Tokyo Itinerary with Kids: A Flexible 2–7 Day Family Trip
Last Updated on November 17, 2025 by Kay
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Traveling to Tokyo with kids and looking for realistic information about how to plan your trip (or better yet, an itinerary or two)?
My daughter was born in Tokyo, and we lived there before moving to Osaka when she was two years old. Since then, we’ve made a few trips back to Tokyo, so I decided to write about our family’s most recent one-week trip to help other parents out with their vacation planning.
Coincidentally, my friend living in Kyoto, Lisa, was traveling to Tokyo with her three-year-old son around the same time. They were only staying for two days, while we were there for a week. This is why I thought it would be helpful to share how two different families living in Japan spent their Tokyo vacation with kids.
This is a very detailed article, sharing pretty much every aspect of our respective trips, including the not-so-great. So if you’re someone who wants an inside look at what it’s really like to travel in Tokyo with kids, especially from the perspective of families living in Japan, this is for you.
I will also mention that Tokyo, especially popular areas like Shinjuku and Shibuya, is experiencing a surge in the number of tourists. My husband travels to Tokyo around once a month for work, and he said that in some areas, about half of the people are tourists. Our friends living in Tokyo have also noticed this.
This is not to say you shouldn’t travel to Tokyo with your family (it’s a remarkable place that should be experienced at least once), but just be aware of the crowds. Tokyo is already a packed city (one reason why I moved to Osaka, I don’t like crowded places), but now it’s… quite something.
Alright, with that out of the way, allow me to share the fun stuff (and perhaps not so fun, because I’m all about sharing real trip reports here)!
7-Day (One Week) Tokyo Itinerary with Kids
I’ll start by sharing my itinerary when I traveled to Tokyo for one week with my five-year-old daughter. After that, I’ll share what my friend Lisa did with her three-year-old son over the course of two days.
Day 1: Arrival and Exploring Shibuya and Harajuku
We arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport just before 11 AM and headed straight for Hitoshinaya to enjoy some of their famous soba for lunch. There was already a line of people waiting, and the restaurant hadn’t even opened yet!
Thankfully, we got the last three seats available. My husband and I ordered soba set meals, which we shared with our daughter. (The restaurant provided us with children’s cutlery and a bowl.)
If you go, make sure you try their recommended dish, cooked rice with seabream, because it is absolutely delicious.
My husband went to drop our luggage off at the hotel while my daughter and I went to Shibuya by train. I used my PASMO IC Card to board, which I have been using to travel by train (non-Shinkansen) throughout Japan for over a decade.
Since my daughter was five, I didn’t have to pay train fare for her. When I’m traveling with her, I always tap the card on the card reader and let her go through first before I pass the gates. She also knows to wait for me and not to run ahead straight to the platform.
📖 Read my detailed guide covering everything my family did in Shibuya and Harajuku!
After dinner in Harajuku, we took the Yamanote Line to our hotel, OMO5 Tokyo Gotanda. Before going to the hotel, we picked up some bread for breakfast from a bakery in Gotanda Station called Rod Gotanda.
OMO5 Tokyo Gotanda by Hoshino Resorts is a new hotel that just opened, so everything is really clean and beautiful.
We had decided to come to Tokyo one day earlier than originally planned, but the room we had booked wasn’t available for the first night, so we had to get a King room.
I felt the King room was a little too small. There also wasn’t enough space for our huge suitcase, even when we tried slipping it beneath the tiny space under the bed. (I also felt bad about dragging the luggage out when I needed to get something, since I didn’t want to damage the tatami.)
However, the Twin Room we stayed in for the second night was perfect!
Other great points about the hotel are that it has a separate bath and toilet (a must for me).
The rooms also have a beautiful view of the city (the photo below is from the twin room):
There’s a communal free tea bar and patio, too:
It was really nice to have a cup of steaming tea and enjoy it on the patio.
We slept pretty well in this hotel, and considering it’s only a 7-minute walk from the hotel and, again, brand new, I highly recommend staying here, especially for the price!
Read about other family-friendly hotels I recommend in Tokyo.
Day 2: Sanrio Puroland
On the second day in Tokyo, my husband had some business meetings he had to go to, so after enjoying our bakery breakfast (which we bought the night before) together in the hotel room, it was Mother-Daughter Day.
We booked tickets in advance for Sanrio Puroland, so we left Gotanda around 8 AM and took the train to Puroland, arriving an hour later at 9 AM.
Sanrio Puroland is so fun, but it’s intense and requires lots of planning! For more details and helpful tips, read about my experience taking my daughter to Sanrio Puroland.
After Puroland, we had dinner with a friend of mine at a restaurant called Alice in Fantasy Book, because my daughter was obsessed with Alice at the time, and it was easy to get there from Puroland.
The food was fairly average and pricey for what it was, but my daughter was happy and that’s what counts. (Note that they do not have any meals for children, or high chairs as far as I know.)
Day 3: Odaiba
In the morning, we met up with my friend who happened to be staying at the same hotel as us! After, we had breakfast at the Tully’s Coffee Shop that’s connected to the first floor of the hotel. This coffee shop has a special kids’ breakfast so I highly recommend it!
Since my husband had work again on this day, my daughter and I headed to Odaiba to check out teamLab Planets. We made sure to have a reservation in advance (you cannot visit without one!).
I’ve written about our experience at teamLab Planets in detail, including tips every parent should know before they go, so make sure to give it a read!
After teamLab Planets, we did quite a few things. I realize it might be too much for this article, so I wrote a separate one about what we did in Odaiba.
Day 4: Roppongi and Tokyo Disney
This was yet another day my husband had to work. We checked out of our hotel (OMO5 Tokyo Gotanda) on this day, and my husband kindly took our luggage with him to the office.
My daughter and I had morning reservations for teamLab Borderless, which is located in Roppongi. We had a little bit of time before our 11:30 AM reservation, so I took my daughter to the Minato Science Museum, which opened at 9 AM.
It’s a small museum, but this allowed us to have plenty of time to look around the enjoy everything before we had to leave. There’s a planetarium as well; however, my daughter didn’t want to watch anything.
I was impressed that this museum’s displays were in both Japanese and English, since most museums have explanations in Japanese only.
There was a school visiting the museum at the same time as us, so some displays were quite crowded at times.
When we were done, we headed to teamLab Borderless, which was only a 7-minute walk away. It was such a great experience, we preferred it more than teamLab Planets. As always, I’ve written a detailed review about what it was like to visit teamLab Borderless.
We were going to stay at the Fantasy Springs Hotel at Tokyo Disney that night, so we decided to leave Roppongi early. However, before we left, we noticed a little limited-edition Pokémon pop-up cafe in the MORI Building where teamLab Borderless is located.
No one was waiting in line (unlike the Pokémon Cafe) and we were able to get seated right away. The food was quite delicious!
Unfortunately, this pop-up cafe is now over, but this goes to show how easily you can stumble on fun things in Tokyo (this is also why I don’t like planning every moment of my trip and allowing myself flexibility).
When we were done, we took the train to Urayasu’s Bayside Station and checked into the Tokyo Disney Fantasy Springs Hotel for one night.
Day 5
We spent the entire day at Tokyo DisneySea! Make sure to read my Tokyo DisneySea guide so that you can learn how to make the most of your visit with your kids.
Afterwards, we stayed at the nearby Hotel Okura Tokyo Bay, where we would be staying for two nights.
Day 6
On our sixth day in Tokyo, we enjoyed Tokyo Disneyland, and then headed back to Hotel Okura Tokyo Bay.
Day 7
For our seventh and last day in Tokyo, we had breakfast at the McDonald’s in IKSPIARI, a mall right next to Maihama Station.
Afterwards, my husband stayed in the restaurant and relaxed with a cup of coffee while my daughter and I hit up the nearby Disney Store. This store is like many throughout the country, so it has lots of cute merchandise that you won’t find in the park.
We didn’t buy anything, but my daughter did the Rock-Paper-Scissors challenge (called janken in Japanese) with the staff and got this cute card for free!
We then walked over to Bon Voyage, another Disney store. Here you can find some merch that’s also sold at the Disney parks.
When we were done, we decided to go to Sunshine City in Ikebukuro. It was one of my go-to places when I lived in Tokyo, and my daughter had last visited when she was only a year old, so I wanted to take her again.
There’s a lot to do in this mall, which is why I’ve written an entire article about how we spent our time at Sunshine City.
When we were done at the mall, we headed straight to Haneda Airport to catch our flight back to Osaka.
2-Day Tokyo Itinerary with Kids
In this section, I’m turning it over to my friend Lisa, who spent two days in Tokyo with her three-year-old son and her brother, who was visiting Japan from South Africa.
For families, I personally recommend creating a rough itinerary before you go on your trip.
Tokyo is crowded and oftentimes difficult to navigate, so having it kind of figured out beforehand helps incredibly. Especially when you have to carry one of your kids, or they start getting cranky. You want to be able to get to your next destination as smoothly as possible.
In terms of restaurants, it’s easy to find plenty near you on Google Maps. If you have a young child, do not go out of your way to dine somewhere unless you have a reservation. We made the mistake of trekking somewhere, and the restaurant was closed!
This is also a good list of family-friendly chain restaurants that you’re bound to find nearby.
As Kay mentioned, we stayed at the same hotel as her, OMO5 Tokyo Gotanda, while we were in Tokyo because it was new and affordable. Here’s what our room looked like.
We stayed in the Dandan room, and I didn’t like it. It was too small and we didn’t sleep well. Perhaps the Twin Room that Kay stayed in would be better, because she had a good night’s rest. We didn’t like the breakfast either, which we paid extra for, so don’t get the breakfast plan. The location was good, though, and the price was very reasonable for Tokyo.
Day 1
The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan)
My son and I really enjoyed Miraikan, especially all the interactive displays. It’s quite affordable at only 630 yen, and the man-made island on its own is quite fun to walk around.
The museum also had gatcha machines with LEGO-like block toys, which my son loved.
Miraikan is also only a 15-minute walk from the museum to the Unicorn Gundam Statue, which we visited next.
UNICORN GUNDAM STATUE
The Unicorn Gundam Statue was fun to see and take photos of. Afterwards, you can head to DiverCity, a mall just behind the statue, for shopping and lunch or dinner. They have many restaurants to choose from, and many reasonably priced shops.
The Tokyo Water Science Museum, which Kay went to with her daughter (explained in her section above), was also within walking distance of Miraikan, and free! Unfortunately, we didn’t go, and I regret not making the time for this.
Meiji Jingu Gaien Gingko Avenue
We had no plans for the rest of the day, so we went to Meiji Jingu Gaien Gingko Avenue on a whim.
Apparently, so did the rest of Tokyo, because it was incredibly crowded when we arrived.
Honestly, Meiji Jingu Avenue wasn’t quite as stunning as the photos on Google might lead you to believe, but that might have been due to the sea of people. That said, I did spot a beaming baby playing in the fallen leaves while her parents snapped the cutest photos. The crowd even gave them a surprisingly wide space, which made me think: Maybe this spot still has its charm.
My son wanted to do the same, so if you’re looking for a more relaxed place for kids to enjoy the autumn leaves, this is a decent option.
Day 2
Ghibli Museum
We loved the Ghibli Museum, and I would suggest spending the whole day in this area if possible.
We arrived at 10 am and finished at 12 pm, just in time to eat lunch at the cafe Straw Hat. I highly recommend eating here as the food was delicious and a perfect ending to the museum.
Once we left the museum, we wanted to explore Inokashira Park. We only spent a few minutes here, but we could have easily spent the rest of the day checking out everything it has to offer.
My brother bought a hot chocolate from the vending machine nearby, and there were also many places to sit and relax, and let children run and play to their hearts’ content.
Yokohama
We headed straight to Yokohama after the Ghibli Museum so that we could visit the Cup Noodle Museum.
My son loved making his own cup ramen, so I definitely recommend this part.
However, he hated the play area where children pay to get in and play as if they are being made into cup ramen. It was very rushed through to the end, so he couldn’t go and explore at his own pace.
Once the staff run through the playing process together, the children are free to play for 15 minutes, but my son had lost interest by then.
The lockers are free to use, as no bags or scarves are allowed inside.
After the Cup Noodle Museum, we visited Yokohama World Porters on the other side for dinner and to view Yokohama from the rooftop, but we were quite disappointed. The view was average, and a shop that had been suggested on another website had also closed down. Our food was also pretty bad, so we unfortunately didn’t enjoy Yokohama too much.
After our stay in Tokyo, we headed to Yamanashi to spend a night glamping near Mount Fuji.