for ¥1,000-2,000, worth it for a second, cheaper meal on an otherwise expensive day.
Day 3: roughly ¥8,800-14,200 depending on the sushi breakfast and which teamLab day/time slot you land.
Day 4: Imperial Palace, Ueno, and Yanaka
Start at the Imperial Palace East Gardens, free, no booking required unless you want the separate interior palace tour. Spend the rest of the morning and early afternoon in Ueno Park, free to walk, with the Ameyoko market nearby for cheap souvenirs and street snacks; museum entry is optional, roughly ¥1,000 for the Tokyo National Museum if you want to go inside. For the afternoon, swap to Yanaka for more atmosphere and fewer crowds: old shitamachi streets, a cemetery walk, and cat cafes, one of the few areas of the city spared WWII bombing. Dinner anywhere in Ueno or back in Shinjuku runs ¥2,500-4,000.
Day 4: roughly ¥3,500-7,000 depending on whether you go inside a museum.
Where to stay and what to know
Capsule hotels and hostels run ¥3,000-5,000 a night if you’re traveling light on budget; standard business hotels in Shinjuku or Ueno run ¥8,000-12,000. Compare Tokyo hotel and hostel rates on Agoda ; wherever you land, staying near a Yamanote Line stop keeps every day above within a short hop of your hotel. Keep some cash on you: Tsukiji stalls, older Akihabara shops, and Toyosu’s sushi counters don’t all take cards. Last trains stop running around midnight, and taxis after that add a 20% night surcharge, so don’t cut the Ueno-to-hotel leg on day four too close.
Book Shibuya Sky and both teamLab sites as soon as you have dates. Both sell out same-day slots, and a four-day trip with three must-book attractions crammed into two days leaves no room to shuffle if one’s full.