Destinations / Tokyo
Tokyo with kids
Tokyo is one of the easiest big cities to do with children: very safe, clean, with reliable trains and a huge range of things made for kids. Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea (including the newer Fantasy Springs area) sit alongside the Ghibli Museum, teamLab Planets and Sanrio Puroland. The catch is room size: standard Japanese hotel rooms are small, so check the exact room's capacity before booking for four.
Tokyo
Which ages it suits
Ages 0–2 · Good
Very baby-friendly, with nursing rooms, baby centres in the Disney parks and lifts at stations. Rooms are small and cots are limited, so ask the hotel early.
Ages 3–6 · Great
Disneyland, Puroland and the Ghibli Museum suit this age. Distances and queues make long park days tiring, so plan one big day, then a quiet one.
Ages 7–12 · Great
The sweet spot, with DisneySea, teamLab and the Ghibli Museum, and a lot of food kids enjoy. Most attractions are reachable by train.
Ages 13–17 · Great
Anime, games, shopping and DisneySea's bigger rides. Good independent fun in daylight; Tokyo is very safe by day and night.
When to go with children
Weather for kids and school-holiday crowds together. Best: March, April, October, November.
- March · 13°C
- March to early April: mild, with cherry blossom usually late March to early April. Spring holidays bring busy parks and higher hotel prices.
- April · 18°C
- April and May: pleasant weather, but Golden Week (about 29 April to 5 May) is extremely crowded and expensive across Japan.
- June · 26°C
- June: rainy season (tsuyu) with grey, humid days. Fewer queues at Disney and cheaper rooms, but pack for rain.
- August · 31°C
- August: very hot and humid, with Japanese school holidays. Disney is busy and the heat limits outdoor days; teamLab and Ghibli are good indoor choices.
- October · 22°C
- October to November: warm days, cooler evenings and some of the best weather. Disney's Halloween season runs in the autumn.
- December · 11°C
- Late December and early January: Christmas lights are good, but Japan shuts down around New Year and Disney prices peak.
Parks and days out, by car
Typical minutes by car from Shinjuku. School-holiday traffic can add a lot.
Walk-through digital art, with a room where you walk barefoot through water. Adult tickets start at 3,800 yen, children 4–12 are 1,500 yen and under 3 are free; book a timed slot ahead.
Best for 4–14 · Adult day from about $25 · Tickets on GetYourGuide · Official site
Admission is by advance reservation only, with no sales at the door. Tickets for a month go on sale at 10:00 JST on the 10th of the previous month, via Lawson Ticket; prices are 1,000 yen for 19+, 700 for 13–18, 400 for 7–12, 100 for 4–6, free for 3 and under. Open 10:00 to 18:00.
Best for 4–12 · Adult day from about $5 · Tickets on GetYourGuide · Official site
Classic Disney park with pricing that varies by date. Third-party guides put an adult 1-day ticket at about 7,900 to 12,400 yen; check the official calendar for your dates. Free Standby Pass and paid Premier Access are in the resort app.
Best for 2–12 · Adult day from about $55 · Tickets on GetYourGuide · Official site
Water-themed park for older kids and grown-ups. Fantasy Springs adds Frozen, Tangled and Peter Pan rides; per the official site there is no separate entry requirement, and Standby Pass (free) or Premier Access (paid) cuts waits. Fairy Tinker Bell's Busy Buggies is Standby Pass only.
Best for 5–16 · Adult day from about $55 · Tickets on GetYourGuide · Official site
Indoor Hello Kitty theme park, useful in rain or heat. A passport is needed from age 3; children under 3 are free. Prices vary by date, so check the site for your day.
Best for 2–8 · Tickets on GetYourGuide · Official site
Where to stay
Shinjuku
Big hotels with family rooms, many train lines, and a direct route to Ghibli Museum (Mitaka) and central Tokyo.
Ikebukuro (Sunshine City)
Hotel inside a complex with an aquarium and a kids' arcade (Namja Town), with trains to Shinjuku and Ueno.
Maihama (Tokyo Disney Resort)
Sleep next to the parks if Disney is the point of the trip; the on-site hotels run their own bus and monorail.
Family resorts we checked
The only hotel inside a park, with rooms that look over DisneySea.
The Family Room is a 93 m2 room for five, rare in Tokyo.
The 97 m2 Family Room fits a family of four with space to spare.
A real family room and a baby plan at a reasonable Shinjuku base.
A true four-bed room of 60.8 m2, inside a complex with an aquarium.
The cheapest official Disney hotel, built around Toy Story.
A 8-night trip, paced for kids
Settle in
Short walks and an early night after the long flight. Asakusa and the Sensoji area suit tired kids with a rickshaw ride and snack stalls.
Ghibli and teamLab
Mitaka for the Ghibli Museum in the morning, with its fixed entry time, then Inokashira Park. A rest day follows, then teamLab Planets with a timed slot.
Tokyo Disneyland
Arrive for opening and use Standby Pass in the app. Break for a meal in the afternoon, then see the evening show.
Rest day
No schedule: shops, arcades or a park near the hotel. Do laundry if your hotel has machines.
DisneySea or Puroland
Pick DisneySea for ages 7 and over, with Fantasy Springs queue passes. For under 7s, Puroland is indoor and easier.
Last day
Pick up souvenirs in Ikebukuro or Shibuya before the airport.
Good to know
- The catch
- Hotel rooms are small, and a room listed for 3 or 4 may mean sharing a bed; check the room's exact capacity and bed type before booking for 2+2.
- Flights
- Nonstop from London (Heathrow) to Haneda or Narita takes about 14 hours; from the US East Coast about 13 to 14 hours. Haneda is closer to the city and to Disney than Narita.
- Jet lag
- Tokyo is 8 to 9 hours ahead of the UK and 13 to 14 ahead of US East; younger kids often wake at 3 to 4am for the first days. Plan quiet mornings.
- Health
- Tap water is safe. Summer heat and humidity are strong in July and August; there is no malaria risk.
- Safety
- UK FCDO (updated 28 August 2026) gives general advice with flooding and heavy-rain information and does not advise against travel to Tokyo; earthquake awareness is advised.
- Getting around
- Trains and metro are the way; stations have lifts but are busy at rush hour. Taxis are expensive. A compact pushchair is easier than a big one.
- Budget
- About $260 a night for a mid-range family room for four, $700 for luxury, plus about $180 a day for food, transport and outings.
Pairs well with: Osaka
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