Tokyo Metropole & Greater Kanto · Yokohama

Yokohama: Japan's largest Chinatown, the Cup Noodles Museum and the harbor at sunset

30 minutes from Tokyo, a port city with room to breathe: eat baozi in Chinatown, walk along the water, make your own cup of ramen, ride a Ferris wheel at sunset, and cross the harbor in a lit-up cable car.

A day trip to Yokohama, the port city half an hour from Tokyo, in one line along the water, from one end of the harbor to the other. You start in the morning in Chinatown, while it is still quiet, walk out to the promenade of Yamashita Park and the roof of Osanbashi Pier, and sit down for lunch at the Red Brick Warehouses. In the afternoon you make your own cup of ramen at the Cup Noodles Museum, go up the Ferris wheel at sunset, and cross the harbor in a lit-up cable car to Sakuragicho. Dinner is in a stone dry dock from 1896, 3 minutes from the station you head back from. Almost everything is on foot, about 4 km between the stops. If you ride both the cable car and the Ferris wheel, buy a combined ticket at the cable car ticket office: ¥1,700 instead of ¥2,000.

Verified online, October 20268 stops · 09:45 to 19:45¥8,500 · ≈ $54 per personWalking between stops: 52 minGood with kidsDay trip from TokyoRain-friendly (partly)

The day on a map

8 stops, in order

Stops: 8
Walking minutes: 52

Stop number on the timelineWalkingBase map: © OpenStreetMap

Open this day in Google Maps

The same stops with the same numbers, and the way from stop to stop. On a phone it opens in the app, and that is what you navigate with in Japan. Pin names on the map are in Hebrew.

Getting there: You start in Chinatown. From Shibuya: the Tokyu Toyoko Line, which runs straight on into the Minato Mirai Line, and you stay on the train to the last station, Motomachi-Chukagai: 44 minutes, ¥540, and from there 5 minutes on foot to Kanteibyo temple in the heart of the district. From Tokyo Station: JR to Ishikawacho, 38 minutes with a change at Yokohama to the Negishi Line, ¥620, and from there 6 minutes on foot to the temple. In Yokohama itself everything is on foot, plus one cable car ride. In the evening you head back from Minato Mirai Station, 3 minutes from the dry dock where you eat: a direct train to Shibuya, 36 minutes, ¥510. For Tokyo Station, ride from Sakuragicho Station on the JR Keihin-Tohoku Line, with no change.

09:4511:15
Stop 1DistrictMust
Chinatown: 600 shops and Kanteibyo temple
You start in Chinatown, Japan's largest: 10 colorful gates and the gilded Kanteibyo temple (free, 9:00 to 19:00). Eat baozi from the street stalls, ¥300 to ¥500 each, and not two at once, and look into the tea shops. On weekends it is crowded, and on a weekday morning it is pleasant.
¥1,500 · ≈ $10Open in Maps
Out to Yamashita Park
- Walk · 10 minFrom Kanteibyo temple, leave through the gate that faces the sea and cross the road to the park, about 800 meters.
11:2512:20
Stop 2HarborRecommended
Yamashita Park and the Hikawa Maru
A promenade on the sea. The passenger liner Hikawa Maru, from 1930, is moored along the park: admission ¥300, cash only, optional. It is open 10:00 to 17:00 and closed on Mondays. The roses in the park bloom in May and October.
FreeOpen in Maps
On to Osanbashi Pier
- Walk · 8 minWest along the water, past the Hikawa Maru, and up onto the pier, about 600 meters.
12:3013:00
Stop 3HarborMust
Osanbashi Pier: the wooden roof facing Minato Mirai
Yokohama's passenger pier: a wavy wooden structure, and you go up on its roof for free. From the roof you see the Minato Mirai skyline across the water, with the Red Brick Warehouses and the Ferris wheel, and that is where the rest of the day goes. The roof is open at night too, for anyone who comes back here after dinner.
FreeOpen in Maps
Walk to the Red Brick Warehouses
- Walk · 10 minCome down off the pier and continue west along the water to the two brick warehouses, about 800 meters.
13:1014:10
Stop 4LunchRecommended
Lunch break at the Red Brick Warehouses
Two brick customs warehouses, from 1911 and 1913, that became shops and restaurants, with a lawn facing the sea. Outside there is almost always an event: an Oktoberfest market, a pancake festival, ice skating in winter, and food trucks. In Building 2 you eat on the ground floor or on the third floor:
- Kiyoken, Red Brick Warehouse
  Yokohama's shumai (steamed dumplings), sold by the company since 1928, in the food area on the ground floor of Building 2: shumai hot from the steamer, an 'Akarenga' shumai sold only here, and sanma-men, noodles with lots of vegetables, Yokohama's local ramen. 11:00 to 21:00.
- billsFrom ¥3,000
  A restaurant from Sydney, meals from morning to evening, on the ground floor of Building 2, with a glass terrace facing the harbor. Monday to Thursday 9:00 to 22:00, Friday 9:00 to 23:00, Saturday 8:00 to 23:00, Sunday 8:00 to 22:00. Budget from ¥3,000 per person.
- Chano-maAbout ¥1,580
  A restaurant and cafe on the third floor of Building 2, with sofas. Lunch about ¥1,580. 11:00 to 23:00, last order at 22:00. From March to November the floor's terrace is open, with a view of Minato Mirai and the harbor.
- Kosher or vegan? Every kosher and vegan place in this city
¥1,500 · ≈ $10Open in Maps
On to the noodle museum
- Walk · 10 minAbout 700 meters west, along the Shinko piers, to the museum.
14:2015:50
Stop 5MuseumMust
Cup Noodles Museum: make your own cup of noodles
A museum of the inventor of instant noodles, Momofuku Ando. Entry is ¥500, and in the 'My Cupnoodles Factory' workshop (¥500) you draw on a cup, choose a soup and four toppings, and pack it in a balloon. The workshop fills up, so buy a ticket online in advance. Children go wild, and adults too. Open 10:00 to 18:00, last entry at 17:00, and closed on Tuesdays.
¥1,000 · ≈ $6The workshop fills up, book a ticket online in advanceOpen in Maps
15:5016:50
Break
A rest in Unga Park until sunset
This is a day trip with no hotel to go back to, and the Ferris wheel is worth it at sunset. Meanwhile, sit in Unga Park, 3 minutes from the museum: a lawn, a plaza on the water and a promenade along the canal, with a view of Kishamichi, an old railway line with steel bridges that became a promenade. The cable car station is in the park too, and at its ticket office you buy the combined ticket for the cable car and the wheel now, because the wheel itself does not sell it. In summer the sun sets later, and then you stretch the break.
Walk to the Ferris wheel
- Walk · 4 minAbout 250 meters west, to the wheel in the amusement park.
16:5017:35
Stop 6AttractionRecommended
Cosmo Clock 21: the Ferris wheel with the clock
A 112-meter Ferris wheel with a giant digital clock, a 15-minute ride, ¥1,000. Best exactly at sunset: you go up in daylight, come down in the dark, and the harbor lights up. The amusement park around it, Cosmo World, with a roller coaster that dives into the water, has no entrance fee. It opens at 11:00 and closes at 20:00 on weekdays and 21:00 on weekends, and it is closed on some Thursdays.
¥1,000 · ≈ $6Open in Maps
Down to the cable car
- Walk · 5 minAbout 300 meters to the cable car station in Unga Park, on the canal.
17:4018:00
Stop 7Cable carIf there is time
Yokohama Air Cabin: an urban cable car over the harbor
An urban cable car from 2021, 5 minutes from Unga Park to Sakuragicho Station, over the water and between the towers. ¥1,000 each way, running 10:00 to 21:00. After sunset the cabins are lit up, and the harbor you saw from the wheel passes below.
¥1,000 · ≈ $6Open in Maps
Walk to the dry dock
- Walk · 5 minFrom the cable car station at Sakuragicho, walk about 400 meters toward Landmark Tower, to the dry dock at its foot.
18:1019:45
Stop 8DinnerRecommended
Dinner in the dry dock at the foot of Landmark Tower
A stone ship-repair dock built in 1896, 107 meters long, restored as an open plaza at the base of Landmark Tower. It is an Important Cultural Property of Japan, and entry is free. The Sky Garden observatory on the tower's 69th floor has been closed for renovation since 1 January 2026 and will not reopen before 2028, so the day's evening view is from the wheel and the cable car. After the meal you head back from Minato Mirai Station, 3 minutes from here, or from Sakuragicho Station. Eat inside the dock itself or across the station:
- Mirai Yokocho
  An alley of restaurants on the two lower levels of the dock itself, inspired by port-town taverns: robatayaki grill, seafood izakaya and an Italian bar. 11:00 to 23:00.
- The izakaya of Noge
  The neighborhood that spreads inland from Sakuragicho Station, away from the sea, about 10 minutes on foot from the dock: izakaya, restaurants and bars at easy prices, and in the evening red lanterns and neon signs.
- Kosher or vegan? Every kosher and vegan place in this city
¥2,500 · ≈ $16Open in Maps