teamLab Planets vs Borderless: Which One Should You Book?

Tokyo has two teamLab museums, and despite the shared name, they offer very different days out. teamLab Planets in Toyosu sends you barefoot through knee-deep water; teamLab Borderless in Azabudai Hills sets you loose in a maze of light with no map at all. Most visitors have the time and budget for one.

This page has a single job: helping you pick the right one. Once you know which museum you want, our dedicated guides cover the rest — tickets, access, and what to wear.

The short answer

Go for teamLab Planets if you want the most physical version of teamLab: wading through water, walking barefoot over squishy floors, plus a big play-focused area that children adore. It is the bigger time commitment, at 3 to 4 hours. Full details in our teamLab Planets guide.

Go for teamLab Borderless if you would rather wander at your own pace through artworks that drift from room to room. It is drier, dressier, and quicker — about 2 hours, though you can stay as long as you like. Full details in our teamLab Borderless guide.

Still torn?

Consider the calendar: Planets is scheduled to run only through the end of 2027, while Borderless is permanent. If you might be back in Tokyo someday, see Planets first.

What teamLab Planets is like

Planets calls its artworks “body-immersive,” and it means it. You explore barefoot (stash your shoes and bags in the free lockers), and several works have you walking through water — knee-deep at the highest point. Free loaner shorts and foot towels are provided. Note that some of the floors are mirrored.

The museum spans five areas: Water, Garden, and the Athletics Forest zone added in 2025, which packs in more than 20 interactive works aimed squarely at kids — including Future Park and the Catching and Collecting Extinct Forest — plus open-air pieces outside. You move through in a set sequence, and there is no backtracking or re-entry, so linger while you can.

Timing, hours, and getting there

Plan 3 to 4 hours all in. Between the shoe-and-towel faff and the queues for popular rooms, it is a slower burn than the ticket time suggests. Doors are open 8 a.m.–10 p.m., with last entry an hour before closing.

Getting there is easy: the museum is right by Shin-Toyosu Station on the Yurikamome Line, or a 10-minute walk from Toyosu Station on the Yūrakuchō Line. A paid shuttle bus also runs from Ginza Six. And since Toyosu Fish Market (the new Tsukiji) is a short walk away, you can pair the two for a full Toyosu day.

Pro tip: The on-site Vegan Ramen UZU serves a miso ramen you can only get at the Tokyo branch — and you can eat there without a museum ticket.

What teamLab Borderless is like

Borderless bills itself as a “museum without a map,” and that is the whole experience: the artworks are not fixed to rooms but move through the building, so a wave of flowers might follow you down a corridor. There is no set route — you drift and double back, stumbling into spaces you missed the first time around.

Standout works include Bubble Universe, a mirrored room of glowing orbs, and Infinite Crystal World, a thicket of hanging lights you walk straight into. The En Tea House pours tea in which digital flowers bloom while you drink.

Where it is and when to go

Give it about 2 hours. Tickets carry a set entry date and time, but once inside you can stay as long as you like. Hours are 8:30 a.m.–9 p.m. (with later closing on some dates), last entry an hour before.

The museum sits in Azabudai Hills, roughly a 15-minute walk from Roppongi or Azabu-jūban stations. It has been a monster hit: over 4 million visitors as of July 31, 2026 — around 70% of them from overseas. One note to avoid confusion: the original Borderless in Odaiba closed in 2022; this is its 2024 reincarnation across town.

The head-to-head

The fine print

Teens pay ¥2,800 at both museums — Borderless sets it by age (13–17), while Planets goes by school level (junior-high and high-school students). Both museums list occasional closure days on their official calendars, so check before locking in a date.

Accessibility

Neither museum publishes a standalone accessibility page, so here is the picture as the official FAQs (and visitor reports) paint it. Both venues warn about strong flashing lights, dark areas, loud sound, and uneven or mirrored floors, and both bar pregnant visitors from some artworks — worth knowing whichever you pick.

teamLab Planets

teamLab Planets officially welcomes wheelchair users, with caveats: you will be asked to transfer to one of the museum’s own wheelchairs (or fit tire covers to use your own), at least one artwork is off-limits entirely, the big Athletics Forest pieces are viewable only from the sidelines, and the water rooms require a special water wheelchair plus a companion — staff won’t push you inside the artworks.

Where a room isn’t possible for you, the official solution is a staff-guided detour around it, not an exemption from the barefoot-and-water format. Also worth knowing: assistance dogs cannot come inside (the museum provides a cage at the entrance). Disability tickets are ¥1,800 (base price) for certificate holders and one companion, with certificates from any country accepted. Artwork-by-artwork detail is in the official Planets FAQ.

teamLab Borderless

teamLab Borderless is the physically easier venue: step-free via elevator, with no water or barefoot requirement, and visitor accounts rate most of it doable in a wheelchair. That said, teamLab doesn’t publish a list of which artworks are off-limits — wheelchair users are asked to phone ahead (03-6230-9666) — and only a limited number of wheelchair users are admitted at a time, so you may have to wait.

The bigger barrier here is sensory: the museum is deliberately dark and mapless. Disability tickets are ¥1,800 (base price) for certificate holders and one companion; the Mirailo ID app is accepted in place of a paper certificate. The official Borderless FAQ has the rest of the fine print.

Our verdicts

We asked the team to pick a side. The result: no consensus, which rather proves the point — it depends on what you want from the day.

Carey Finn, editor-in-chief: Planets for the full-body fun

“I like the physicality of Planets, but Borderless is definitely beautiful. I would say: if you want to have fun with your whole body, hit up Planets. For a digital-art museum experience in a more central location, head to Borderless.”

Jane Pipkin, features writer and social-media manager: a Borderless convert

“Ahh, so hard! I always used to prefer Planets because it was more interactive and interesting (especially now they have the Athletics Forest) but I think now, I prefer the aesthetic and artwork of teamLab Borderless.”

Patrick Balfe, events editor and senior writer: Borderless for the wandering

“I like the less linear aspect of Borderless and the fact that you can sort of discover something new every time you go. For completionists though, Planets is appealing in that sense — you can kind of finish everything in one or two runs through.”

Can you do both?

Technically, yes — the hours are long enough. But we don’t recommend cramming both into one day: that is two dynamic-priced tickets and two entry queues, with roughly 6 hours of intense sensory input back to back. Even committed museum-goers come out of one teamLab with a very full brain.

If your itinerary allows, put them on separate days. If there’s only room for one, pick using the short answer above and save the other for a future trip — keeping in mind that only one of them will still be here after 2027.

Tickets and booking

Where to buy

Both museums use dated, timed-entry tickets with dynamic pricing that starts at ¥3,600 for adults — the earlier and less peak your date, the cheaper. Popular slots sell out, weekends especially, so book ahead.

Tickets are sold on the official sites — Planets and Borderless — and through Klook: Planets tickets here, Borderless tickets here. Buying Borderless at the venue costs ¥200 extra, so book before you go to save.

Skip-the-queue options

Both museums also sell a ¥12,000 flexible option — the Premium Pass at Planets and the Flexible Pass at Borderless — which lets you enter at any time on your chosen date without the entry queue. Note that the Planets version does not skip queues inside the museum.

More teamLab reading

For the full picture on each museum — what to wear, locker logistics, quieter times to go, and current exhibits — head to our complete guides to teamLab Planets and teamLab Borderless.

And if you are curious about teamLab beyond Tokyo — including teamLab Biovortex, the huge museum that opened in Kyoto in late 2025 — our guide to all the teamLab art in Japan has the lot.

While we do our best to ensure it’s correct, information is subject to change.