Five days in Tokyo is just not enough, but there is so much you can do to make this time special with your toddler. We missed out on a lot, but we also had an amazing time with the things we did, and it’s an excuse to visit again! We’ll be back!
In this blog, I’ll outline what we did in 5 days in Tokyo and some of the not-to-be-missed places we visited.
Where we stayed
We stayed at the Prince Gallery Kioicho, and I really recommend it. It’s a fairly western-style hotel, but the views are more than worth it, as you can see what feels like the entirety of Tokyo. You’re 32-38 floors in the sky, so waking up with that view is just amazing!
It’s a 5-minute walk from the nearest metro, across the road from a secret Japanese garden, and is situated above some great restaurants and, usefully, a Konbini!
Day 1: Travel from Disney to Tokyo Centre
As we were travelling from Tokyo Disney Resort, we had eaten dinner in Disney before we left. We left the park at around 6.30 pm, and arrived at our hotel about 7-7.30 pm. Once we checked in, got ourselves sorted in the room, and explored the shopping centre below, it was time for bed. We’d arranged a transfer between hotels, as we hoped for the toddler to fall asleep in the car, but it was too fun (and the car seats were forward facing, which he’s not used to!). As we had all our bags, it was much easier to go by car. The journey was only about 30 mins from Disney to the Prince Gallery Hotel.
After an exhausting (but exhilarating!) few days at Tokyo Disney Resort, the jet lag started to kick in and we were ready for another early night, ready to explore Tokyo!
Day 2: Private half-day tour of Tokyo
We started our Tokyo visit with a half day tour to get a bit of local information, and ease us in to exploring FOn this half-day tour, we visited Hamarikyu Garden, headed to Asakusa and explored Sensoji temple.
After that, we headed to teamLab Borderless and had a lovely Vietnamese lunch in the Azabudai Hills shopping centre. It’s pretty much a brand new shopping centre and was just so CLEAN! There are outdoor seating and garden areas which were great for the toddler running around.
I used a Oscha ring sling to carry the toddler around, and it was perfect – when he wanted to walk it could be rolled up into our bag, but it is comfy enough that I was able to carry him asleep in it as we walked back via shrines and shops from Asabudai Hills to the Prince Gallery. We really enjoyed just walking through neighbourhoods and taking detours to visit a shop or a 7Eleven!
My husband had dinner at Kikunoi Akasaka, a three-star Michelin restaurant, of typical Kyoto cuisine (we didn’t realise this when we booked, as my husband would have preferred something more Tokyo-focused). My husband was sat at the counter – but lots of these sorts of restaurants do not allow children – so check before you book!
I’m not a massive fan of the way fish are treated in Japanese restaurants, so based on the fact that my husband was shown a live fish before it was taken to be cooked, I’m glad I gave it a miss! His meal also included turtle, shark fin 🤢 and other things that I’m not a fan of / don’t think should be eaten!
Instead, the toddler and I ordered room service, did colouring in, had a relaxing bath and watched a film before an early bedtime to make sure he was well rested to take on the rest of the holiday.
Take time to rest – having a well rested toddler will make for a happier holiday!
Slow mornings or slow evenings help keep tantrums at bay!
Day 3: The Fire Museum and beautiful gardens
We had a slow start, with a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, followed by a walk around some of the open spaces outside our hotel.
We took the underground to the Fire Museum in Tokyo in Shinjuku, Japan. THIS PLACE IS AMAZING FOR TODDLERS.
The first floor is just fire engines from different eras. They have a ride-on fire engine with an alarm that occasionally goes off. There’s lots of historical information, like beautiful attire of Samurai fire fighters and explanations of how the Sachiko holds water to ensure the wearer doesn’t catch alight. Plus, there are helicopters (indoor and outdoor), dress-up, drawing, and lots of interactive activities for kids and toddlers.
We then returned to our hotel’s neighbourhood and went to Hotel New Otani Tokyo. The garden has a history of over 400 years and has been owned by various famous samurai lords throughout the years. Spanning 10 acres, it is home to beautiful features like old stone lanterns, bright red bridges over koi ponds, a stone garden, a waterfall, and a variety of flowers and plants. Despite being located in a busy city, the garden offers a calm and peaceful atmosphere to enjoy some relaxing time (if there is ever such a thing with a lively toddler!).
Afterwards, we spent a few hours in the hotel having a much-needed rest, before getting ready for dinner at Imahan Garden Terrace Kioichi.
On the way there, we explored another nearby park, and there were terrapins swimming around a big pond, and a nice little walking loop which burnt off some toddler energy! We wouldn’t have visited anything like this before a toddler, so having him with us really helped us explore!
We had booked a private room at Imahan, which was fantastic with a toddler, as it kept him enclosed! We were also given a toy, colouring pencils and a colouring book, which was great – we found this to be the case with ALL of the restaurants we visited – everyone was really accepting of the toddler and he often got colouring or special treatment!
The food was delicious. But just remember, you have to take your shoes off and put slippers on, so make sure you’re wearing your best socks!
Day 4: Ueno Park
We were up, had breakfast at the hotel, and headed off to Ueno Park on the underground.
We visited a shrine within the park, purchased a shrine stamp book, and then headed to Ueno Zoo to see the pandas!
Top tip
Don’t wait in line for the first set of pandas, follow the path round to the second panda enclosure and there’s no queue!
Some of the enclosures felt pretty small, but others were much larger and more modern. It’s similar to most city zoos, probably similar to Amsterdam Zoo in terms of enclosure size, so seeing some animals was a bit depressing.
Once we finished up at the Zoo, we headed to a festival-type thing, then headed up to the Tokyo National Museum. I highly recommend doing this, although it really is more for the adults, and luckily, the timings coincided with a nap, so we were able to take a bit of time to look at the exhibits.
Then torrential rain hit, so we hopped in a taxi and went to Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Main Store (Japan’s first department store, dating back to 1673) to buy the toddler some trainers, as he somehow outgrew his closed-toe shoes we’d brought with us.
After a really busy day, we had a relaxed dinner of food from the Konbini back at the hotel.
Day 5: A day of shrines
We were woken early by an earthquake’s advanced warning, which is pretty terrifying if you’ve never experienced it before. Luckily, we were far from the epicentre, and the building took any shaking, so we felt absolutely nothing. But there was a bit of panic as I realised on floor 36 there’s not much I can do about anything!
After that unexpected morning wake-up, we decided to visit a shrine that was about a 20-minute walk from our hotel. The shrine, Toyokawa Inari Temple, has hundreds of fox statues, which were great.
We were a bit too early to get a Goshuin, so we had to wait about 15 minutes before they opened up. A Goshuin, translated to ‘honourable red seal’ (御朱印), is a red stamp that can be obtained from Shinto shrines or Buddhist Temples.
Remember to take or buy a separate stamp book for your museum and ‘Eki’ (train station) stamps, as the shrines will only put their stamps, prints or calligraphy into an official goshuin book.
Afterwards, we walked to Hie-jinja shrine, which had multiple torii (red sacred gates) on the steps leading up to it. So, if you want to miss the Kyoto crowds, this place is for you.
For a trip to Japan, I highly recommend using a carrier, we used a Oscha ring sling, and a Didymos half-buckle. We were both so comfortable, and could climb as many steps as we wanted!
We then took a taxi to the Shinkansen Eki (station) to head on to the next adventure: Osaka!
To find out more about our trip, read more here.
Let me know – have you been to Tokyo? What are recommendations?
Leave a comment