Plan · Getting around
Tokyo Subway Ticket (24, 48 or 72 hours): 2026 prices, where to buy it, the QR version and when a Suica is the better buy
The Tokyo Subway Ticket is the visitor-only pass for unlimited rides on all thirteen Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway lines for 24, 48 or 72 hours. It is cheap, it is not sold from ordinary ticket machines, and since March 2026 it also exists as a QR code on your phone, so most of the questions people ask are about where and how to get one. This guide answers them with the operators' own figures, checked in October 2026.
Last checked · Sources
In short
1,000 yen for 24 hours, 1,500 for 48 and 2,000 for 72, children half price, for unlimited rides on all Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway lines but not on JR or private railways. Overseas visitors buy it with their passport in the Narita and Haneda arrival lobbies, at Tokyo Metro pass offices, tourist information centres and BicCamera, or online as a QR ticket to scan at the gate. Four or five subway rides a day make it pay; if your days mix in JR trains, a Suica is simpler.
Tokyo Subway Ticket prices in 2026
| Ticket | Adult | Child (6–11) | Works out per 24 hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24-hour | 1,000 yen | 500 yen | 1,000 yen |
| 48-hour | 1,500 yen | 750 yen | 750 yen |
| 72-hour | 2,000 yen | 1,000 yen | 667 yen |
The paper ticket and the QR version cost the same. These are the prices on Tokyo Metro's ticket pages and in the joint Tokyo Metro and Toei press release of 30 January 2026; if a blog or video quotes lower figures, it is out of date.
The clock starts when you first pass through a gate, not when you buy. Tokyo Metro's wording is that the ticket is valid "for 24 hours, 48 hours or 72 hours from the travel starting time", so a 48-hour ticket first used at 3 p.m. on Monday runs until 3 p.m. on Wednesday. That is its main advantage over the one-day tickets described further down, which expire at the end of the calendar day.
What the ticket covers, and what it does not
The ticket is valid on every line of the two subway operators: Tokyo Metro's Ginza, Marunouchi, Hibiya, Tozai, Chiyoda, Yurakucho, Hanzomon, Namboku and Fukutoshin lines, and Toei's Asakusa, Mita, Shinjuku and Oedo lines. Between them they reach almost everything on a first visit. Asakusa, Ueno, Akihabara, Tokyo Station, Ginza, Tsukiji, Roppongi, Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro all have subway stations, and Meiji-jingumae on the Chiyoda and Fukutoshin lines sits next to JR Harajuku.
It is not valid on anything else. That means no JR lines (the Yamanote loop, the Chuo Line, the Narita Express and the train to Tokyo Disney Resort), no private railways (Tokyu, Odakyu, Keio, Seibu, Tobu, Keisei and Keikyu), no Yurikamome or Rinkai Line to Odaiba, and no Toei buses or the Tokyo Sakura Tram. Odaiba, Shinagawa, Shimokitazawa and Kichijoji are the usual gaps in a subway-only plan.
Who can buy it
The Tokyo Subway Ticket is a visitor product, and the operators check. Overseas visitors must be in Japan on a short-term stay and show their passport at the counter. In Tokyo Metro's words, "It cannot be purchased using copy of a passport. You must show an actual passport", and "if purchasing in Japan, your short-term stay visa will be confirmed using your passport", which in practice means the entry stamp or sticker.
The second eligible group is domestic: residents of Japan living outside Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Yamanashi. Anyone who lives in the Tokyo area, or who cannot produce a passport, can buy the Common One-day Ticket for Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway instead, at 1,100 yen for a calendar day (550 yen for children); it also has a QR version.
How to buy the Tokyo Subway Ticket
Unlike the Tokyo Metro 24-hour Ticket, it is not sold from the regular ticket machines. It comes as a paper ticket or, since March 2026, as a QR code on your phone; the operators' pages list no IC-card version, so it cannot be loaded onto a Suica or PASMO. There are four ways to get one.
1. Online, as a QR ticket on your phone (since 25 March 2026)
Since 10 a.m. on 25 March 2026, Tokyo Metro and the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation have sold QR versions of the 24-, 48- and 72-hour tickets on Tokyo Metro's online ticket site. It is the same ticket at the same price, with nothing to collect. The press release spells out how it works:
- Buy the ticket on the sales website. It is stored under "My Page".
- When you are ready to start, open the ticket and tap "Start Using". You can do this on any date within 90 days of purchase; the 24, 48 or 72 hours count "from first entry through the fare gate after pressing the 'Start Using' button".
- At the gate, hold the QR code on your screen to the reader.
Buying for a family or a group? Tokyo Metro's ticket page adds that when you buy several tickets, the store can "send (distribute) the tickets" to other devices, so each traveller carries their own ticket on their own phone.
Three things to know before choosing it:
- Ten stations have no QR readers: Kita-senju and Naka-meguro (Hibiya Line), Nakano and Nishi-funabashi (Tozai), Yoyogi-uehara (Chiyoda), Wakoshi (Yurakucho), Shibuya (Hanzomon and Fukutoshin), Oshiage (Asakusa), Meguro (Mita and Namboku) and Shinjuku on the Toei Shinjuku Line. There you go to the staffed gate and use the "QR Scan" button on your ticket screen to read the staff member's QR code.
- A dead phone means a new ticket. If the screen cannot be shown because of a malfunction or an empty battery, "customers will be required to purchase a separate ticket". Carry a power bank.
- Staff may ask to see the ticket screen, and for trips that continue onto another company's line you exit once at the transfer station.
2. In person, at the airport or in central Tokyo
Take your passport. The official sales points inside Japan are:
- Haneda Airport: the Visitor Information Center in the 2nd-floor arrival lobby of the international terminal (Terminal 3).
- Narita Airport: Terminal 1, 1st-floor arrival lobby; Terminal 2, 1st-floor arrival lobby, zones A and B.
- Tokyo Metro pass offices (7:40–20:00) at Ueno, Ginza, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro (Yurakucho Line), Iidabashi, Takadanobaba and Otemachi stations.
- Tourist information centres at Ueno (9:00–17:00), Ueno-okachimachi (8:00–20:00), Ginza (9:00–17:00), Shinjuku (9:00–17:00), Omote-sando (9:00–16:00), Tokyo (9:00–18:00) and Ikebukuro (9:00–16:00), plus other centres in Shinjuku, Shibuya and Harajuku, Ueno and Asakusa, Tokyo and Ginza, Ikebukuro, Suitengumae and Minowa.
- Electronics stores: eleven BicCamera stores, including Ikebukuro Main, Yurakucho, Shinjuku East and West, Shibuya East and AKIBA, and three Sofmap stores in Akihabara.
The airport counters are the easiest option: you land, show your passport and have the ticket before you have touched a train.
3. At your hotel
More than fifty hotels take part. Tokyo Metro's note is worth reading twice: "Some hotels sell only to their guests, while others sell accommodation packs bundled with tickets", so ask the hotel before you count on it.
4. From an online travel agency abroad, as an exchange voucher
Tokyo Metro's own overseas sales run through the Linktivity platform and an online store, and online travel agencies sell the ticket as well. What you usually receive is a voucher rather than the ticket. According to the operator, "Tokyo Subway Tickets must be redeemed at a QR code-compatible ticket vending machine for travelers", which exist at the stations marked on Tokyo Metro's map, or at any Tokyo Metro station office; if your first ride starts at a station without one, ask the station staff. The same channel sells sightseeing sets that pair a 24-hour ticket with Tokyo Skytree, Tokyo Tower, teamLab Planets, the Warner Bros. Studio Tour, the Hato Bus and others.
Airport sets: Skyliner, Keikyu and Limousine Bus bundles
The subway does not reach either airport, so the airport railways and the Airport Limousine bus sell their own bundles that include the Tokyo Subway Ticket. Prices below are from each operator's English page as of October 2026, in yen, with children's prices in brackets.
| Set | What the transport part covers | With 24-hour | With 48-hour | With 72-hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keisei Skyliner one-way + subway | one Skyliner ride, Narita Airport–Keisei-Ueno, in either direction | 3,100 (1,550) | 3,600 (1,800) | 4,100 (2,050) |
| Keisei Skyliner round trip + subway | Skyliner both ways | 5,100 (2,540) | 5,600 (2,790) | 6,100 (3,040) |
| Keikyu Hanetoku Ticket + subway | Keikyu round trip, Haneda Terminal 1·2 to Sengakuji | 1,600 (700) | 2,100 (950) | 2,600 (1,200) |
| Limousine & Subway Pass, Haneda | one bus ride with the 24-hour, two rides with the 48- or 72-hour | 2,300 (1,150) | 4,100 (2,050) | 4,600 (2,300) |
| Limousine & Subway Pass, Narita | one bus ride with the 24-hour, two rides with the 48- or 72-hour | 4,200 (2,100) | 7,500 (3,750) | 8,000 (4,000) |
The details that decide whether a set suits you:
- Keisei prices the one-way set 480 yen (child 240 yen) below the two tickets bought separately and the round-trip set 1,060 yen (child 540 yen) below. Sets are sold online, at the Skyliner ticket counters at Narita Airport Terminal 1 and Terminal 2·3 stations, at the Skyliner & Keisei Information Center and at counters in New Chitose, Kansai, Fukuoka and Naha airports. They are valid for six months from sale, and the subway hours can be started on any day in that period.
- Keikyu's set is online only. The operator states plainly: "Can not be purchased at Haneda Airport." You buy it through ANA's Airport Access site, JAL's MaaS site (Japanese only) or Tokyo Skytree's Enjoy Pack, and exchange it at a Haneda Airport station. The Keikyu part is a round trip between Haneda and Sengakuji valid for nine days from exchange, and if you exchange it at Terminal 3 you cannot get off at Terminal 1·2 on the way back.
- Limousine Bus passes are also online only, open to domestic and international travellers alike, and "cancellations and changes due to customer reasons are not permitted".
Is the Tokyo Subway Ticket worth it?
Judge it against the regular fare. A single subway ride costs 180 to 330 yen with a paper ticket, or 178 to 324 yen with an IC card, depending on distance, and almost every ride between central sights falls in the first three bands:
| Distance | Paper ticket | IC card | Child |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–6 km | 180 yen | 178 yen | 90 yen |
| 7–11 km | 210 yen | 209 yen | 110 yen |
| 12–19 km | 260 yen | 252 yen | 130 yen |
| 20–27 km | 300 yen | 293 yen | 150 yen |
| 28–40 km | 330 yen | 324 yen | 170 yen |
The 24-hour ticket therefore breaks even at four rides of 260 yen, five of 210 yen or six at the 180-yen minimum. The 72-hour ticket works out at about 667 yen a day, which is three or four ordinary rides. A sightseeing day in Tokyo usually involves four to six hops, so the arithmetic favours the ticket as long as those hops really are on the subway.
Compare it with the other passes before you decide:
| Ticket | Adult price | Valid on | Who can buy | Period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo Subway Ticket | 1,000 / 1,500 / 2,000 yen | Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway | visitors, as above | 24 / 48 / 72 hours from first use |
| Tokyo Metro 24-hour Ticket | 700 yen | Tokyo Metro lines only | anyone, at every Tokyo Metro ticket machine | 24 hours from first use |
| Common One-day Ticket | 1,100 yen | Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway | anyone | the calendar day |
| Tokyo Combination Ticket | 1,720 yen | both subways plus Toei buses, the Tokyo Sakura Tram, the Nippori-Toneri Liner and JR lines within the 23 wards | anyone | the calendar day |
| Suica or PASMO | pay per ride | every train and bus in Tokyo | anyone | until the balance runs out |
Three rules of thumb follow:
- Staying on Tokyo Metro lines all day? The 700-yen Tokyo Metro 24-hour Ticket is 300 yen cheaper, sold at every Metro ticket machine and needs no passport. The 1,000-yen ticket earns its extra 300 yen only if you also use the four Toei lines, for example the Oedo Line to Ryogoku, Tsukijishijo, Akabanebashi for Tokyo Tower or Tochomae for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building observatory.
- Mixing in JR, Odaiba or a day trip? A Suica or PASMO, or since 25 March 2026 a contactless credit card tapped at the gates of Tokyo Metro and ten other operators, covers everything at pay-per-ride prices. See the guides to Suica and PASMO and paying by card in Japan.
- Arriving with a Japan Rail Pass? Keep it for the shinkansen and the JR lines; the subway ticket fills the gaps the JR Pass does not reach. Put both into the trip budget calculator to see the daily total.
Children, toddlers and the CHIKA TOKU extras
Tokyo Metro's age rules apply. An adult fare applies from age 12, except that a 12-year-old still in elementary school counts as a child; children aged 6 to 11 pay the child price; up to two toddlers (from age 1 until they start school) ride free when accompanied by an adult or a child, and a third toddler is charged the child fare. Babies under 1 ride free. For children's fares on the Shinkansen and JR, strollers and nursing rooms, see Japan with kids.
Every Tokyo Subway Ticket also unlocks CHIKA TOKU: show it at participating shops, restaurants and attractions to "receive discounts, gifts, and other benefits at around 400 spots in Tokyo". Tokyo Metro lists the current offers on its ticket site. Treat it as a bonus rather than a reason to buy.
Frequently asked questions
How do I buy a Tokyo Subway Ticket?
Either online as a QR ticket on Tokyo Metro's ticket site, which you activate with "Start Using" and scan at the gate, or in person with your passport at the Narita and Haneda arrival lobbies, a Tokyo Metro pass office or tourist information centre, a BicCamera or Sofmap store, or a participating hotel. It is not sold from ordinary ticket machines.
Can I buy the Tokyo Subway Ticket with a credit card?
The QR ticket is paid for online, at the checkout of the store linked from Tokyo Metro's Tokyo Subway Ticket site. Tokyo Metro's pages do not list the card brands that store accepts, so check at checkout before relying on one particular card. For the paper ticket, Tokyo Metro states that Visa, Mastercard and JCB are accepted for passes at its pass offices and that some sales are cash only; its tourist-ticket pages say nothing about payment at the airport and tourist-information counters. Carry 1,000 to 2,000 yen in cash per person so that a cash-only counter cannot stop you.
Can I use the Tokyo Subway Ticket from Narita Airport?
Not for the airport leg itself: Narita is served by the Keisei and JR lines, not the subway. Buy the ticket at the Narita arrival-lobby counter and start it when you reach the subway network, or buy Keisei's Skyliner set (3,100 yen one-way with the 24-hour ticket), ride the Skyliner to Keisei-Ueno and walk to Ueno subway station.
Can I use the Tokyo Subway Ticket from Haneda Airport?
Haneda is on the Keikyu line and the Tokyo Monorail, so the ticket takes over once you reach the subway. Keikyu trains run through onto the Toei Asakusa Line at Sengakuji, where the Keikyu leg is paid separately, and the Monorail's Hamamatsucho station is a short walk from Daimon on the Asakusa and Oedo lines. The Keikyu Hanetoku set, from 1,600 yen with the 24-hour ticket, bundles the Haneda–Sengakuji round trip but must be bought online before you fly. The paper ticket itself is sold at the Visitor Information Center in the international terminal (Terminal 3) arrival lobby.
Should I buy the Tokyo Subway Ticket in advance?
Buying ahead saves no money, because the price is the same everywhere, but the QR ticket removes the counter visit and can be activated on any day within 90 days of purchase. The airport sets must be bought ahead: Keikyu's and the Limousine Bus passes are online only. If you would rather decide after landing, the Narita and Haneda arrival-lobby counters sell the ticket on the spot.
Sources
Official and primary sources used for this page. Checked October 6, 2026.
- Tokyo Metro: Tokyo Subway Ticket official site — prices, validity in hours, the 13 lines, passport rule, CHIKA TOKU
- Tokyo Metro: Tickets for travelers — 24/48/72-hour prices, eligibility by prefecture, "from the travel starting time"
- Tokyo Metro: Metro Pass Offices — office locations and 7:40–20:00 hours, credit cards accepted for passes, some sales cash only
- Tokyo Metro: Where to buy in Japan — airport counters, pass offices and their hours, information centres, BicCamera and Sofmap
- Tokyo Metro: Hotels selling the ticket — participating hotels, guests-only and package notes
- Tokyo Metro: Buying overseas and online — Linktivity, exchange vouchers and the QR-compatible machines, sightseeing sets
- Tokyo Metro and Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation: QR tickets from 25 March 2026 (PDF) — Start Using, 90-day activation window, stations without readers, dead-battery rule, exit at transfer stations
- Tokyo Metro: One-day tickets — Tokyo Metro 24-hour Ticket 700 yen, Common One-day Ticket 1,100 yen, Tokyo Combination Ticket 1,720 yen
- Tokyo Metro: Regular tickets — fare bands by distance, ticket versus IC
- Tokyo Metro: Age categories — adult from 12, child 6–11, two toddlers free
- Tokyo Metro news: contactless credit-card ticketing from 25 March 2026 — 11 operators, 54 lines, 729 stations
- Keisei: Skyliner & Tokyo Subway Ticket — set prices, six-month validity, sales counters
- Keikyu: Hanetoku Ticket & Tokyo Subway Ticket — set prices, online-only sale, nine-day Keikyu validity
- Airport Limousine: Limousine & Subway Pass — Haneda and Narita set prices, no cancellations
To cite or link to this page: Tokyo Subway Ticket (24, 48 or 72 hours): 2026 prices, where to buy it, the QR version and when a Suica is the better buy — Japan Pocket Guide, https://japanpocketguide.com/plan/tokyo-subway-ticket/