Tsukiji Food Tour 2026: Prices, What You Eat and a DIY Stall Route

A guided Tsukiji food tour lasts about three hours. At time of writing (October 2026) it costs from about ¥15,000 / US$97 for a small-group walk with five tastings up to ¥28,050 for a breakfast tour. Most morning tours meet between 8:15am and 10:15am near Tsukiji Hongwan-ji temple. Go on a market day: on Sundays, national holidays and some Wednesdays, many stalls are shut.

The wholesale fish market and its tuna auction moved to Toyosu on 11 October 2018. The Tsukiji Outer Market, about 460 shops of street food, knives and dried goods, stayed put, and that is where food tours go. Below: prices, what you actually eat, a self-guided eating route with verified stalls, the 2026 closing dates, and how to get into the Toyosu tuna auction.

How much does a Tsukiji food tour cost?

Prices below are what the operators and listing pages showed when we checked in October 2026. Dollar prices are platform “from” prices and move with exchange rates and fees, so yen figures are rounded conversions (about ¥158 to the dollar).

Tour	Price (adult)	Duration	Start	Tastings
Japan Wonder Travel, 5 tastings (Viator)	From about ¥15,000 / US$97	~3 hrs	8:30am (11:00am on some dates)	5
byFood, Takashi & team	From about ¥18,000 / US$115	3 hrs	Meet 10:15am	9+ food and drink items
Arigato Travel, Classic Tsukiji Breakfast	From ¥28,050 (kids 3–12 ¥14,025, 0–2 free)	3 hrs	Meet 8:15–8:30am	Breakfast plus market tastings
Toshi, Toyosu + Tsukiji (Airbnb)	From about ¥38,000 / US$245	~5.5–6 hrs	5:00am slots on some dates	Market shopping, then a cooked meal

Going alone costs far less. The street snacks on our route below cost ¥200–¥500 each. What you pay a guide for is the ordering, the stories and not wasting your morning in a queue.

What’s included on a Tsukiji food tour?

The standard three-hour format is the same across most operators. You meet at a fixed point, walk the outer market’s grid of alleys with a guide, and stop at four to nine counters.

The Japan Wonder Travel tour lists its five tastings as wagyu beef skewers, a sushi or seafood bowl (depending on the day), Japanese omelette (tamagoyaki), fish cake and seasonal fruit. Extras on some days include dashi soup, green tea, Japanese sweets and a fish-cutting demonstration. Context Travel’s version lists rice balls, sashimi, pickles, tamagoyaki and dumplings, and ends with a sit-down kaisendon, tempura or sushi stop.

What is usually not included: drinks beyond the tasting (often), transport to the meeting point, hotel pick-up and tips. Several tours cannot cater for vegetarian, halal or gluten-free diets. Japan Wonder Travel states that guests who cannot eat fish cannot join, so check before you book.

One catch nobody advertises loudly: on market closed days many stalls shut. Japan Wonder Travel’s listing says the omelette, fish cake and fruit cannot be served on those days. Arigato Travel’s breakfast tour simply does not run on Wednesdays or Sundays.

The best Tsukiji food tours

1. Japan Wonder Travel Tsukiji Walking Tour with 5 Tastings (Small-group food walk)

The Lowdown: The operator behind Viator’s “Tokyo Tsukiji Fish Market Food Walking Tour with 5 Tastings” listing. Five set tastings, plus stops at Tsukiji Hongwan-ji temple and Namiyoke Shrine. The listing describes small groups of six to eight per guide.

Where: Front main gate of Tsukiji Hongwan-ji Temple, 3-15-1 Tsukiji, Chuo City.

The Vibe: Quick, friendly, food-first. Good for a first morning in Tokyo.

Price: From about ¥15,000 / US$97 at time of writing (Oct 2026), on Viator and Airbnb. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.

Official Link: Viator listing

💡 Japan Pro Tip: Go to the front gate, not the back. The listing warns that Google Maps sometimes routes you to the rear, and the group leaves on the dot. If both are offered, book the 8:30am slot over the 11:00am one: the alleys are calmer and the stalls are fully stocked.

2. byFood Tsukiji Lunch and Market Tour (Licensed-guide tasting tour)

The Lowdown: Run by a team of nationally licensed guide-interpreters. This is the most generous of the three-hour tours on volume, with at least nine food and drink items.

Where: Front gate of Tsukiji Hongwan-ji. Meet at 10:15am for the 10:00am slot.

The Vibe: Later start and more of a sit-down lunch. Good if you are not a morning person.

Price: From about ¥18,000 / US$115 per guest at time of writing (Oct 2026, an autumn special rate). Free cancellation up to two days before.

Official Link: byFood

💡 Japan Pro Tip: Skip breakfast. Nine items over three hours adds up to a full lunch.

3. Arigato Travel Classic Tsukiji Breakfast Tour (Breakfast tour)

The Lowdown: A Tsukiji breakfast tour from Tokyo food-tour specialist Arigato Travel. You visit market vendors, have breakfast at a local restaurant and finish with Japanese sweets. It runs Monday, Tuesday and Thursday to Saturday only.

Where: Listings give the meeting point as in front of Turret Coffee, 2-12-6 Tsukiji, with guides holding an “Arigato Travel” sign. Confirm it in your booking email.

The Vibe: Polished and family-friendly. All ages are welcome, children 3–12 pay half and under-3s go free.

Price: From ¥28,050 per adult, ¥14,025 per child aged 3–12. Hotel pick-up costs extra.

Official Link: Arigato Travel

💡 Japan Pro Tip: There is only a five-minute grace period and missed tours are not refunded. Find Turret Coffee on your map the night before, and leave your hotel with time to spare.

4. Toshi’s Toyosu and Tsukiji Fish Market Tour (Market-to-table experience)

The Lowdown: The format behind the “World’s largest fish market tour” listing on Airbnb. A restaurant owner takes you to see the tuna auction at Toyosu, shops with you at Tsukiji, then a chef cooks what you bought as a kaiseki-style meal.

Where: Toyosu and Tsukiji markets, finishing at the host’s restaurant in Koto City.

The Vibe: Long, early and chef-led. Built for serious food people rather than snackers.

Price: From about ¥38,000 / US$245 per guest at time of writing (Oct 2026). Maximum eight guests, aged 13 and over. Free cancellation up to one day before.

Official Link: Airbnb Experiences

💡 Japan Pro Tip: Early-morning slots can sell out days ahead, so book as soon as your dates are fixed. Plan a nap for the afternoon.

Is a Tsukiji food tour worth it, or should you go alone?

A tour is worth it if it is your first visit, you want the stories behind what you are eating, or you would rather not queue at four counters. Tsukiji’s lanes are cramped, and the official site itself warns that “the intricate streets are like a maze”.

Go alone if you are on a budget, already know what you like, or want to linger at one counter for sushi. The DIY route below covers the classics for a fraction of the price. One honest drawback: few stalls have English menus beyond a picture board, so learn the names of what you want before you go.

What to eat at Tsukiji: a self-guided route

This route runs from the Hibiya line end of the market towards the Uogashi building. Hours and closing days are from each shop’s page on the official Tsukiji Outer Market site. Prices are from 2026 Japanese and English food guides (Jalan, February 2026; a blog updated April 2026). They change often, so treat them as a guide.

Stop	What to order	Price	Hours	Closed
Tsukiji Yamachō (4-10-10 Tsukiji)	Kushi-tama, a tamagoyaki stick	¥200	6:00–15:30	No fixed closing days
Tsukiji Shōro (4-13-13 Tsukiji)	Shōro Cube, a bite-size tamagoyaki	¥500	4:00–15:00	Sun, hols, market holidays
Aji no Hamafuji (4-11-4 Tsukiji)	Morokoshi-age, a corn fish cake	¥450	8:00–15:00	Irregular
Tsukiji Sanokiya (4-11-9 Tsukiji)	Maguro-yaki, a tuna-shaped taiyaki	¥280	8:00–15:00 (until sold out)	Sun, hols, market holidays
Suga Shōten (4-10-2 Tsukiji)	Kurobuta pork shumai, three on a skewer	¥480	6:00–15:00	Sun, hols, market holidays

How we would do it: eat tamagoyaki first, while the omelette shops are hot and the queues are short. Then the fish cake, the tuna-shaped taiyaki and the shumai as you work towards the Uogashi building. For a sit-down finish, the third-floor “Uogashi Shokudō” food court in the Uogashi building opens at 7:00. GO TOKYO notes it sits at the back of the market and is harder to find.

Yamachō’s stick price has gone from ¥100 to ¥150 to ¥200 in a few years because of egg prices. Take that as a hint to bring more cash than you expect.

What are Tsukiji Outer Market opening hours?

The official Tsukiji Outer Market site splits the day into three bands:

Time	Who it’s for
6:00–9:00	Mainly professional buyers
9:00–14:00	General shopping hours for the public
14:00 onwards	Shops open at their own discretion; many are shutting

Individual shops set their own hours. At the Tsukiji Uogashi building, Chuo City says the facility opens 5:00–15:00 and all shops trade 7:00–14:00. The city asks tourists to come after 9:00.

Tsukiji closed days for the rest of 2026

The Uogashi building follows the Tokyo Central Wholesale Market calendar, and many outer-market shops close on the same days. The official Tsukiji Outer Market calendar, which follows the wholesale market’s, marks these closed days for the rest of 2026 (they match the 2026 Toyosu calendar published by JNTO):

Month	Closed
October 2026 (from 19 Oct)	Wed 21, Sun 25, Wed 28
November 2026	Sun 1, Tue 3 (holiday), Sun 8, Wed 11, Sun 15, Wed 18, Sun 22, Mon 23 (holiday), Sun 29
December 2026	Wed 2, Sun 6, Wed 9, Sun 13, Wed 16, Sun 20, Wed 23, Thu 31 (Sun 27 is a special opening day)

Not every Wednesday is a closing day. Wednesday 4 November and Wednesday 25 November are open, for example. Some outer-market shops still open on market holidays, often with shorter hours. Check the official Tsukiji calendar before you commit a morning.

What time should you go to Tsukiji?

Arrive between 9:00 and 10:00 on a market day. The professional rush is over, everything is open, and the late-morning tour groups and day-trippers have not yet filled the lanes. GO TOKYO puts peak liveliness at 9:00–13:00, and by early afternoon shutters start coming down. Most shops close well before evening.

Before 9:00 the lanes belong to trade buyers, and the official site asks visitors to give them priority. Arriving at 7:00 only makes sense for the third-floor food court in the Uogashi building, and Chuo City asks general visitors to come to that building after 9:00.

Tsukiji vs Toyosu: which market should you visit?

	Tsukiji Outer Market	Toyosu Market
What it is	Retail street market, ~460 shops	Tokyo’s wholesale market, since 11 Oct 2018
Il migliore per	Street food, knives, dried goods, food tours	Tuna auction, market-building restaurants
Hours	Public shopping 9:00–14:00	Visitors 5:00–17:00 (shops and restaurants set their own hours)
Closed	Many shops on market holidays	Sundays, national holidays, some Wednesdays
Atmosphere	Cramped, lively, shop-front eating	Modern, clean buildings, viewing galleries behind glass
Nearest station	Tsukiji (Hibiya line) / Tsukijishijō (Ōedo line)	Shijō-mae (Yurikamome)

Our verdict: for eating, choose Tsukiji. For the auction, choose Toyosu. Doing both in one morning is easy: Toei bus 市01 runs from Shimbashi to Toyosu-Shijō and stops at Kokuritsu-Gan-Kenkyū Center, next to the outer market. If you are heading to teamLab Planets afterwards, it is in the same part of Toyosu. See our teamLab Tokyo tickets guide.

Can you still see the tuna auction?

Yes, but at Toyosu, not Tsukiji. The auction runs around 5:30–6:30am on market days, and there are two ways to watch.

1. Second-floor visitor walkway (no booking). It is free, opens at 5:00am and has no limit on visitor numbers. You watch through windows in the fish wholesale building. You will see the auction, but from a distance.

2. Observation deck tour (lottery). It is free, for 100 people a day, and places are given by online lottery in the month before. Each month’s dates are posted on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government site; as an example, for the August 2026 tours, entries ran from 3:00pm on 1 July to 11:59pm on 7 July, and winners were emailed on 16 July. Key rules from the official notice:

• Tour time 5:45–6:25am. Meet at 5:30am at the Promotional Corner, Block 7, 3F.
• Up to five people per application, babies included. Each group may apply only once, choosing up to three preferred dates.
• Every participant needs photo ID (a passport) plus the winning screen. No ID means no entry.
• No date changes, no transfers, no flash, and no one who has been drinking.
• No early-morning tour applications are accepted for 25 December to 5 January.

The catch is transport. Tokyo Cheapo notes that the first Yurikamome from Shimbashi leaves at 5:45am, too late for the auction. Trains from Toyosu Station start earlier, at 5:15am. Otherwise you need a taxi or a hotel nearby. If you lose the lottery, the walkway is still worth the early start.

Tsukiji market etiquette: the rules that matter

These come from the official Tsukiji Outer Market manners guide and Chuo City.

• Don’t eat while walking. Eat inside the shop, in front of the shop you bought from, or in a designated eating space. On the first floor of the Uogashi building, eating is banned outright, including food bought elsewhere.
• Don’t touch the produce, especially raw fish.
• Give way to buyers before 9am. Trolleys and turret trucks have priority.
• Ask before photographing a shop. Some refuse.
• Don’t haggle. Prices are wholesale-based.
• Bring cash. GO TOKYO says most stores are cash only. Use an IC card for the train there, and see our IC card guide.
• Travel light. Put large bags in coin lockers. Plat Tsukiji, the information centre, minds strollers for ¥500 each.
• Keep the group small. The official rules ask visitors not to move in large groups, and to keep hold of children’s hands.

How to get to Tsukiji

Station	Line	Walk to market
Tsukijishijō	Toei Ōedo line (Exit A1)	1 min
Tsukiji	Tokyo Metro Hibiya line (Exits 1, 2)	1 min
Higashi-ginza	Hibiya line / Toei Asakusa line	3 min
Shimbashi	JR lines	About 15 min

By bus from Tokyo Station (Marunouchi South Exit), take Toei 都04, 都05-1 or 都05-2 and get off at Tsukiji-sanchōme. The market is an easy walk from Ginza, so a Tsukiji breakfast and a Ginza morning fit well together on a first trip to Tokyo.

Book your Tsukiji morning

Book a guided Tsukiji food tour for a first visit, or follow the stall route above to eat on a budget. Either way, go on a market day, before 10am. To add a sushi dinner, the tuna auction or other Tokyo experiences to the same trip, Japan Pro can help you plan and book in English. Our guide to how to book restaurants in Japan covers the rest.

Tsukiji food tour FAQ