Sumida: Tours & Tickets

Great experience only to be bettered by Dubai's Burj Khalifa. It only cost £12 (booked online the night before) for the 350m platform but I opted for the 450m platform which was just £21. This is a bargain considering it's the world's 2nd tallest building, especially when comparing with the likes of the Empire State Building, which was amazing, but cost about £40 in 2014 to reach "a measly" 381m high on the 102nd floor. There's also a museum which is impressive and large interactive screens to understand which building is which. We even spotted our hotel from the top! The department score and array of restaurants lower down is very impressive. It's a city in itself, not just a tower.

For a taste of a real Tokyo neighbourhood, you can’t beat this tour. We enjoyed a lovely flat neighbourhood for cycling and a really interesting tour that included sake and tofu tasting and a spectacular drum display at a local temple. The tour started with coffee and a historical overview and then we enjoyed cycling around all the points of interest. Our guides were Eri and Kent. They were knowledgeable and charming and we really enjoyed their company. I would highly recommend this tour to those interested in getting off the beaten track and seeing Tokyo beyond the glitz and glamour of ginza ( not that there’s anything wrong with that! We did that too!).

We were lucky and went up on a sunny day. The fact that we could chose within 3 days from the booking date also helped us. Get the vouchers exchanged was easy enough and the view itself was of course very nice (350m). We did not go all the way up (450m), as some of the reviewers already mentioned that it would not be worth the additional fee. The glass bottom was not really that exciting, as the tiles/area was too small, but some people were actually too scared to walk over it.

For the red route, it's a convenient way to get to the major tourist sights in Northeast Tokyo (Asakusa, Akihabara). Can see some, but not much, from the buses themselves so don't plan on taking this as a tour bus alone. It's much more useful if you have time to get out and explore the areas near the stops.

getYourGUIDE Jack(san) was informative, helpful and funny, the problem was the heavy trafic and therefore rush at every sightseeing point. thanks for bringing us, being on a half-day tour, to the tokyo main station.