The Bald Traveler Rating:
Tokyo Skytree is located in Sumida area of Tokyo and is the tallest tower in Japan. It consists of a shopping mall with a train station and a 634m broadcasting tower with two observation decks. At night the tower is lit up and the lights change during the night and throughout the year.
The observation decks have food and restaurants available for dining and you can choose to go to the lower level observation deck or pay more and go to the higher deck. On a clear day you can see Mt Fuji from the observation decks. While the price to go up to the observation deck is pricey there are discounts you can find. However if you do not want to pay I recommend going to Tokyo City Hall which has a free observation deck.
The lower levels consist of two rail/metro stations and a mall with shops, restaurants, a food court, and a grocery store. The food court can be hard to get a table at during peak dining hours so take that into consideration.
Even if you don’t go up in the tower you need to come and see the tower at night, you can see the tower from asakusa also at night but getting up close and personal is best.
We got an AirBnB within 1KM of the tower and it allowed us to get many good shots of the tower and enjoy the area around the tower itself.
When to go
You should go on a clear day if you want to get a good view of the area and Mt Fuji. We went at night and took photo’s of the area from the observation deck. We also got a discount for going at dusk over the day rate.
What is nearby?
Skytree is located in the Eastern part of Tokyo and the following areas are within a 30 minute train ride:
- Asakusa
- Nakamise Shopping District
- Akihabara
- Tokyo Station
- Imperial Palace
- Ueno Park
- Asakusa Shrine
- Nezu Shrine
How to get there?
Tokyo Skytree has two metro/rail stations which you can use to access the mall area and the observation area. These are the Tokyo Skytree Station on the Northern part of Skytree with close access to the Observation Decks and the food court and Oshiage Station on the eastern side of Skytree with access to the main mall and the hotel.
The address is:
2 Chome-3-1 Asakusa, Taito City, Tokyo 111-0032, Japan
Hours of Operation
The mall area is open from 8AM to 9:45PM.
The Observation Tower is open: 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM with the last admission at 9:00 PM.
Cost
The mall is open and there is no charge to enter except to you wallet from buying souvenirs. I reccomend staying away from the Pokemon store unless your wallet has some cash that needs to get out.
The Observation deck costs: ¥ 3,100. which will get you on floors 350 and 450.
The Observation deck 350 Only costs: ¥ 2,100
The Observation deck 450 Only costs: ¥ 1,000
They do not always sell a Floor 450 only ticket sometimes it’s an addon to the 350 ticket.
If you are an international traveler and know when you will be going up you can buy a Fast Pass ticket on their website which will get you in without having to wait in line to go up at a specific time but you must buy it in advance and not the day of. It costs ¥4,200 for the Combo Ticket and ¥3,200 for floor 350 only.
Holidays and Weekends have a different ticket and you can sometimes get a discount at Dusk if they are not at capacity.
Website
http://www.tokyo-skytree.jp/en/