Shibuya bar hop: Nonbei Yokocho alleys to a rooftop finish

Shibuya at night is where everyone goes and almost nobody drinks well. The ring around the station is chain izakaya with photo menus — not bad, but interchangeable. What's worth your evening sits at two opposite extremes: a cramped wooden alley from the 1950s, and a bar counter high enough to look across the whole city.

Three hours travels from one to the other. Nonbei Yokocho — "drunkard's alley" — is a row of tiny bars pressed against the railway embankment, each with room for six or eight people, many now run by the founder's children. Then a serious cocktail bar working with Japanese spirits — gin distilled with yuzu and sansho pepper, Japanese whisky, house-steeped umeshu. It finishes somewhere high, timed for when the city is fully lit.

Three drinks are included, one per venue, with food alongside. Your guide handles getting you through the door in the alley — six-seat bars are often wary of guests with no Japanese — and explains what you're drinking. Non-drinkers are welcome: every stop has an alcohol-free version at the same price. Ages 20 and over, per Japanese law.