Roppongi

What to see

The four museums are the reason to come, and they reward a plan. Mori Art Museum on the 53rd floor of Roppongi Hills runs the big international contemporary shows, and it's open until 10pm every night except Tuesday (5pm), so save it for after dinner. The same ticket includes Tokyo City View on Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, and the outdoor Sky Deck is an extra-fee add-on that's worth it on a clear winter day. Ten minutes north across the Roppongi crossing, Tokyo Midtown holds two more. Suntory Museum of Art is Kengo Kuma's home for lacquer, ceramics, textiles and glass, and 21_21 Design Sight is Tadao Ando's half-buried gallery in the park behind, where the building alone justifies the walk.

The National Art Center, by Nogizaka station, has no permanent collection, only a rolling programme of major exhibitions inside Kisho Kurokawa's rippling glass hall. It's free to enter the building, and you pay per show. Check the closing days, though. The National Art Center, Suntory Museum of Art and 21_21 Design Sight close on Tuesdays rather than Mondays, which makes Roppongi the reliable museum neighbourhood on a rainy Monday. Outside the galleries, the sights are the public art around Roppongi Hills, the Midtown garden, and Tokyo Tower rising over Azabu to the east.

Where to eat and drink

Roppongi eats at two speeds. The complexes handle daytime. Tokyo Midtown and Roppongi Hills both have floors of restaurants, cafes and food halls beneath the museums, and the cafe on top of the inverted concrete cone inside The National Art Center is the best rest stop on the art circuit. It's worth a coffee for the view of the atrium alone. The Mori Art Museum doesn't close until late, so dinner can come before the art, and the restaurants around the Keyakizaka slope at Roppongi Hills stay open to match.

For the evening, avoid the main crossing. The strip along Gaien-Higashi-dori is the Roppongi of reputation, tout-heavy and aimed at visitors, and the touts are reason enough to keep walking. Instead, drop south for ten minutes to Azabu-Juban, where the old shopping street and side lanes hold the soba counters, izakayas and bakeries that locals treat as their own high street, or go west into Nishi-Azabu for the quieter cocktail bars and late dinners. Both are close enough that the Mori Tower stays in view. Then walk back up to Roppongi Hills for the 53rd floor before the 9:30pm last entry. There aren't many other ways in Tokyo to end a night inside a museum.

Where to stay

Roppongi's hotels cluster around the two complexes. Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown each anchor a luxury hotel and a ring of upper-mid-range options within a few blocks, which puts the museums, the observation deck and the Hibiya and Oedo lines at the door. They're right for art-focused trips and business travellers who want a polished base. The blocks around the Roppongi crossing hold business hotels at lower prices, but the main strip is loud until late and the touts start early. Families and lighter sleepers do better in Azabu-Juban or Nogizaka, a short walk away, where the streets are residential and the museums are still fifteen minutes on foot. Roppongi works as a base for central and southern Tokyo. It isn't the neighbourhood for old Tokyo or the creative west.

How to do it in a day

Start at Nogizaka station when The National Art Center opens at ten, take in the main exhibition and the glass atrium, and have a coffee at the cone-top cafe before you move on. Walk the ten minutes to Tokyo Midtown for Suntory Museum of Art, then out into the park behind for 21_21 Design Sight. Give the Ando building as much time as the show. Lunch in the Midtown food floors, then cross the Roppongi crossing and walk down to Roppongi Hills. Time Roppongi Hills Mori Tower for an hour before sunset. Buy the combined ticket, ride up to Tokyo City View, watch Tokyo Tower switch on and, if it's clear, pay the extra for the outdoor Sky Deck. Then either see the Mori Art Museum exhibition straight away, or go down for dinner in Azabu-Juban's lanes and come back up before the 9:30pm last entry, when the galleries are half empty. Finish with a nightcap in Nishi-Azabu rather than on the main strip.