Yokohama Day Trip from Tokyo

Part of our guide: Best Day Trips from Tokyo (with Kids): Times, Costs, Passes

Quick answer

Yes, Yokohama is an easy day trip from Tokyo: about 30 to 40 minutes by train, with no overnight stay and no special pass needed.
The simplest route is the Tokyu Toyoko Line from Shibuya, which runs straight onto the Minatomirai Line to Minatomirai and Motomachi-Chukagai stations. From Tokyo Station, take JR to Yokohama or Sakuragicho.
The classic day is Minato Mirai, the Cup Noodles Museum, the Red Brick Warehouse, Yamashita Park and Chinatown, all walkable along the harbour.
With children: the Cup Noodles Museum is free for high school age and under (adults ¥500), and the Anpanman Children's Museum needs a date-and-time web ticket bought in advance (¥2,200 to ¥2,800 for ages 1 and up).
The Landmark Tower Sky Garden is closed for renovation and does not plan to reopen before 2028. Use the Yokohama Marine Tower instead.

Is Yokohama Worth a Day Trip from Tokyo?

Yes. Yokohama is the closest of the classic day trips from Tokyo, about 30 to 40 minutes by train, and it is one of the easiest with young children. The harbour area is flat, the main sights sit along one waterfront walk, and two of the best children's museums near Tokyo are here: the Cup Noodles Museum and the Anpanman Children's Museum.

What you will not find is old Japan. Yokohama is a port city that grew up after 1859, so the day is about the sea, red-brick warehouses, Chinatown and things children can make or ride. If temples and shrines are the point of your trip, Kamakura is the better day out; our guide to the best day trips from Tokyo compares the two.

I run private family days around Tokyo and Yokohama, and this is how I would plan a first visit with children.

How to Get to Yokohama from Tokyo

The easiest way to Yokohama is the Tokyu Toyoko Line from Shibuya. Its trains run straight through onto the Minatomirai Line, so you can stay in your seat from Shibuya to Minatomirai, Bashamichi, Nihon-odori or Motomachi-Chukagai, the stations for the harbour sights. Allow 30 to 40 minutes from Shibuya, depending on the type of train.

From Tokyo Station or Shinagawa, JR is simpler. JR lines run to Yokohama Station, and the Keihin-Tohoku and Negishi Line continues to Sakuragicho, the station for the Air Cabin and the Kishamichi promenade, and to Kannai for Chinatown.

From	Line	Get off at	Good for
Shibuya	Tokyu Toyoko Line, through to the Minatomirai Line	Minatomirai or Motomachi-Chukagai	The harbour, Cup Noodles Museum, Chinatown
Shibuya	Same through train	Shin-Takashima	Anpanman Children's Museum
Tokyo Station, Shinagawa	JR to Yokohama, or Keihin-Tohoku and Negishi Line	Sakuragicho or Kannai	Air Cabin, Kishamichi, Chinatown

Tickets. A Suica or PASMO card covers every line here; tap in and tap out. If you will hop between stations along the harbour, the Minatomirai Line one-day ticket is ¥460 for adults and ¥230 for children, sold at the machines in every Minatomirai Line station. Our guide to IC cards in Japan explains child cards and fares.

With a stroller. Through trains save you a change, which is the main thing with a stroller. Check which exit at your arrival station has a lift before you set off.

Minato Mirai, the Kishamichi Promenade and the Air Cabin

Minato Mirai is the modern harbour district between Sakuragicho and the Red Brick Warehouse, and the best way to see it with children is to walk the Kishamichi promenade one way and ride the Yokohama Air Cabin the other. Both cross the same stretch of water between Sakuragicho Station and the Shinko district.

Kishamichi Promenade

Kishamichi (literally "train road") is a waterside path laid along an old harbour railway line. It is flat and wide, and it is the walking route from Sakuragicho to the Red Brick Warehouse: the warehouse puts it at about 15 minutes on foot.

Yokohama Air Cabin

The Air Cabin is an urban ropeway from Sakuragicho Station, right outside the JR station, to Unga Park in the Shinko district. The line is 630 metres one way and rises to about 40 metres, so children get a view over the harbour and the Cosmo World Ferris wheel.

Ticket	Adult (junior high and up)	Child (age 3 to elementary)
One way	¥1,000	¥500
Return	¥1,800	¥900

Children under 3 ride free. You cannot reserve; buy at the station. Every cabin needs at least one paying adult on board, so children cannot ride alone. Hours are posted each day on the official site and can end early when it is busy or windy.

Landmark Tower Sky Garden: Closed

Older guides send you to the Sky Garden on the 69th floor of Yokohama Landmark Tower. It is closed for major building repairs, and the official site says it does not plan to reopen before 2028. For a view from above, go to the Yokohama Marine Tower opposite Yamashita Park instead (see below).

Cup Noodles Museum Yokohama

The Cup Noodles Museum is the single best stop in Yokohama for children aged about 4 to 12, because they make something to take home. It is about 8 minutes on foot from Minatomirai or Bashamichi Station.

Hours: 10:00 to 18:00, last entry 17:00. Closed on Tuesdays (the next day if Tuesday is a national holiday) and over the New Year.
Admission: ¥500 for adults. High school age and younger enter free.

My CUPNOODLES Factory

Children design their own cup, choose one soup and four toppings, and the staff seal it. It takes about 45 minutes and costs ¥500 per cup. You take a numbered ticket for a time slot after you enter, and once the day's tickets are gone, reception closes. On busy days in autumn the museum warns that they can run out early, so arrive close to 10:00. The museum also links to advance online tickets, sold until midnight the day before; check what they include before you buy.

Chicken Ramen Factory

Here children knead, roll and steam the noodles by hand. It is for elementary school age and up (6 and older), takes about 70 minutes, and costs ¥600 for elementary pupils and ¥1,200 from junior high up. It must be reserved, online or by phone, up to three months ahead.

CUPNOODLES Park

A play zone built like a noodle factory, for children from 3 through elementary school age who are at least 90 cm tall. It is ¥500 for a 30-minute slot.

Strollers and babies. The nursing room is on the first floor, under the big stairs in the entrance hall, with a changing table and hot water for formula. Strollers do not fit in the coin lockers.

Anpanman Children's Museum

The Anpanman Children's Museum is the best stop in Yokohama for toddlers. It is aimed at children from about 1 to 6, and it is 3 minutes from Exit 3 of Shin-Takashima Station on the Minatomirai Line, or about 10 minutes from the east exit of Yokohama Station.

Tickets: ¥2,200 to ¥2,800 for everyone aged 1 and up, adults included, depending on the date. These prices apply from September 20, 2026.
Booking: the museum floors (2F and 3F) need a date-and-time web ticket bought in advance. You cannot buy at the door. The 1st-floor shops and food area are free to enter.
Last entry: 16:00. Check the official calendar for the day's hours and closed days.

Strollers and babies. Strollers are not allowed on the museum floors; you leave them in an unstaffed stroller park on 2F. There are nursing rooms and changing tables on 1F and 3F, and nappies on sale. Same-day re-entry is allowed, which helps with naps. You cannot eat inside the museum floors, but there are water dispensers.

Red Brick Warehouse

The Red Brick Warehouse (Aka Renga Soko) is two old harbour warehouses, now full of shops, cafés and restaurants on the waterfront. It is a good place for lunch and a toilet stop between the Cup Noodles Museum and Yamashita Park.

Building 1 opens 10:00 to 19:00 and Building 2 11:00 to 20:00; restaurants keep their own hours. It is open every day except inspection days. The nearest stations are Bashamichi and Nihon-odori, about 6 minutes on foot.

Yamashita Park and the Hikawa Maru

Yamashita Park is Yokohama's best-known park: a long seafront lawn built on rubble from the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and opened in 1930. Children can run, watch the ships, and in spring and autumn there are roses in the sunken garden. It is 3 minutes on foot from Motomachi-Chukagai Station.

Hikawa Maru

The Hikawa Maru is a pre-war ocean liner moored at the park, and children can walk through the decks, cabins and engine room.

	Admission
Adult	¥300
Senior (65+)	¥200
Junior high and high school	¥100
Elementary school	¥100

Open 10:00 to 17:00 (last entry 16:30). Closed on Mondays, or the next weekday when Monday is a holiday. Payment is in cash only.

Yokohama Marine Tower

With the Sky Garden closed, the Marine Tower across the road from the park is the observation deck to choose. A day ticket (10:00 to 18:00, last entry 17:30) is ¥1,000 on weekdays and ¥1,200 at weekends for high school age and up, and ¥500 or ¥600 for elementary and junior high pupils. Preschool children are free, and tickets bought online are ¥100 cheaper.

Yokohama Chinatown

Yokohama Chinatown is a grid of streets behind decorated gates, a few minutes from Yamashita Park and right above Motomachi-Chukagai Station, and it is where most families eat. Children usually like the steamed buns and other snacks sold from street windows more than a long sit-down meal.

Kanteibyo, the temple at its centre, is a place of worship; visit it quietly. If you do want a proper lunch, the larger restaurants have private rooms and set menus, and tell them about allergies when you book.

In Chinatown we mostly eat as we walk, and go into a restaurant now and then.
Mihiro Ono, founder of Japan Trails

Yokohama Itinerary: One Day with Kids

The classic one-day Yokohama itinerary starts at the Cup Noodles Museum when it opens and walks south along the harbour to Chinatown, finishing at Motomachi-Chukagai Station for a direct train back to Shibuya.

Time	Stop	Notes
9:15	Leave Shibuya	Tokyu Toyoko Line, through to the Minatomirai Line
10:00	Cup Noodles Museum	Take the factory ticket first
12:00	Red Brick Warehouse	Lunch and a break
13:30	Yamashita Park and Hikawa Maru	Play on the lawn, tour the ship
15:00	Chinatown	Snacks, or the Marine Tower first
16:00	Motomachi-Chukagai Station	Direct train back to Shibuya

With toddlers, swap the Cup Noodles Museum for the Anpanman Children's Museum (get off at Shin-Takashima and book the entry time for the morning), then continue to Minato Mirai after lunch.

For the Air Cabin, end the day the other way round: Chinatown first, walk up past the Red Brick Warehouse, and ride from Unga Park to Sakuragicho for a JR train home. At dusk the harbour lights come on.

In Yokohama I have started around the city, then gone to the Red Brick Warehouse, Minato Mirai and the Cup Noodles Museum, and seen a lot of other places along the way.
Mihiro Ono, founder of Japan Trails

Strollers, Nursing Rooms and Rainy Days

Yokohama's harbour area is one of the easier places near Tokyo to push a stroller: the Kishamichi promenade, the Red Brick Warehouse square and Yamashita Park are flat and wide. The two museums are where you need to plan. The Anpanman Children's Museum does not allow strollers on its museum floors, and the Cup Noodles Museum's lockers do not take them.

Both museums have nursing rooms with changing tables, listed above. On a rainy day, build the day around the two museums and the Red Brick Warehouse, which are all indoors, and leave the park and the Air Cabin for another time.

Seeing Yokohama with a Private Guide

You do not need a guide to see Yokohama; the trains are direct and the sights are close together. What a private guide adds with children is the planning: booking the Anpanman time slot, getting to the Cup Noodles Museum before the factory tickets go, finding the lift exits and choosing a lunch that works for allergies.

Our Tokyo private tour with kids covers Yokohama at the same rate as Tokyo: US$550 for six hours on foot for up to four guests, and US$100 for each extra guest. If you would like to combine Yokohama with Kamakura or a day by private car, we can design it on a custom tour. For more ideas for the rest of your stay, see things to do in Tokyo with kids, and for the bigger day trips, our Mt. Fuji and Hakone guides.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is one day enough for Yokohama?

Yes, for the harbour area. In one day you can see Minato Mirai, the Cup Noodles Museum, the Red Brick Warehouse, Yamashita Park and Chinatown on foot. Add a second day only if you also want Sankeien Garden, the zoo or the Hakkeijima aquarium, which are further out.

Which station is best for a Yokohama day trip?

Minatomirai Station for the Cup Noodles Museum and Minato Mirai, and Motomachi-Chukagai Station for Yamashita Park and Chinatown. Both are on the Minatomirai Line, with through trains from Shibuya. From Tokyo Station, use JR to Sakuragicho.

How long is the train from Tokyo to Yokohama?

About 30 to 40 minutes from Shibuya or Tokyo Station, depending on the line and the type of train. Use a Suica or PASMO card; no special pass is needed.

Do I need to book the Anpanman Children's Museum?

Yes. Entry to the museum floors needs a date-and-time web ticket bought in advance; it is not sold at the door. Tickets are ¥2,200 to ¥2,800 for everyone aged 1 and up. The 1st-floor shops and restaurants are free to enter.

Do I need to book the Cup Noodles Museum?

Not for admission or the My CUPNOODLES Factory, which use numbered tickets handed out in the order you enter. The Chicken Ramen Factory, for ages 6 and up, must be reserved, up to three months ahead. Arrive near 10:00 on weekends and in autumn.

Is the Landmark Tower Sky Garden open?

No. The 69th-floor Sky Garden is closed for major repairs to the building and does not plan to reopen before 2028. The Yokohama Marine Tower near Yamashita Park opens at 10:00.