One evening in Tokyo for the view. Three decks that charge, one that doesn’t, and a sentence you have already read somewhere: the sunset slot sells out. It does, on some days. So the order here starts with the ticket, not the view.
Four conditions, in the order they decide it. The slot — if the Shibuya Sky time you want is still on sale, buy it and stop reading. The sky and the hour — no slot, or a forecast of rain or wind, and the choice moves to the decks with a roof. Where you sleep — a deck on the wrong side of the city costs you the evening. Whether you pay at all — the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building is free, 202 metres up, and lets you in until 21:30 on most nights.
First: the slot you can still get
Shibuya Sky sells its tickets online for a designated date and entry time, up to two weeks ahead. The sale for any date opens at midnight Japan time, two weeks before it. That is the previous afternoon in Europe and the previous morning in North America; work out the moment on your own clock before the trip, not during it.
The prices, adult (12 and over), checked 2026-09-17: ¥2,700 online for entry before 15:00, ¥3,400 for entry from 15:00. At the counter, ¥300 more. Children’s tickets, ¥1,200, are counter-only; under-sixes are free. Open 10:00–22:30, last entry 21:20. The operator’s own site is where the sale happens.
Same-day tickets exist at the counter, and on some days the operator’s own social account posts that they are gone and points people online. So the condition is not whether Shibuya Sky is good — every page agrees it is — but whether the time you want is still for sale. If it is, this is your deck. If the evening is sold out, it is sold out, and the next three conditions choose for you.
THE ROOF SHIBUYA SKY, the seasonal bar on the same rooftop, is the other ticket onto that roof. It runs 2026-04-29 to 2026-12-25 this year, sold from two weeks to three days ahead: a ¥7,000 set or an ¥8,000 set per person, entry included, two people minimum; ordering à la carte needs a normal entry ticket. ¥7,000 a head to get around a ¥3,400 ticket is not a fallback, it is a different evening. JbJ leaves it to the people who wanted the bar in the first place.
JBJ'S TAKE
Get the slot, or stop chasing it.
Alarm at the release, ticket in the cart, done. That is the whole condition, and it costs one late night or one early morning, once.
Sold out by the time you looked? Then it is sold out. Do not build an evening around refreshing a page. Two paid decks and a free one are open under a roof that same night, and the next three conditions pick between them.
Second: the sky and the hour
What you pay the evening price for at Shibuya Sky is open air. The operator closes the rooftop without notice for strong wind, rain, snow, approaching thunderclouds, photochemical smog and extreme heat. The indoor gallery on the 46th floor is a separate zone, and since 2025 a free same-day cancellation exists for a rooftop closure. The point is simpler than the procedure: on a bad-sky day, the thing you booked may not be there.
The other three are behind glass. Tokyo Skytree’s decks at 350 and 450 metres are enclosed. Tokyo Tower’s Main Deck at 150 metres is enclosed; its Top Deck Tour to 250 metres may close in bad weather. The TMG observatory is enclosed and may close at short notice for weather.
A clear winter morning is the other side of the second condition. On 12 January 2026, a public holiday, the Main Deck on a same-day ticket was quiet, and Mt Fuji stood on the western horizon around half past ten — no plan for it, just the sky.
On a forecast of rain or wind, JbJ would not buy the rooftop at all — not “buy it and hope”, not “the gallery is still nice”. The gallery is not what ¥3,400 was for. Bought at the release, before any forecast existed? Then the morning sky decides it, and the closure cancellation is there for that case. A bad sky sends the evening to a deck with a roof.
Then the hour. Shibuya Sky’s price splits at 15:00: the same rooftop is ¥700 cheaper before it, online. Last entries run Skytree 21:00, Shibuya Sky 21:20, the TMG South observatory 21:30, Tokyo Tower’s Main Deck 22:30, with the last Top Deck tour at 22:15. Only one of the four takes you up after a long dinner, and it is the oldest. Eating before or after is its own page.
Third: where you sleep, and how many evenings you have
Shibuya Sky is the rooftop of Shibuya Scramble Square, directly connected to Shibuya Station. Tokyo Skytree stands across the city on the Asakusa side, at Tokyo Skytree Station and Oshiage Station. Tokyo Tower, in Minato, is five minutes from Akabanebashi, six from Onarimon, seven from Kamiyacho. The TMG building is in Shinjuku.
With one evening, take the deck on your side. Based in Shinjuku or Shibuya, that is Shibuya Sky or the free TMG floor. Based on the Asakusa side, it is Skytree, and you skip crossing the city for a rooftop you may not get into. Tokyo Tower is on nobody’s doorstep and on three lines, and it is the late one: you go after dinner, from wherever dinner was. Which side you sleep on is the where-to-stay page.
With two evenings: one paid, one free, on different sides — and the free one is the one that cannot sell out on you.
Roppongi Hills’ Tokyo City View (52nd floor, 250 metres above sea level), the hotel bars with a window, and every other glass wall with a drink in front of it: all real, none ranked here. One evening, four names. A page that lists eleven decks has decided nothing for you.
Fourth: whether you pay at all
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building’s observatories are free, on the 45th floor, 202 metres up. The South observatory runs 9:30–22:00, last entry 21:30, closed the first and third Tuesday of the month. The North runs 9:30–17:30, last entry 17:00, closed the second and fourth Monday — and stays open to 21:30 entry on the days the South is closed. A closure day that lands on a holiday moves to the next weekday. Both close 29–31 December and 2–3 January, on inspection days, and at short notice for weather.
All prices and hours below as checked 2026-09-17 on the operators’ own pages.
| Deck | Height | Adult ticket | Hours · last entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shibuya Sky (rooftop; indoor gallery on 46F) | 229 m | ¥2,700 before 15:00 · ¥3,400 from 15:00, online; counter +¥300 | 10:00–22:30 · 21:20 |
| Tokyo Skytree, Tembo Deck | 350 m | from ¥1,800 online, varies by date; on site +¥500 a ticket | 10:00–22:00 · 21:00 |
| Tokyo Skytree, Deck + Galleria | 450 m | from ¥3,000 online; or ¥1,400 added at Floor 350 | 10:00–22:00 · 21:00 |
| Tokyo Tower, Main Deck | 150 m | ¥1,500, online or counter | 9:00–23:00 · 22:30 |
| Tokyo Tower, Top Deck Tour | 250 m | ¥3,300 online · ¥3,500 counter; includes the Main Deck; timed, every 15 minutes | tours 9:00–22:15 · viewing to 22:45 |
| TMG observatories, 45F | 202 m | free | South 9:30–22:00 · 21:30 · North 9:30–17:30 · 17:00 |
Under-sixes are free at Shibuya Sky and Skytree. The heights sort one way and the prices another: the highest deck, Skytree’s 450 metres, is from ¥3,000; the cheapest paid deck, Tokyo Tower’s Main Deck, is ¥1,500 at 150 metres; the evening rooftop, ¥3,400 at 229 metres, is neither the highest nor the cheapest. The free floor at 202 metres sits above Tokyo Tower’s Main Deck and below Shibuya Sky. Where this evening sits inside the whole trip is the trip-cost page.
JBJ'S TAKE
Free is not the consolation prize.
202 metres, glass, entry until 21:30, nothing at the door. On a grey weeknight with no slot, that is not the deck you settle for. It is the right answer, and the ¥3,400 goes to dinner.
The one thing it cannot give you is the open air. If that was the point, it was the point at condition one.
So it works when you land
A worked evening. Four nights, Thursday to Monday, a hotel in Shinjuku, the view on Saturday.
- Two weeks before that Saturday, at midnight Japan time — the Friday afternoon at home in Europe, the Friday morning in North America — the Shibuya Sky sale for it opens on the operator’s site. Buy the from-15:00 entry, ¥3,400, for the time you want. The ticket is for that date and that time.
- Saturday morning, look at the sky. Strong wind or rain and the rooftop may be shut when you arrive; the free same-day cancellation exists for exactly that.
- No slot, clear sky: Tokyo Tower after dinner — Main Deck ¥1,500, last admission 22:30, seven minutes from Kamiyacho on the Hibiya line. Or Skytree, if dinner was on the Asakusa side and you are inside by 21:00.
- No slot, grey sky: from Shinjuku, the TMG South observatory lets you in until 21:30, and its scheduled closure days are Tuesdays. Keep the money.
- The fare there and back is Suica or PASMO, on the card or on the phone.
Next
JBJ'S TAKE
One evening. One deck. In this order.
Slot in hand: Shibuya Sky, and close this page. No slot, clear sky: Skytree if you sleep on the Asakusa side, Tokyo Tower if you eat late. No slot, grey sky, or ¥3,400 felt like a lot: the free 45th floor in Shinjuku.
Nobody needs all four. Take the condition that fired first, and spend the rest on dinner.
Where to stay in Tokyo · What the trip costs · Tokyo food, ranked · Suica or PASMO.
Checked 2026-09-17 against the operators’ own pages: Shibuya Sky (tickets, The Roof); Tokyo Skytree; Tokyo Tower (fees, Top Deck Tour, access); the Tokyo Metropolitan Government observatories. Prices, hours and the release rule move without notice; The Roof’s 2026 season ends 2026-12-25. Re-check every figure on this page with the operator before you rely on it.
