Experiences / Night
An izakaya evening in the alleys
横丁の居酒屋はしご よこちょうのいざかやはしご
Food · Late night · Local life
Three counters, two plates each, one drink each, ninety minutes from the first to the last — the way Tokyo eats on a weeknight. Shinjuku's Omoide Yokocho, Shibuya's Nonbei Yokocho and the arches under the Yurakucho tracks are the classic alleys; Ebisu-Nishi is the refined version. Order by pointing, share the counter, pay each place as you leave. A guide is useful the first time and unnecessary the second.
- How to arrange it
- No booking; start at six, carry cash, and never sit at a place with an English tout outside.
- Price band
- ¥¥
- Allow
- 120 min
Where to book it
Shinjuku
Arigato Travel (Shinjuku Izakaya & Yokocho Tour)
アリガトウトラベル（新宿居酒屋・横丁ツアー）
¥¥¥ · 180 min · English: yes
The same Shinjuku evening route doubles as an izakaya crawl through the alley bars of Omoide Yokocho and Golden Gai, with a guide handling the ordering at counters that rarely have English menus or room for walk-in tourists.
Shinjuku
MagicalTrip Tokyo Bar Hopping Night Tour
マジカルトリップ 新宿バーホッピングナイトツアー
¥¥¥ · 180 min · English: yes
A dedicated bar-hopping tour through Golden Gai, Omoide Yokocho and Kabukicho with all-you-can-drink built into the price, run by an operator whose guides are locals used to talking tourists into the tiny counter bars that would otherwise turn a stranger away.
Named operators, each verified against its official site. We list the booking route and whether English is spoken; hours and prices live on the official site. All operators
Places
Omoide Yokocho思い出横丁
"Memory Lane" — sixty yakitori and motsu stalls under smoke beside the west exit, since 1946.
60 min · Shinjuku (JR), west exit, 1 minute
Nonbei Yokocho and the Shibuya alleysのんべい横丁と渋谷の路地
"Drunkard's Alley" — forty bars of five seats each under the railway, unchanged since 1950, a minute from the crossing.
90 min · Shibuya (JR), Hachiko exit, 2 minutes along the tracks
Ebisu Garden Place and the Ebisu restaurant streets恵比寿ガーデンプレイスと恵比寿の飲食店街
A district named after a beer, with the brewery museum, a photography museum, and the densest streets of small good restaurants in Tokyo.
180 min · Ebisu (JR / Hibiya line); Garden Place by the Skywalk from the east exit
Marunouchi Naka-dori丸の内仲通り
The plane-tree avenue that Tokyo's businesspeople walk at lunchtime — sculpture, shopfronts and the calmest pavements in the city.
40 min · Tokyo or Otemachi, any exit on the palace side