1-Day Sensoji Temple Itinerary
This 1-Day Sensoji Temple itinerary is packed with lots of food. We hope your stomach is prepared.
TLDR
Sukiya for gyudon breakfast
Sensoji Temple + Nakamise Street
Coffee shop CARIB
Imperial Palace
Gyukatsu Motomura Shinjuku
Shinjuku Shopping
8AM
Breakfast
Gyudon’s are probably one of our favorite breakfast options in Japan. It’s so comforting, and you can easily find one near you. Aside from Gyudon (beef rice bowls), there are many other options as well. The set photographed is from Sukiya: Small gyudon with radish and miso soup and tofu. The total for this was about ¥800 ($6 USD).
9AM
Sensoji Temple
(Asakusa Kannon)
Hours
Main hall: 6:00 to 17:00 (from 6:30 from October to March)
Temple grounds: Always open
Admission: Free
If there is one piece of advice we will give when going to any tourist-heavy area, that would be to go early. Or as soon as they open to avoid crazy crowds. The optimal time to come in our opinion would be 9 AM because you want to time it with the Nakamise Street vendors. If you come too early, they won’t be open, and you’ll miss out on the shopping and food.
Sensoji Temple is one of the city's oldest and most significant temples, and it is regarded as an iconic symbol of Tokyo's cultural and spiritual heritage. The temple was constructed in the seventh century and has a long and rich history shaped by both religious and political forces.
Sensoji Temple's giant paper lantern, which hangs at the temple's entrance and bears the temple's name written in large characters, is one of its most notable features. This lantern is considered an iconic symbol of the temple and is a popular photo location for tourists. The main hall of the temple houses a statue of Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion, who is the temple's primary object of worship.
The temple also has a five-story pagoda, the Asakusa Shrine, and an incense burner where visitors can participate in the ritual of purifying themselves with incense smoke.
10AM
Coffee shop CARIB
Hours: 9AM-7PM Daily
Address: Japan, 〒111-0032 Tokyo, Taito City, Asakusa, 2 Chome−2−1 リッチライフ浅草東ビル
We were pretty jet-lagged and needed some fuel to power through. Coffee Shop Carib is a cute little coffee shop located on one of the side streets off Nakamise Street. They also serve food and have the most buttery and crispy on the outside but fluffy on the inside, thick toast.
10:30 AM
Nakamise-dori Street
Nakamise Shopping Street, which is the approach leading to the temple. It is one of the oldest shopping streets in Japan, and offers a wide variety of traditional Japanese souvenirs such as traditional toys, sweets, crafts, and kimonos. The street is always crowded with both tourists and locals, and is a great place to experience the lively atmosphere of Asakusa and get a sense of the local culture. The vendors close at 5PM so make sure to come before they close up shop.
One of our favorite things to do is wander through street markets and eat whatever catches our eye. If you enjoy sweets, the candied fruits will satisfy your craving. We visited during the winter, so there were plenty of sweet potato snacks. The sweet potato cake we got was extremely moist. It tasted like mashed potatoes shaped into a cake form. It's a must-try if you like sweet potatoes. Even if you don't, it's worth a shot! To wash it all down, we ordered a banana smoothie, which was probably the creamiest banana smoothie we'd ever had. The milk in Japan just hits different in every facet.
1 PM
Imperial Palace
Hours
Sun-Mon: Closed
Tues-Sat: 9-11:15 AM, 1:30PM-2:45PM
We didn’t get to go into the palace but the hours shown are for guided tours if you’re interested. That is the only way that you get to tour the palace grounds beyond the gates, and prior reservation is recommended. If you don’t plan on going on the tour, the exterior of the palace is huge and is really peaceful despite it being in the middle of Tokyo. Take a stroll and admire the perfectly groomed bonsai trees.
While you’re here, you can also visit the Imperial Palace East Garden as well. There is a really beautiful Japanese garden that is open to the public for free. A little heads up if you do plan to visit, there is A LOT of walking because the palace perimeter is really big.
3PM
Gyukatsu Motomura
Multiple locations in Tokyo
Ready for dinner? Don’t worry, we weren’t but after waiting for a table, we were ready to eat. The restaurant is small with only about 10 counter seats. We had a larger party of 4 so we waited almost an hour at 3PM. We’ve definitely seen longer lines during peak dinner hour so if you plan to come around 5PM? Be prepared to wait.
What is gyukatsu? Gyukatsu is a thin steak breaded with panko bread crumbs, and then deep-fried until it is crispy on the outside and rare on the inside. You finish cooking your steak to your liking table side with a personal hot plate.
5PM
Shopping in Shinjuku
Depending on what you want to do, there are a lot of options in Shinjuku. If you want to go to a bar, there are plenty. We wanted to do some shopping since it was one of our first days here and it was Black Friday. If you route to LUMINE EST Shinjuku, you’ll see tons of shopping, bars, karaoke, and dessert places just from wandering the streets.
