Where to stay in Tokyo

Around Senso-ji temple, Nakamise-dori leads to the great gate between stalls of cakes and souvenirs, and the nearby lanes keep their low houses and tempura counters. Come to the temple early in the morning or after dark: the grounds stay open, lit up and almost empty.

Some trains on the Asakusa line run straight to Haneda and Narita, which saves a change with your luggage.

Ueno Park gathers the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Western Art and the zoo, and its cherry trees draw the whole city in late March. Below the tracks, Ameyoko market sells dried fish, fruit and clothes in a constant din.

Keisei Ueno station is the terminus of the Skyliner, which reaches Narita in about three quarters of an hour: the right choice for an early arrival or departure.

The district of department stores, galleries and the kabuki theatre, laid out on a grid. On weekend afternoons, Chuo-dori becomes pedestrian.

The Tsukiji outer market, ten minutes or so on foot, serves sushi and omelette from dawn. In the evening the streets calm down fast: you sleep well in Ginza.

Everything converges here, down to the Mount Fuji buses that leave from the Busta terminal. East of the station, the evening comes alive around Kabukicho and the tiny bars of Golden Gai; to the west, the skewer stalls of Omoide Yokocho give way to office towers and the city hall's free observation deck.

To sleep, the west side and the south, towards Shinjuku Gyoen garden, are quieter than Kabukicho.

Between Tokyo Station, with its 1914 brick façade, and the Imperial Palace gardens, the business district empties after eight in the evening. You stay here for the trains: the shinkansen to Kyoto and Osaka, the Narita Express and the Yamanote line.

The East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, free to enter, are five minutes' walk away.

The crossing with its thousands of pedestrians, the Hachiko statue, and the Center Gai streets crowded until the last train. Harajuku and Meiji Shrine are one Yamanote stop away, or twenty minutes on foot.

Hotels here are mostly business hotels and upscale addresses, expensive for the size of the rooms.

The district of contemporary art museums, from the Mori Art Museum to the National Art Center, and of nightlife aimed at foreigners.

At night, touts steer people to bars whose final bill bears no relation to the price quoted: decline.

A big shopping hub in the north, around the Seibu and Tobu department stores and the Sunshine City complex. Less touristy than Shinjuku or Shibuya, it offers slightly cheaper hotels and just as many trains.

Near the east exit, Otome Road gathers manga and anime shops, quieter than Akihabara.