Houseboats, the bay and the Sumida River
A Tokyo boat tour on this site is one of three trips. Two are yakatabune, traditional Japanese houseboats with a meal on board: the Odaiba route on the bay at $100 for 1.5 hours to 100 minutes, with sukiyaki hot pot, live shamisen and unlimited soft drinks, and the Sumida River dinner cruise at $101 for 2.5 hours. The third is a ten-hour coach day at $120 that adds a ferry cruise through the city to Meiji Shrine, Asakusa and Tokyo Skytree. Meeting points are on each listing.
Quick answer
The short answer. For food and live music on the water, take the Odaiba houseboat at $100: 1,326 reviews, rated 4.7. For a longer dinner with Tokyo Skytree in view, the Sumida River cruise at $101 runs 2.5 hours. If you want the sights by day and the water as one part of it, the coach day with a ferry is $120 and the most reviewed Tokyo boat tour here, with 2,125 reviews.
Two kinds of trip
Two houseboats with a meal on board, and one day where the boat is part of the route.
The two houseboat listings and the coach day answer different questions, so it helps to separate them before comparing prices.
A yakatabune is a traditional Japanese houseboat, and both houseboat listings include a meal on board. The Odaiba route links it to 400 years of Edo culture and adds an open upper deck for the views over the bay. The Sumida listing is a dinner cruise that runs down the Sumida River with Tokyo Skytree and the bay in view.
The coach day is a sightseeing tour first. Its ten hours take in Meiji Shrine, Asakusa and Tokyo Skytree, there is a matcha tasting, and the ferry cruise through the city is one leg of the day rather than the reason for it. It is the right pick if you want the water and the landmarks in one booking.
Which one to book
Matched to the three listings by what each one says it includes.
Sukiyaki hot pot, live shamisen and unlimited soft drinks in 1.5 hours to 100 minutes, with an open upper deck. 1,326 reviews at 4.7.
The longest time on a houseboat here: 2.5 hours down the Sumida River in the direction of the bay. 949 reviews at 4.6.
Meiji Shrine, Asakusa, Tokyo Skytree, a matcha tasting and the ferry, in ten hours. 2,125 reviews at 4.7.
Live shamisen is in the Odaiba listing only; the Sumida listing describes the dinner and the views.
Both listings show Free cancellation. Check the cut-off time on the listing before you pay.
The lowest is $100. Under $50 the site has guided walks, from $6.
Odaiba
$100, 1.5 hours to 100 minutes, 1,326 reviews at 4.7. This is the most reviewed of the two houseboats and the one with the most listed on board. The listing names four things: a sukiyaki hot pot, live shamisen, unlimited soft drinks and an open upper deck for the views over Odaiba Bay.
It is also the shortest of the three trips, so it is the easiest to fit around other plans for the day. Free cancellation is shown on the listing. The duration is given as a range, so the table below shows a dash where the cost per hour would be.
Its card is also on the homepage, next to the other main sightseeing tours of the city.
Book direct
The two houseboats and the coach day with a ferry. Live prices, durations and ratings.
★ 4.7 · 1,326 reviews
★ 4.6 · 949 reviews
★ 4.7 · 2,125 reviews
The Sumida River
$101, 2.5 hours, 949 reviews at 4.6. Of the three, this is the Tokyo dinner cruise in the plain sense: the listing is built around the meal on a traditional yakatabune, with Tokyo Skytree and Tokyo Bay in view as the boat runs down the Sumida River in the direction of the bay.
It costs one dollar more than the Odaiba route and gives you about an hour more on the water, which works out at $40.40 an hour. The listing describes the dinner and the views and does not list music, so if the shamisen matters to you, that is the Odaiba boat.
Read the listing for what the dinner includes before you book: the description is short, and the details sit on the listing itself.
Every trip, current fare
Price, length, what you get and cost per hour, from the live listings.
| Tour | Length | Price | What you get | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo Yakatabune Cruise: 400-year Edo Tradition & Odaiba Route | 90 min | $100 | Houseboat cruise with sukiyaki and shamisen | $66.67 | 4.7 · 1,326 |
| Sumida River: Japanese Traditional Yakatabune Dinner Cruise | 2.5 h | $101 | Dinner cruise down the Sumida River | $40.40 | 4.6 · 949 |
| Tokyo: Meiji Shrine, Asakusa, Skytree Bus Tour and Cruise | 10 h | $120 | Meiji Shrine, Asakusa, Skytree and a ferry | $12.00 | 4.7 · 2,125 |
Ferry as part of the day
$120, 10 hours, 2,125 reviews at 4.7. This is the most reviewed trip on this page, although the boat is one leg of it. The day visits Meiji Shrine, Asakusa and Tokyo Skytree, includes a matcha tasting and adds a ferry cruise through the city. Free cancellation is shown on the listing.
Over ten hours the price works out at $12 an hour, the lowest of the three, because you are paying for a full day of sightseeing rather than a meal on a boat. If the landmarks are the point and the water is a bonus, this is the better fit. The other coach tours, with and without the ferry, are compared on the coach tours page.
Want the ferry as part of a full day of landmarks? The coach tours compared, with and without the boat.
Coach tours in Tokyo→Worth it?
On the numbers, the two houseboats are close: $100 and $101, rated 4.7 on 1,326 reviews and 4.6 on 949. What you choose between is length and what is on board. The Odaiba route lists a hot pot, live music and unlimited soft drinks in under two hours; the Sumida cruise gives you 2.5 hours and the dinner with Tokyo Skytree in view.
The coach day is a different purchase. At $120 for ten hours it is the lowest price per hour, and 2,125 reviews at 4.7 make it the most tested trip listed here, but the boat is only one leg of the day.
A Tokyo boat tour is worth booking when the time on the water is the plan. If you want food first and the boat second, the food tours page compares the tasting walks; all 57 tours on this site are on the homepage.
Common questions
On this site the houseboats are $100 for the Odaiba route and $101 for the Sumida River dinner cruise. The coach day that includes a ferry cruise is $120. There is no boat trip under $100 here.
The Odaiba houseboat runs 1.5 hours to 100 minutes and the Sumida River dinner cruise 2.5 hours. The coach day with the ferry is ten hours, with Meiji Shrine, Asakusa and Tokyo Skytree on the route.
A traditional Japanese houseboat. Both houseboat listings here are yakatabune: the Odaiba route ties it to 400 years of Edo culture and serves sukiyaki hot pot, and the Sumida listing is a dinner cruise.
On both houseboats, yes, according to the listings: sukiyaki hot pot and unlimited soft drinks on the Odaiba route, and dinner on the Sumida River cruise. The coach day lists a matcha tasting.
The Odaiba houseboat cruises the bay off Odaiba, with an open upper deck for the views. The dinner cruise runs down the Sumida River in the direction of the bay, with Tokyo Skytree in view. The ferry on the coach day is described as a cruise through the city.
The Odaiba houseboat and the coach day both show Free cancellation on their listings. Check the cut-off on the listing at the time you book.
The coach day with the ferry has the most, 2,125 at 4.7. Of the two houseboats, the Odaiba route has 1,326 reviews at 4.7 and the Sumida River dinner cruise 949 at 4.6.
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