Tokyo, Japan
The biggest city on earth, and the quietest shrine is a five minute walk from the loudest crossing.
Why go
Tokyo is not one city, it is a dozen of them joined by the best train network ever built. Shibuya at night with the crossing going in every direction. Senso-ji in Asakusa in the morning, incense and a five storey pagoda. A basement floor of a department store with more food than a market. A bar in Golden Gai with room for six people. What surprises everyone is how calm it is: enormous, dense, and somehow orderly and quiet. Go in spring for the blossom or autumn for the colour, and give it more days than you think you need.
Good to know
- Fly into Haneda (HND) if you can, it is closer than Narita
- Five nights minimum, and it will not be enough
- Get a Suica card, it opens every gate and most vending machines
- Book any famous restaurant weeks ahead, not on the day
Best March to May, and October to November.
Price this trip
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