I'll be there next week. I was planning for an early morning visit (around 9 or 10am?). Well, the tower is open from 8 am to 10 pm, but what is your main purpose to climb it?
In weekends and on holidays there may be many people trying to clime Tokyo Skytree.
However the tower seems to have been not always packed in recent days.
I went to Tokyo Skytree Town several days ago after 5 pm on a weekday.
I smoothly purchased on the 4th floor a same-day ticket for TEMBO DECK (the lower observatory) and in TEMBO DECK a ticket for TEMBO GALLERIA (the upper observatory), waiting for less than a minute for each.
If you hope to have evening / night views, and you come on a weekday, and the weather is expected to be fine and you have another later day to try again, I guess you will not have to head to the tower in early morning, especially not during rush hours.
any idea how the crowds are like right now? Real-time info for same-day tickets seems not available in English.
You find this title (
http://www.tokyo-skytree.jp/img/index_main_ttl_01.png) in the top page written in Japanese of the website (
http://www.tokyo-skytree.jp/).
If you see a time zone of 30 minutes (like 19:00 - 19:30) below this title, that highly likely means: numbered coupons are being handed out for holders to come again during the 30 minutes; this coupon does not guarantee admission to TEMBO DECK.
If you do not see such a time zone there, the possibilities are: it is not so crowded to hand out coupons and, to the contrary, same-day tickets have got sold out.
do I take the Ginza line subway from Ueno station to Asakusa and then the metro line to Tokyo SkyTree station? Please be careful not to mix up Oshiage Stations (whose second name is "Skytree") and Tokyo Skytree Station.
If Ueno Station on Hibiya Line (of Tokyo Metro subway) is easily accessible for you, the route (A) shown below is recommendable to get to Oshiage.
Route (A)
To get to Oshiage, you can change lines in Ningyocho from Hibiya Line of Tokyo Metro to Asakusa Line of Toei subway.
: Ningyocho Stations of Tokyo Metro (H-13) and Toei (A-14) subway:
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http://www.tokyometro.jp/station/ningyocho/yardmap/index.html: Note that in Ningyocho, Hibiya Line platforms differ by directions; trains from Ueno use Track 1, while trains for Ueno use Track 2.
Route (B)
To get to Tokyo Skytree Station, you change lines in Asakusa from Ginza Line of Tokyo Metro to Skytree Line of Tobu.
: Asakusa Stations of Tokyo Metro (G-19, shown on the right) and Toei (A-18) subway:
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http://www.kotsu.metro.tokyo.jp/subway/stations/asakusa/i/solid.gif: In Asakusa, you exit subway from the exit on B1F (shown around the upper-right corner of the map), get out via Exit 7 and walk to the station of Tobu.
Personally I prefer Oshiage Stations as a gateway to Tokyo Skytree Town.
There may be more guests using Oshiage than Tokyo Skytree Station, but the building of Oshiage Stations has large capacity for passengers on 4 rail lines, and also has multiple pathways for Tokyo Skytree town.
In Oshiage, Toei subway (Asakusa Line) and Keisei are using one part, Tobu and Tokyo Metro subway (Hanzomon Line) are using another part; each of the two parts has ticket gates.
You can go up from the concourse between the two parts to Exit B3 on the 1st floor, using an elevator, a chain of 2 escalators or a chain of 2 staircases.
From Exit B3, you will see Tokyo Skytree on your left. Escalators are available to reach the 4th floor, where entrances for the tower are located.
In my last visit, the main entrance was used for guests with an advance ticket, and the north entrance was used for guests purchasing a same-day ticket.
