Our Road Map: Travelling in Tokyo

Tokyo, to me and hubs, is a great holiday destination. We've been there several times, but this is the first with Matt. The food is excellent, the people are nice, the place is clean, things are efficient, service is impeccable! Marks of a good destination to bring kids.

I thought I'd share an entry detailing our experiences travelling with a kid in tow.

Food is easy, especially if you are ardent Japanese food fans like us. Beef, chicken teriyaki and grilled fish are widely available. And rice, of course. My only grouse is the lack of vegetables. Meals are often served with pickled vegetables, which doesn't go well with children's palate. Matt refuses edamame and the cucumber. I solved the problem by buying brocolli and carrots from the supermarket and cooking them in the room.

Which brings me to my next point. I think staying in a serviced apartment is a great way to have access to some form of kitchen and living area for more space. The hotel rooms in Japan tend to be small. In general, prices between the two are not too different. They also have facilities like in hotels. The one we stayed in even had a heated pool! Only catch is, minimum stay is 2 days, so if you are planning to go out of Tokyo, say .. day 2 after you arrive, then you don't qualify to stay in the serviced residence. We stayed 2 nights in Tokyo, 2 nights in Disneyland, then back to Tokyo for a couple more nights. We left a suitcase with the residence at no extra charge till we returned. They even stored our uncooked food items in the fridge/freezer.

Attractions. Plenty, I think. Even a stop at shopping centre can entertain for hours, especially at the toy store and the food levels, for children and parents respectively. There are also many amusement parks. We visited Hanayashiki Asakusa, one of the oldest amusement parks in Tokyo. We also took a leisurely walk around a park, and chanced upon a temple along the way. The weather was fabulous, which made everything even more enjoyable. And if your kid is like mine, there are all sorts of vehicles along the road, which in Singapore, we zoom past in the car, but because we walk around everywhere in Tokyo, he saw big rigs, fire engine on the move, rescue car, all of which made him really excited.

Carousel and pirate ship rides at the Hanayashiki Amusement Park; Sensoji Temple; a walk in the park; a big rig up on its piston; playing at the Takashimaya toy department

Getting around by taxi is costly, so we pretty much walked everywhere. Which is nice. But. And this is a big but. We remember the trip for one bad thing - carrying personal belongings and a pram and a toddler up and down staircases at the train station. Worse if you have luggage, which we did since we stayed over at Disneyland. Two VERY IMPORTANT signs to look out for when traveling in the train station, and don't be shy, it PAYS to ask the station master where these are located -