Tokyo / Aoyama & Omotesando / Street

The Omotesando architecture walk

表参道の建築散歩 おもてさんどうのけんちくさんぽ

A kilometre of zelkova trees and buildings by Ando, Ito, Sejima, Herzog & de Meuron and MVRDV — free, and best walked twice.

EssentialArchitecture · Free · Walkable · Shopping · Photogenic

Walk from Omotesando station down to Meiji-jingumae and the flagships pass like a lecture: Tadao Ando's Omotesando Hills, a spiral ramp of shops that replaced the 1927 Dojunkai apartments (one bay is preserved at the end); Herzog & de Meuron's Prada, a crystal of diamond-shaped glass panels, just off the avenue on Miyuki-dori; Toyo Ito's Tod's, its concrete façade patterned on the zelkova branches outside; SANAA's Dior, layered like a dress; MVRDV's Gyre, a stack of shifted boxes; Kengo Kuma's timber-lattice Sunny Hills on the back street. The avenue was the shrine's approach, and still is.

Don't miss

Map of central Tokyo Tokyo Ueno Akihabara Shinjuku Shibuya Shinagawa Ikebukuro Shimbashi Kabukiza Theatre Chuo-dori and the Sunday promenade Ginza Six Ginza Itoya Hama-rikyu Gardens The Ginza gallery walk Tsukiji Hongwanji The Ginza bar streets Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building Imperial Palace East Gardens Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum Marunouchi Naka-dori KITTE and the rooftop garden Idemitsu Museum of Arts Nihonbashi Bridge Mitsukoshi Nihombashi Main Store The old shops of Nihonbashi Artizon Museum Fukutoku Shrine and the Coredo lanes Nihonbashi river cruise Sensoji Temple Kappabashi kitchen street Sumida river water bus The craft and coffee streets west of the temple A kimono day in Asakusa Tokyo Skytree Asakusa Shrine and Sanja Matsuri Tokyo National Museum National Museum of Western Art Ueno Park and Shinobazu Pond Yanaka Ginza and the Yanesen lanes Nezu Shrine Ameyoko market street Asakura Museum of Sculpture Akihabara Electric Town Jimbocho book town Kanda Myojin Shrine Holy Resurrection Cathedral (Nikolai-do) Kanda's old noodle houses Yushima Seido and the Confucian hall Mori Art Museum and Tokyo City View The National Art Center, Tokyo Tokyo Midtown and the Suntory Museum of Art Azabu-Juban shopping street Tokyo Tower and Zojoji Temple Roppongi after dark Nezu Museum The Omotesando architecture walk Aoyama Cemetery Meiji Jingu Gaien ginkgo avenue The Aoyama and Minami-Aoyama back streets Meiji Jingu Yoyogi Park Takeshita Street and Cat Street Ota Memorial Museum of Art Togo Shrine Shibuya scramble crossing and Hachiko Shibuya Sky Nonbei Yokocho and the Shibuya alleys Udagawacho record shops and Shibuya vintage Tomigaya and Kamiyamacho Live music in Shibuya Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building observatories Golden Gai Omoide Yokocho The Isetan food hall Hanazono Shrine Tsukiji Outer Market Toyosu Market and the tuna auction teamLab Planets The Tsukiji-to-Ginza walk The Meguro River cherry trees Daikanyama T-Site Daikanyama's low-rise streets Ebisu Garden Place and the Ebisu restaurant streets Nakameguro's back streets Kagurazaka's stone lanes Akagi Shrine Dining in Kagurazaka Zenkokuji Bishamonten Ryogoku Kokugikan and sumo Edo-Tokyo Museum Kiyosumi Garden Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) The Kiyosumi-Shirakawa roasters The Omotesando architecture walk
A hand-drawn sketch for orientation — each place links to an exact map.
Tip
Walk it by day for the trees and again after ten at night for the lit façades and empty pavements.
Best time
Late afternoon; December for the zelkova illumination.
Allow
60 min
Station
Omotesando (Ginza / Chiyoda / Hanzomon lines) to Meiji-jingumae (Chiyoda / Fukutoshin lines)
Official site — hours, prices, closures
omotesando.or.jp · Map

Appears in

In this area: Aoyama & Omotesando

Museum Essential

Nezu Museum根津美術館

A bamboo-lined approach by Kengo Kuma, tea ceramics and Chinese bronzes inside, and a hillside garden of tea houses behind.

120 min · Omotesando (Ginza / Chiyoda / Hanzomon lines), exit A5, 8 minutes
Park For a second visit

Aoyama Cemetery青山霊園

Tokyo's grandest cemetery, a hillside of Meiji statesmen, foreign teachers and a cherry avenue the city walks in April.

45 min · Gaienmae (Ginza line) or Nogizaka (Chiyoda line), 5 minutes
Park Worth it

Meiji Jingu Gaien ginkgo avenue明治神宮外苑いちょう並木

Three hundred metres of ginkgo trees pruned into cones, gold for three weeks in late November.

40 min · Aoyama-itchome (Ginza / Hanzomon / Oedo lines) or Gaienmae (Ginza line), 5 minutes

All places — Aoyama & Omotesando →