During our last visit to Tokyo, we were recommended to get to the top of the Tokyo Skytree Tower – one of the touristic highlights o the city. Its height of 634 meters makes it the tallest building in Japan and the second tallest structure in the world at the time of its completion. Thus, it is considered to be a must visit spot in Tokyo.
The Tokyo Skytree Tower
The Tokyo Skytree consists of two observation decks that are believed to provide tourists with a magnificent view out over the city.
One desk is located at heights of 350 and the other one of 450 meters, which makes them the highest observation desks in the whole country, but not in the world (See our post about Burj Khalifa). Both observation desks, Tembo Deck and Tembo Gallery, offer visitors a panoramic views of Tokyo.
Moreover, there is a souvenir shop and a restaurant located in the middle floors that serves traditional Japanese dishes and wine.
Hours and Fees
The Tokyo Skytree Tower is open daily from 8:00 am to 22:00, but the entry is available until 21:00. As for the price, first observatory costs 2060 yen/$17 (regular ticket) and 2820 yen/$23 (fast ticket), whereas, second observatory costs additional 1030 yen/$8. You can book your tickets in advance to avoid extremely long queue when you walk in.
Location
The Tokyo Skytree entrance is located on the 4th floor of Tokyo Skytree Town that can be easily found between Tokyo Skytree Station and the Tobu Isesaki Line if you take metro. It can be also reached by direct buses from Tokyo Station and it takes approximately 30 minutes and it costs 520 yen/$4 one way (there are 2 buses running every hour). If you are trying to reach it from Haneda Airport then the ride takes 50-70 minutes, costs 920 yen/$7 and there is one bus running each hour.
Is it worth it?
In my opion NO!
I had a chance to get to the top of the Skytree Tower at night, around 8 pm. The queue was much shorter than I expected and I was taken to the first, then second observation desk by the elevator.
Being on top was one big fight to get to see anything. I was squeezed by other tourists when trying to see the panoramic view of Tokyo. Taking pictures was extremely difficult with such a crowd of people.
The view was, well… disappointing. After reading so many reviews of how breath-taking it is going to be, my expectations were pretty high. As it turned out, the view of Tokyo was very average. Still nice, but to be honest, nothing worth the money I spent. The night view of Shanghai seen from the top of Shanghai Tower was even better when compared to what I experienced in Tokyo.
Although my night experience at the Tokyo Skytree Tower did not come up to my expectations at all, I wonder if it would be the same if I came there during the day. Who knows…
Have been to the Tokyo Skytree Tower? How did you like it?
34 thoughts on “Tokyo Skytree Tower – Is It Worth It?”
Nope, never been. It sounds a lot cheaper in Tokyo than in Dubai though which I personally think is a plus…although like you said. It looks like a city, at night. Maybe during the day? Going to be honest here, never heard of the Skytree Tower before. :)
Yeah, it’s much cheaper than Dubai, but at least you get amazed by the view in Dubai.
i never bothered with this one. i hate to disagree with you but…. i ACTUALLY (and somewhat ironically) think the view in your last photo is pretty amazing! Remember that it is looking over the tops of tall buildings! :)
:)
Another tourist attraction really. I had never heard of the sky tower. Appreciate the honest post
It is!
That’s really expensive. I mean the view is nice but I would not spend so much money for a view…
It was :(.
I believe I wrote a guest post for you where I specifically said Skytree had an alternative :). The government building in the west of Tokro is free, has few crowds, and you can actually get Skytree in your pictures. I never bought the hype of getting to the tallest anything because for the most part, it is the most expensive, and if you want good pictures, that THING is not IN them. Another alternative is Tokyo tower which is much shorter, but less of a line and not as expensive.
Scratch that, it was Seoul I did for you :). But I did write about it on my own blog.
Thank Julio. I’ll definitely check it out!
I don’t even know what constitutes a great or better night view of a city. I think they are beautiful, but isn’t it pretty much the same regardless of whether you are staring at Tokyo or Paris or Singapore or any other major cities in the world?
There are probably tonnes of other ways to get a decent Tokyo night view that does not cost that much, or at all. I think paying to get on top of the Skytree Tower is as worth it as getting on top of the Eiffel Tower. Don’t think either of them is worth it.
I agree, there were many different ways to get a beautiful view of Tokyo for free, but we were recommended this Tower so… well… :)
Still quite beautiful, but not sure if it’s worth all that money.
Yep, but not worth the price :).
So good to see etramping is back traveling together!
I was in Tokyo for 5 months but never got to the top of Tokyo SkyTree. I personally think the ticket is too expensive.Tokyo Metropolitan Govt’s observatory was good enough for me. It offers the view of Tokyo Tower and it’s free ? from what i’ve seen on the Internet, Odaiba has a spectacular night view too!
We are also happy to be back travelling together. As for the Skytree Tower, you haven’t missed anything important then :O.
Worth it or not……is always from one perspective and more importantly the price you pay :-) I did enjoy but was not impressed by my visit to Tokyo Sky Tree. Check here: http://tantaikwee.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-tokyo-skytree-and-sumida-river.html
It depends what your budget is, really.
I don’t really like view towers, but my husband loves them , so when we travel together we usually go to some of them :)
Nice!
though i haven´t been there in tokio , i really think the entrance fee is not worth it, we had the same experience in guangzhou (seems there is a tower nowadays everywhere)but we were smart enough only going up one of us and take photos from the area….one can do a lot better things with that money……
Agree, although I’ve not done the Guangzhou.
This opened after I had been to Tokyo… but I think often elevated city viewpoints are only worth it if the city is spectacular from above (Sydney, Istanbul, Paris, HK)… and for me, Tokyo isn’t. Tokyo, like Delhi, Lahore and Bangkok, is much better seen from street level… but that’s just my opinion.
Yeah, Paris and HK views were amazing. Tokyo was a bit disappointing.
I know that must seem like a letdown but for those of us who have yet to be there at all, it still looks pretty amazing. I wonder how long it will continue to keep those sorts of numbers however, if it will always be crammed with people seeking to do the same thing, or if visitation will decline making it easier to go up and possibly cheaper, as with the Eiffel Tower and other monumental edifices that people enjoy seeing.
Could be, but I’m not that sure.
Never heard of a Sky tower. It looks cool to me from the pictures I see. I guess sometimes, when what you expect is not what you see. Then its disappointing.
Really?
I loved the Tokyo Sky Tree and think it’s absolutely worth visiting. The views are stunning, especially at sunset! I enjoyed watching the lights turn on all over the city!
Nice!
Maybe the view is good but the thing that ruined everything is the number of people sometimes when they dont have limit number of people in tourist place is very difficult to enjoy the experience
Could be!
You say the view was disappointing but the pictures capture Tokyo at night beautifully with the lights and it’s never-ending city. We chose the government building in the afternoon which wasn’t too busy but after seeing your pictures I kinda wish we went during the night. I feel in big cities like Tokyo, going to a tower to view the city is just one of the things you have to do.