areas asakusa

5 top places to visit in Asakusa

Asakusa is Tokyo’s most famous old neighbourhood. The Sensō-ji temple, touted as Tokyo’s oldest, sucks in tourists from all over the world. It makes Asakusa a highly touristic area, not representative of local Tokyo life. As the north-eastern corner of Tokyo is also a popular place to stay with hotel prices lower than central Tokyo, short term visitors have taken over this place.

What is the best time to visit Asakusa?
Go in the evening. If you go by closing time of Nakamise-dōri, you can enjoy the light-up of Sensō-ji temple temple, the amazing shutter art and enjoy a drink on lively hoppy street. Read more.

 
Long story short, Asakusa is a tourist trap, but with a couple of nice places nonetheless, so it should not be removed from a visitor’s itinerary. However, approach with caution as you would any highly touristic spot in the world.

What to eat in Asakusa?
Asakusa has a wide variety of places to eat. I am afraid I was rather disappointed with many places I have tried here, so I recommend to play it safe and go for chain restaurants if you really must eat here, or do enough research that you end up at a good place. Of course, many exceptions exist, from matcha ice cream to senbei rice crackers.

 
This article lists my top recommendations in Asakusa. I have written many more articles related to places, restaurants and events in Asakusa. Please note there are plenty other places in Tokyo to enjoy traditional Japan. My favourite temple is Gokokuji and my favourite old neighbourhood is Yanaka.

 

 

 

 

 


 

Closest stations:
Asakusa Station (Asakusa line, Ginza Line, Tobu Skytree line)
Asakusa Station (Tsukuba Express station)
Please note both stations are called Asakusa Station, there is 600 meters between them.

 

Names in Japanese:
浅草寺 (Sensō-ji), 伝法院 (Dembou-in), ホッピー通り (Hoppy Street), 待乳山本龍院 (Matsuchiyama Shoden), 隅田公園 (Sumida Park)