First trip to Japan this April. We will be in Tokyo for a week. I am wondering if doing a one day tour of Tokyo will be worth it as an introduction to Tokyo. Navigating the city will be a bit of a challenge in that the subways are extensive, so many lines and the stations can be complex at times. Getting lost will probably happen at times. I have the guides and maps but after doing some research it seems we need to be very careful on how to get about and find places. We are staying at the Hilton Tokyo. Our interests are the shrines, imperial palace and shopping. No museums. We are seasoned travelers and have traveled Asia and Europe on our own always but Tokyo presents a real challenge . What day tours do you recommend that will pick us up at our hotel and cover the things we like to do?

The other option to considers the hop on hop off bus. We did this in Paris and it worked out fine, so I would like to hear from folks that have done this for Tokyo. These buses can however present problems at times such as long waits for the. Bus, too much traffic to contend with, buses arriving so crowded that you do not get good seats etc.

We did the hop on hop off bus when we were in Tokyo, as it had just started so was free. I do not recommend it. The only thing we really saw were the buildings - lots of interesting architecture - but it didn't go anywhere we wanted to be. As with most HOHO busses, I thought it was a waste of time and money.

On our first trip to Tokyo we spent one day with a Tokyo Free Guide. This is as system of volunteers who work with you ahead of time to arrange a personal guided tour to see the areas of your choosing. They also can give you information about subway routes, how to buy tickets, etc. The only cost is that you are expected to buy them lunch and pay for their subway costs (although we also brought a small box of chocolates as a thank you gift). You can find more information here:

http://www.tokyofreeguide.org/en/tour-guide-service/

Our guide, Mariko, had studied English in London and volunteered in order to improve. She emailed us an introduction and asked us what areas we wanted to see. On the prearranged day we were taken to the top of the Metropolitan Government Building for the amazing views, the Tsukiji Market, Ginza and Takashimaya, but they will take you anywhere you desire. This a great, personal way to meet and spend time with a local, while learning a bit about the city and how it works. It was one of the highlights of our first trip to Japan.

I've never taken a free guide in Tokyo although I ended up being the only person on a Asakusa waling tour years ago, but I have had many free guides in other places in Japan and was always very satisfied....often the high point of my visit to wherever it was....

oops, waling should be walking....

The free guide Russ mentioned sounds amazing. I wish I had found out about this before my trip. A day tour normally would take you on their own transportation (tour bus), but a guide can show you how the public transportation works so you be better oriented later in the trip even without the guide.

We had a "free guide" in Tokyo but it didn't work out so well, luck of the draw I guess. We may contact the guides that Rachel_az used, described in her recent TR.

I used one of the free guides and she was lovely!

A quick city tour might be a nice way to get an overall intro to the city. I have heard many good things about the free walking tours too.

But, I think you are overestimating the difficulty of getting around in Tokyo. Japan is an extremely civilized country and people, in general, are quite helpful. In addition, it is very safe and free from many of the scams you find in other countries.

If you have traveled in other European and Asian countries, you are going to have no problem in Japan.

Thanks to all for thei input. Having considered all options we have decided that the tours will not fit with our style of travel and touring. We will just strike out on our own. We have detailed maps of the city and its subway systems. We have identified about 6 venues to explore which should be sufficient for our week in Tokyo.

Enjoy!

We recently spent 5 days in Tokyo, and we approached the time as we almost always do when we arrive in a large city for the first time (we also dislike tours).

In this case, we used the Hop On - Hop Off bus the first day to get an overview of the city, and identify areas we might want to explore in depth later. The Hop On Hop Off bus was a very good way to start. In other cities, perhaps we would ride the public transit system (buses, trams, above-ground rail) from end to end to accomplish the same thing.

Then, for the remaining days, we'd use the subway system (very easy to navigate) to quickly get to the areas that interested us.