Topic: Towers & Observation Decks
Tokyo Tower: What's Free, What Costs 1,500 to 3,300 Yen
Standing under Tokyo Tower costs nothing. Going up costs 1,500 yen for the Main Deck or 3,300 yen for the Top Deck Tour. Real current prices, honest framing.
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We stood directly under Tokyo Tower in Minato in June 2024, the same day we did teamLab Borderless, and like Tsutenkaku in Osaka, we’ve never actually gone up. That’s worth saying plainly rather than writing this as though we have, so consider the street-level part field tested and the deck pricing below researched and current.
What’s free
Walking up to the tower’s base, standing under the red and white lattice structure, and taking photos from the surrounding park costs nothing. It’s a genuinely striking building to be near even without a ticket, 332.9 meters tall, completed in 1958 as a broadcasting tower and briefly the tallest structure in the world at the time. It kept its original purpose for decades until Tokyo Skytree took over the city’s main TV and radio broadcasting duties in 2013, after which Tokyo Tower settled into life as a landmark and observation deck rather than the primary transmitter. The red and white color scheme isn’t a design choice either, Japanese aviation law requires structures over a certain height to be painted in alternating bands for visibility, the same rule that gives Tokyo Tower its Eiffel Tower shaped silhouette but a very different color from the original it was modeled after.
The tower’s base is a five-story complex called Foot Town, restaurants, cafes, souvenir shops, and a mix of hands-on attractions and exhibition spaces, and entry to Foot Town itself is free. You can spend a real chunk of a visit there, eating and browsing, without ever buying a deck ticket, which makes Tokyo Tower one of those landmarks where the free version of the day is a legitimate stop on its own, not just a consolation prize for skipping the paid view.
What costs money: two different decks
Tokyo Tower sells two separate experiences, not one ticket that covers everything.
Main Deck, 150 meters up:
| Ticket | Web price |
|---|---|
| Adult | 1,500 yen |
| High school student | 1,200 yen |
| Child (elementary/junior high) | 900 yen |
| Child (age 4+) | 600 yen |
Open 9:00 to 23:00, last admission 22:30. The Main Deck has its own souvenir shop, a cafe, and a few glass “lookdown windows” built into the floor. You can also climb roughly 600 steps to reach it instead of taking the elevator, a real option if you want the exercise and don’t mind the crowds thinning out around you the higher you go.
Top Deck Tour, 150 and 250 meters:
| Ticket | Web price | Counter price |
|---|---|---|
| Adult | 3,300 yen | 3,500 yen |
| High school student | 3,100 yen | 3,300 yen |
| Child (elementary/junior high) | 2,100 yen | 2,300 yen |
| Child (age 4+) | 1,500 yen | 1,700 yen |
Open 9:00 to 22:45, last tour 22:15. Booking online ahead of time saves 200 yen per ticket over paying at the counter, worth doing regardless of which deck you pick. Worth knowing before you commit to the higher deck specifically: the Top Deck can close on short notice in poor weather, so a clear-sky forecast matters more here than it does for the Main Deck.
Book through Klook
Tokyo Tower Main Deck admission
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Klook code: ADAMANDLINDSKLOOK
Click through to Klook below, then enter code ADAMANDLINDSKLOOK at checkout. This is a real affiliate code, we may earn a commission on the booking too, at no extra cost to you. See our legal notice.
10% off, New Klook user
$50 minimum spend, capped at $50 off, one time use. Valid through December 31, 2026.
3% off, Existing Klook user
$50 minimum spend, capped at $50 off, up to three uses. Valid through December 31, 2026.
1% off, Selected things to do and mobility, including teamLab Planets TOKYO, teamLab Borderless, teamLab Biovortex Kyoto, Japan Shinkansen tickets, SHIBUYA SKY, Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo, and Osaka Amazing Pass
No stated minimum spend for this tier. Valid through December 31, 2026.
50% off, eSIM, new eSIM customers only
No minimum spend, capped at $1.50 saved, one time use. Valid through December 31, 2026.
Two adult Main Deck tickets alone already clear the $50 cart minimum for the code’s general tiers, and a single Top Deck Tour ticket does on its own.
Getting there
Akabanebashi Station on the Toei Oedo Line and Kamiyacho Station on the Hibiya Line are both about a 5 to 10 minute walk from the tower, with Onarimon and Daimon stations on the Toei Mita and Asakusa lines a similar distance away. There’s no single “correct” station, whichever line already fits the rest of your day works fine.
Was it worth it
We can only speak honestly to the free half so far, and that half alone was worth the stop, a landmark this recognizable is worth standing under even without a ticket. The deck pricing above gives you the real numbers to weigh before deciding whether the view is worth 1,500 yen or the full 3,300 yen jump to the Top Deck, and knowing both options exist before you arrive beats discovering the split at the ticket counter.
