Tokyo's Towers
Deck prices and hours change — confirm on the Tokyo Tower and Skytree sites.
Tokyo has two great towers, and travellers almost always ask the same question: which one should I go up? They are not really rivals so much as two different experiences of the same city — one futuristic and record-breaking, the other nostalgic and quintessentially Tokyo — and the honest answer to “which is better” depends entirely on what you want from the view. Here’s how to choose.
A little background
Tokyo Tower, completed in 1958, is the elder. A red-and-white lattice clearly modelled on the Eiffel Tower — and, at 333 metres, three metres taller than it — it was built as a broadcasting tower and became the symbol of a Japan rebuilding itself into a postwar economic power. It is woven into the city’s imagination in a way the newer tower isn’t: it appears in countless films, anime and songs, and lit up at night it is still, for many, *the* image of Tokyo.
Tokyo Skytree, opened in 2012, is the giant. At 634 metres it is the tallest tower in the world and the second-tallest structure of any kind after Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. It was built because the surrounding high-rises had begun to block Tokyo Tower’s broadcast signals, and it makes no pretence of nostalgia — it is a sleek, futuristic spire over the eastern district of Sumida, near Asakusa.
What to see — and which to choose
The key thing to understand is that height changes the view in a way that isn’t simply “higher is better.”
Tokyo Tower puts you in the skyline. From its decks at 150m and 250m, individual buildings, moving traffic, parks and Tokyo Bay all stay in human scale — you feel you are above the city but still part of it. For photographers this is the better tower: your shots get foreground, middle distance and horizon, and you can press a lens right to the glass. It also gives the classic view down over the temple roofs of Zōjō-ji. And, of course, a photo of the Tokyo skyline rather wants Tokyo Tower’s red-and-white form in it — which it can’t be if you’re the one standing inside it.
Tokyo Skytree gives you scale and reach. From the Tembo Deck at 350m, or the Tembo Galleria at 450m (reached by a spiralling glass ramp), the view is vast — on a clear day all the way to Mount Fuji, with the Kanto plain stretching to the horizon. The trade-off, which several visitors note honestly, is that from this height Tokyo can look like a flat grey model rather than a living city. It’s the choice for sheer “top of Tokyo” awe rather than texture, and its base sits beneath the large Tokyo Solamachi mall and the Sumida Aquarium.
So, in short: choose Tokyo Tower for the more characterful, photogenic, in-the-skyline view (and the lower price); choose Skytree for the highest, most futuristic, see-Fuji panorama. If you’ve already been up Shibuya Sky or [teamLab](#teamlab) on the same trip, the extra cost of Skytree’s top deck may not add proportional wonder — and it’s worth knowing that Tokyo’s best-value view of all, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building observation decks in Shinjuku, is entirely free, with Tokyo Tower, Skytree and Fuji all visible from 202m.
A note on timing: both towers peak at sunset, and Skytree — far more heavily marketed internationally — has the longer queues, often 30–60 minutes on a weekend evening even with a pre-booked ticket. The magic hour from late afternoon into the lit-up night is the loveliest window if you can bear the crowds; otherwise a clear morning is calmer.
Go up near dusk, if you can, and give the view its due — but attend less to the famous distances than to what the height does to the city's scale. From up here Tokyo stops being the overwhelming thing it is at street level and becomes something almost tender: a vast, glittering circuit-board reaching past the curve of the earth, too large to hold in one thought, and strangely calm for it. Pick out the older tower from the newer, or the newer from the older. One is orange lattice from 1958, built taller than the Eiffel Tower by a country climbing up out of the rubble of war — a whole nation's recovery expressed as a spire. The other is a pale needle from 2012, the tallest thing in Japan, all quiet modern confidence. Two towers, two moods, half a century apart, both saying the same thing in different voices: look how far, look how high. And below, going about its evening, fourteen million people who mostly never look up.
Guides and information on site
Both towers are ticketed, managed attractions with multilingual signage, English-speaking staff and floor guides, so neither needs a separate guidebook — the information is built into the visit. What’s worth knowing in advance is the ticket structure, which is identical in shape at both: a cheaper ticket for the lower deck, and a pricier combined ticket that adds the upper deck. Buying online in advance saves a few hundred yen and, at Skytree especially, time — and for sunset slots, booking ahead is strongly advised. At Skytree the difference between the 350m and 450m decks is, by many accounts, not dramatic, so the lower-deck-only ticket is a reasonable economy; at Tokyo Tower the top-deck “Top Deck Tour” is a more guided, intimate experience with glass-floored elevators.
Cost and hours
Tokyo Tower is open roughly 9am to 10:30pm (last entry around 9:20pm). Admission is about ¥1,200–¥1,500 for the Main Deck (150m), or around ¥3,000–¥3,500 for the combined Main + Top Deck (250m); discounts apply online.
Tokyo Skytree is open roughly 9am to 10pm (last entry around 9pm), with admission about ¥2,400–¥2,700 for the Tembo Deck (350m) and around ¥3,500–¥3,900 for the combined ticket adding the Tembo Galleria (450m); again, a little cheaper booked online, and prices vary slightly between weekday and weekend.
Tokyo Tower sits near Akabanebashi and Onarimon stations (and Zōjō-ji temple).
Tokyo Skytree is directly above Tokyo Skytree Station and a short walk from Asakusa, making it easy to pair with Sensō-ji.
Both stay open in rain; only severe wind closes the top decks, so check the official webcam an hour ahead if the sky looks marginal.
- OfficialSite Tokyo Tower — description, background, entry.
- OfficialSite Skytree — description, background, entry.
Last updated 29 June 2026