Join a tour by MagicalTrip, proud winner of the Tripadvisor Best of the Best Award. Each experience is led by a MagicalTrip Certified Guide, professionally trained and carefully selected to ensure quality and authenticity. Experience a quieter side of Tokyo on this cultural walking tour. Begin at Nezu Shrine, one of the city’s oldest shrines, and pass through its striking red torii gates while your guide shares insights into Shinto beliefs and local history. Capture beautiful photos in and around the shrine’s tunnel-like paths. After a relaxing walk, take a break at a café in a traditional old folk house. Enjoy a drink and sweet while joining a unique workshop to paint your own lucky cat statue, a symbol of happiness and good fortune, as a special travel keepsake. The tour continues through peaceful backstreets, stopping by the famous Himalayan cedar tree before strolling Yanaka Ginza, a nostalgic shopping street that reflects the charm of Tokyo’s old neighborhoods.
You'll see the continuous Torii gates, which reminds you of the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto. Feel the Shinto vibe as you cross a vibrant red arch in Nezu Shrine, a portal into another world After meeting at Nezu station, we'll head for Nezu shrine, one of the oldest shrines in Tokyo. You may recognize it, as it's a place famous for its tunnel of vermilion torii gates, also seen at Kyoto's Fushimi Inari shrine. While your guide shares cultural and historical tidbits about Japan, we'll take great photos in and around the tunnel. You can learn how one can pray at shrines and how to behave at them.
See around Yanaka area and have a traditional Japanese lunch. We'll stroll through a residential area where you can get a sense of real, local lifestyles. Sample a variety of local foods as you stroll around Yanaka Ginza and find yourself in a cozy house that serves Soba lunch, a food engrained in Japanese culture
Pass by Nezu Museum
Experience painting Japanese cat doll while having dessert and drink in a good Japanese old house cafe. Craft a lucky cat for your travel memory in a cafe of an old folk house After a nice long walk, we will rest in a cafe with a drink and sweets. This is the first cafe in Japan that provides workshops to craft lucky cat statues that bring luck and happiness. Paint a cat statue with your favorite color and patterns, and make your cat keep your memories from Japan for good.
A shopping street which has a nostalgic atmosphere. We will sample some street foods. We'll stroll through a residential area where you can get a sense of real, local lifestyles. You can pop into small places such as antique stores and sweets shops that line the streets.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Yanaka Historical Walking Tour in Tokyo's Old Town lasts about 3h 30min. The itinerary has 5 stops.
Prices start at $67 per person for this Tokyo experience, booked through Viator with the price shown before checkout. There is 1 booking option, so the final price depends on the option you choose.
Yes. Cancel at least 1 day before the start for a full refund. Later cancellations are non-refundable.
The meeting point is - Outside of Tokyo Metro Nezu Station Exit 1. - Your guide will be holding a red/orange sign saying "Magical Trip". - When arriving at Tokyo Metro Nezu Station, go to Exit 1 and up stairs to ground. - Your guide will be waiting just right in front of upstairs. Hotel pickup is not part of this experience.
The experience is available in EN.
It is a small-group experience with a maximum of 7 participants.
The itinerary for this tour includes some locations that are not accessible by a wheelchair or stroller.
The itinerary for this tour includes some locations that are not accessible by a wheelchair or stroller.
Excellent activity which displayed a good cross-section of Japanese community. Painting your cat was a good respite from the extensive walking program.
Thank you so much for your lovely review! We’re glad you enjoyed experiencing different aspects of the local community and had fun painting your cat along the way. We’re happy it was a relaxing break from all the walking! We hope you had many wonderful memories to take home with you.
Even though it was raining, we had the best time on the Yanaka Historic Walking Tour with our Japanese guide Tossy. From visiting a beautiful Shinto shrine and Buddhist temple complete with 10 m high golden goddess, all set in beautiful gardens; exploring the winding Snake Road and its charming homes; meeting some talented young local artists. Paper makers, potters and crafters creating handmade objects. We loved it all, especially tiny galleries housed within traditional buildings, complete with tatami matting and rice screens. With Tossys guidance we also sampled tasty street food and drinks,such as plum wine and sweet sake. We even handpainted pur own ceramic waving cat in a craft cafe whilst enjoying coffee and cake. Along the way Tossy shared her knowledge of the history and customs in this area. Thank you Tossy for helping us make the most of our short time in Tokyo. We learned so much and saw so many interesting places. Highly recommended if youre looking to see a different, quieter side of this busy vibrant city.
Thank you so much for your wonderful review! We’re delighted to hear that you enjoyed exploring Yanaka with Tossy, even on a rainy day. We’re glad you loved discovering the local temples, gardens, artists, galleries, street food, and unique experiences along the way. We’ll be sure to share your kind words with Tossy! We hope to welcome you again on your next visit to Japan!
Our guide was knowledgeable, kind and flexible. It was very hot and humid, and I am recover from knee surgery, so we took it slow.
Thank you for your kind review! We’re glad to hear that our guide was able to make the experience comfortable and enjoyable for you. We truly appreciate your feedback and hope you had a memorable time with us!
We took part in a special sightseeing tour, which we really enjoyed. Mark, our local tour guide, knew every detail of this part of the city inside out, and told us a lot about the traditions and historical sites. In the sweltering heat, it was a really nice activity to paint our own lucky cats in the café. Afterwards, we set off with renewed energy to the shopping street and the other sights. The tour was brilliant; we’d recommend it to everyone, and be sure to look out for Mark, who is a really friendly, attentive and polite tour guide. On the sightseeing tour that set off at half past one, there weren’t too many people in the town, it wasn’t crowded, and the length of the tour was just right for us.
Thank you so much for your wonderful review! We’re delighted to hear that you enjoyed the tour, especially painting your lucky cats and exploring the local sights with Mark. We’ll be sure to share your kind words with him. We truly appreciate your recommendation!
Mark was a great tour guide. He was knowledgeable, kind and easy to talk to. We enjoyed our tour immensely. It was easy to meet him and the meeting location was very convenient.
Thank you for your wonderful review! We're so happy to hear you had a great time with Mark and that you found him knowledgeable, kind, and easy to talk to. We'll be sure to share your kind words with him. We're also glad the meeting location was convenient. We hope to welcome you on another MagicalTrip tour soon!
Great experience! Tour guide was amazing, very knowledgeable about the area and willing to answer questions. The locations were beautiful and it was cool to learn more about Yanaka. I went in July so it was very hot, but we stopped occasionally to rest or entered shops and cafes through the tour that helped escape the heat.
Thank you so much for your wonderful review! We're delighted to hear you enjoyed exploring Yanaka and learning about its history with your guide. It's great to know the breaks helped make the tour comfortable despite the summer heat. We truly appreciate your kind words and hope to welcome you again on another adventure in Japan!
I enjoyed Mark as a tour guide. He was very helpful and knowledgeable. I would highly recommend him as a tour guide.
Thank you for your kind review! We're delighted to hear that you enjoyed your time with Mark and found him helpful and knowledgeable. We'll be sure to share your wonderful feedback with him. Thank you for your recommendation, and we hope to welcome you on another MagicalTrip adventure in the future!
Tadashi was an exceptional tour guide who clearly loves what he does. His enthusiasm, knowledge, and dedication made the entire experience unforgettable. He took the time to answer every question thoughtfully and always seemed to have an answer, no matter the topic. What stood out most was his ability to show us places we would never have discovered on our own. Thanks to his local knowledge, we experienced parts of the destination that felt authentic and unique. He was also incredibly flexible and attentive to the group's interests, happily adapting the tour whenever we wanted to explore something different or spend more time at a particular location. This was truly a one-of-a-kind experience, and a big part of that was Tadashi's passion and professionalism. I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for a memorable and personalized tour. Thank you, Tadashi, for a marvelous experience!
The tour was okay, compared to other ones we took in Kyoto and Osaka. The tour guide was very friendly and he gave us a good overview of Japanese culture, customs and society in general. Unfortunately we had a problem with communication as his English was not very good. But overall it was okay.
Thank you for your feedback and for your kind comments about our guide's friendliness and knowledge. We apologize for the communication difficulties you experienced and understand how this may have affected your tour. We appreciate your feedback and will continue working to improve our guides' language skills and overall guest experience. Thank you for joining us, and we hope to welcome you again in the future.
This is a special and unusual tour because you get to explore a historic part of Edo (old Tokyo). You get to see how people live outside the neon world of the Ginza and Shinjuku. Mark is a gracious and knowledgeable guide. We got to visit the Azalea Festival and the Nezu Temple shrine, which were wonderful. We also got to snack on local treats, Takoyaki and grilled mochi balls, which we thoroughly enjoyed as adventurous eaters. Neither were new for us. We also went to a cafe where we got to paint our own personal "Lucky Cats". So much fun. We also explored interesting local shops and engaged in "retail therapy". We opted to make this a private tour and have Mark meet us at our hotel and then we took a taxi to Yanaka and then a taxi back.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful and detailed review! We’re delighted to hear that you enjoyed exploring the historic charm of Yanaka. We truly appreciate your kind words about Mark as well. He’ll be very happy to hear that you enjoyed his guidance and company. Thank you again for joining the tour with us. We hope to welcome you back for another unique experience in the future!
| Tour | Duration | Rating | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yanaka Historical Walking Tour in Tokyo's Old Town | 3h 30min | 4.9 (204) | $67 | |
 Asakusa Senso-ji Temple and Old Tokyo Walking Tour | 2 hours | 4.9 (1,074) | $30 | View |
 Tokyo Tsukiji Fish Market Food Walking Tour with 5 Tastings | 3 hours | 4.9 (3,765) | $97 | View |
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 1-Day Tokyo Bus Tour | 9–10 hours | 4.9 (17,048) | $126 | View |
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