Walking barefoot through the water?! Is teamLab Planets in Tokyo worth it?

Location/Link	Brief Description
teamLab Planets Tokyo Tickets*	An immersive art museum in Toyosu featuring water, light, mirror, and projection installations.
teamLab Borderless Tokyo Tickets*	The second teamLab museum in Tokyo—not to be confused with Planets.

teamLab Planets in Tokyo isn’t a traditional museum where you simply walk from one artwork to the next. Here, you move right through the installations yourself, walk barefoot through water, and experience light, projections, music, mirrors, and even scents—sometimes all at once. We visited teamLab Planets ourselves and found one thing particularly exciting: the experience works even when you don’t have a smartphone in front of your face.

What exactly is teamLab Planets?

We’d best describe teamLab Planets as an immersive museum. The rooms themselves are the artworks, and you move right through the middle of them.

That’s exactly what sets it apart, in our view, from many typical Instagram museums with just a few photo backdrops and optical illusions. The installations at teamLab Planets are large-scale, technically sophisticated, and actively draw you into the experience.

teamLab Planets or teamLab Borderless?

Before booking your tickets, you should definitely make sure which teamLab you want to visit. In Tokyo, there’s both teamLab Planets and teamLab Borderless.

We visited teamLab Planets. The distinction may sound trivial, but it can be important: While there, we saw firsthand how visitors realized just before their booked time slot that they were at the wrong teamLab. The two museums aren’t right next to each other.

So be sure to double-check the name on your ticket before you leave.

Tickets and Getting to teamLab Planets

To visit, you book a specific time slot. This helps spread out the visitors and keeps the line at least somewhat manageable. At the same time, you should, of course, allow plenty of time for your trip there.

Getting there is straightforward: Shin-Toyosu Station is right across from teamLab Planets.

When we searched for tickets, Klook was cheaper than the official ticket site. At the time, we paid just under 20 euros per person. Since prices and offers can change, we’d recommend comparing both options before booking.

Take off your shoes and socks: Here’s what to keep in mind regarding clothing

As soon as you enter, you’ll realize this isn’t a typical museum. You’ll be given a locker for your belongings, and then it’s time to take off your shoes and socks.

Part of teamLab Planets actually takes you through water. If you’re wearing long pants, you should be able to roll them up easily.

And yes: You’ll be walking barefoot through the same water areas as the other visitors. For me personally, that wasn’t a problem at all. At first, we got the impression that the water was treated with chlorine or disinfectant. The organization also seemed very well thought out. Towels are provided after the water areas.

The official visitor information also notes that there are areas with mirrored floors. If you’re wearing skirts or very wide-leg pants, you should keep this in mind when choosing what to wear.

The Light and Mirror Installations

The real reason we enjoyed teamLab Planets so much is the installations themselves. Some rooms are huge: lights and mirrors surround you, projections move through the space, and there’s music and soundscapes to go along with it.

We found the room with the countless strips of light particularly impressive . It already looks spectacular in photos. But on site, the real effect comes from the mirrors, which seem to extend the installation infinitely, while the light and music are constantly changing.

That’s exactly where it became clear to us why teamLab Planets is more than just an Instagram backdrop. It doesn’t just look good in photos—it’s also fun to experience without a camera.

Walking Barefoot Through the Water Room

One of the most famous installations is the large water room. You actually stand with your feet—and sometimes part of your legs—in the water, while fish, colors, and other shapes are projected onto the surface.

Combined with the music and the sensation of the water, it creates an experience that’s hard to fully convey in a video. You’re not viewing the projection from the outside—you’re standing right in the middle of it.

If you’re taking photos there with a smartphone or camera, however, we’d recommend being a bit more careful. A cell phone that falls into the water would probably be the most expensive part of your visit.

From giant balls to a flower dome

We also liked the variety between the different areas. After the water section, you’ll find completely different spaces. For example, you’ll move among giant illuminated shapes and balls, walk through dark connecting corridors, and then arrive at the next installation.

It doesn’t feel like the same idea is simply repeated ten times. Each of the larger spaces tries to engage your senses in a different way.

One experience that was particularly intense for me was a large dome where the projections move above you. Although the room is, of course, stationary, at one point I started to feel a little dizzy.

If you’re prone to motion sickness from VR headsets or intense visual movements, I’d keep that in mind.

The flower room appeals to more than just the eyes

Another example of the multisensory approach is the area with the real flowers. They move up and down from the ceiling, causing the room to constantly change.

At the same time , you can smell the flowers. This room in particular illustrates well why some installations feel much more intense in person than they do in a video.

Can you take your time in the rooms?

We also appreciated that we didn’t feel constantly rushed through the museum. For almost all of the installations, we could decide for ourselves how long we wanted to stay.

So if you particularly like a room, you can simply stay there a little longer. There are staff members everywhere to guide you along the way and point out special features.

Only in the case of a few installations is the length of time you can stay more strictly regulated. During our visit, for example, this was the case toward the end in the flower area.

How much time do you need for teamLab Planets?

We spent about an hour in total at teamLab Planets and didn’t feel rushed through the exhibition.

If you want to take lots of photos or spend extra time enjoying individual installations, you can of course spend more time there. For us, however, the visit was just the right length: long enough to make the experience worthwhile without taking up half a day off work.

Is teamLab Planets in Tokyo worth it?

For us, the answer is clear: Yes, teamLab Planets was worth it.

And in our opinion, that also applies to travelers who don’t normally make a point of visiting art museums. We wouldn’t put teamLab Planets in the same category as a traditional museum with paintings and sculptures anyway.

The installations are creative, varied, and technically sophisticated. You experience them not only through your eyes, but also through water, movement, sounds, and, in some cases, smells.

However, there are two caveats you should be aware of: If the idea of walking barefoot through areas used by many other people every day makes you uncomfortable, teamLab Planets might not be for you. Also, people who are sensitive to rapid visual movements may find certain rooms overwhelming.

Otherwise, we found the visit to be exceptionally well-organized and, above all, simply entertaining. If you’re looking for an unusual immersive experience during your trip to Tokyo, we can definitely recommend teamLab Planets.