Many people ask How to Get from Narita Airport to Tokyo. Getting from Narita Airport to Tokyo is easy. Your choices, however, are a little complicated. How you choose to get into the city of Tokyo from the airport, will be dependent upon what you want to pay, and where you are staying. Work out where you are staying, and that will inform how you get there. While many of the signs at Narita are in English, it can still be a little confusing. If you are unsure, just ask someone. Use your hands and any written notes, and the Japanese staff will go out of their way to get you where you need to be. Trust us, we have been to Tokyo numerous times, and we do know. Also in case you are worried, Tokyo is not as expensive as you may think it is. Read about it here.
Narita International Airport to Tokyo.
Contents
- 1 Narita International Airport to Tokyo.
- 2 About Japanese Efficiency
- 3 How to pay when Getting from Narita Airport to Tokyo
- 4 How to Pay for Your Transport to the city
- 5 [clickToTweet tweet=”Options for getting from Narita Airport to Tokyo #travell #Japan #Narita” quote=”Options for getting from Narita Airport to Tokyo” theme=”style5″]
Narita Airport is located 60 kilometers or a one hour train ride outside of central Tokyo. Tokyo, the capital city of Japan, is home to more than 13 million inhabitants, and therefore, some of the stations that you arrive at will be mega busy. Tokyo is among the world’s largest and most populated metropolitan areas in the world. This thriving city is located on Honshu, the largest of Japan’s main islands.
About Japanese Efficiency
One thing you can be sure of is that your train, bus, or taxi will be punctual to within a second and that they will be clean. This will be your first chance to see Japanese efficiency at work.
We will talk about how to pay to get into the city, and which way to get into the city.
How to pay when Getting from Narita Airport to Tokyo
Remember that Tokyo and indeed Japan is a cash based society. While you will be able to use your credit card more easily in Tokyo and other major cities, you will have issues in smaller regions.
How to Pay for Your Transport to the city
Option 1 – take yen
Have yen with you for the 1st trip.
Option 2 – Japan Rail Pass
The Japan Rail Pass, JR Pass is only available for sale OUTSIDE of Japan. You need to decide whether it is worth purchasing, or paying for smaller trips with a Suica Card. It takes a little bit of work to decide, but will write about this later.
There are 5 types of Japan Rail Pass – JR Pass, JR East Pass, JR West Pass, JR Hokkaido Pass, JR Kyushu Pass
and All Shikoku Pass. Click here to get more information.
Option 3 – buy a Suica or Pasmo Card
Buy a Suica card or a Pasmo card – e-cards, or tap and go cards
Totally recommend the Suica Card, though there is a not a lot of difference, except that Suica belongs to Japan’s national train operator JR while Pasmo is supported by some private railway operators. Look for the penguin on the vending machine for the Suica, which can also be used at railway kiosks, convenience stores, buses, taxis and vending machines. To see how to purchase a Suica card read the following excellent article.
Have a read through the options and select what works best for your budget for getting from Narita Airport to Tokyo
[clickToTweet tweet=”Options for getting from Narita Airport to Tokyo #travell #Japan #Narita” quote=”Options for getting from Narita Airport to Tokyo” theme=”style5″]
Option 1 – JR Narita Express (NEX)
The easiest way to get from Narita International Airport to Tokyo Station is the JR Narita Express (NEX). The one way journey takes roughly one hour, costs around 3000 yen and is fully covered by the Japan Rail Pass, JR East Pass and JR Tokyo Wide Pass.
Use xe currency calculator to change the money.
Roughly speaking 3000 yen is $26US or $36AUS
From there, depending upon where you are staying, you will probably go on another train to your accommodation, using either your JR pass or one of the e-cards.
Option 2 – The JR Sobu Line – Rapid Service
The JR Sobu Line (Rapid Service) is the slower but cheaper JR alternative to the Narita Express. The one-way trip takes roughly 90 minutes and costs 1320 yen. There is about one departure per hour.
Option 3 – the Keisei Skyliner
If you are staying in Ueno, and we find it a wonderful area, take the Keisei Skyliner from Narita Airport to Nippori Station (about 40 minutes, 2470 yen) and transfer to the JR Yamanote Line or JR Keihin-Tohoku Line to get to Tokyo Station (10 minutes, 160 yen). There are connections every 20-40 minutes.
You can use an approved IC card (PASMO or Suica, etc.) at the ticket gate.
*As an aside, if you skiing in Nozawa Onsen, Hakuba, Shiga Kogen, etc., and wanting to see a bit of Tokyo before or after you hit the powder, staying in Ueno is very convenient as the bullet train, Shinkansen leaves from Ueno station and will take you straight to Liyama. It now only takes 1 Hour and 40 minutes from Tokyo or Ueno Station. Why we choose Ueno station is that it is a lot less crowded than Tokyo Station, and it is still crowded. Use your Japan Rail Pass.
[clickToTweet tweet=”You can also take the shinkansen directly from Narita to Nozawa. Nice. Use your Japan Rail Pass” quote=”You can also take the shinkansen directly from Narita to Nozawa. Nice. Use your Japan Rail Pass” theme=”style5″].
Option 4 – Tokyo Shuttle Bus
The Tokyo Shuttle Bus is a direct service taking 90 minutes. It costs 900-1000 yen and runs three times per hour between Narita Airport and Tokyo Station. If tickets are purchased in advance via the internet, the one-way fare is 900 yen.
Option 5 – By limousine bus
This is a direct service, which takes 100 minutes and runs 3-4 times per hour. It costs 3100 yen.
Option 6 -The Access Narita bus
This is direct and takes 90 minutes. It costs 1000 yen, and there are 2 connections per hour.
How to Get from Narita Airport to Tokyo
Getting from Narita Airport to Tokyo is not hard. Work out where you are staying and the rest will take care of itself. Buy a Japan Rail Pass before you go to Japan, and a Suica card as soon as you get there.
Thanks for sharing this post! I was confused about how to go to Tokyo from Narita. I’m going to Tokyo on the cherry blossom season for around 2 weeks 😀
You will have a lovely time. Getting from the airport is quite easy.
Will be going to Japan next cherry blossom season, for two weeks, and might only be visiting the Kanto (mostly) and Kansai regions (few days). Would you recommend only getting the JR West Rail Pass – Kansai Area or the 7/14 day Japan Rail pass?
If you are going to the one district and intending to use a pass consecutively then probably the Japan Rail Pass would work for you.
Very helpful post! Just have to figure out first where we want to stay.
For the different rail lines – is it practical if you have heavy luggage? Are there lots of stairs like some stations in Europe?
Frank (bbqboy)
Some stations are better than others. I think Ueno might be problematic for elevators, as there is only one on Platform 2 I believe. There are lots of escalators, and some really long ones, but I believe it is better than Europe, and definitely better than Paris.
what a useful post!
Thank you. Lot’s of people go to Japan, particularly Australians to ski, so this should answer lots of questions.
I recently saw a show about the Tokya train system. It mentioned the people pushes to get all the peek our train travellers onto the trains, it also informed be about there being separate carriages for men and women if you wish and that there are plenty of staff about to help tourists after peek hour. There theory if you don’t keep everyone moving onto the trains quickly then the queues will build too much.
There are separate carriages for women in the major cities, during peak hour especially.
My personal experience tells me that the NEX is the best way to get to Tokyo from Narita – no connections, just straight from airport to the city. If this is your first time in Japan, having that direct link is nice because you will be so frustrated otherwise. The city’s subway system is a crazy maze.
Great advice. Because we tend to stay in Ueno the Kesier Skyliner works best for us, but I agree if going into central Tokyo, NEX works so well.
Having recently visited Japan ourselves I would also comment that if you are arriving in Narita and you have travelled on a long haul flight that when you arrive you will be tired and you should choose an option which makes it easy to get to your accommodation.
Trying to work out the Tokyo train system when you arrive can be a bit challenging, and having done this ourselves I definitely recommend that you plan and ‘easy option’ for the first day, and you can then take a bit more time to get orientated and purchase your train pass.
So the options are as Paula has described but also take account of how you will be feeling when you arrive and go for the easy option…
I think that it is easy to get a train to the closest place you are staying after a long haul flight too Anne. The 2nd day is when you should get a volunteer guide in Tokyo. This was a person who knows, can show you how to get the Suica card, and all of the other little things to make your travels easier. I wrote this for ThePlanetd a while back http://theplanetd.com/discovering-tokyo-with-a-volunteer-tour-guide/
I’ve worked twice in Japan (once in Yokohama and once in Yamagata Prefecture) so I’ve spent a lot of time at Narita. Not my favorite airport but that’s another story. Anyway, my mode of transportation to Narita depended on how much time I had to spare. I would either take the bus (a limousine bus) or the JR Sobu Line.
Thanks Rashaad, great information
Maybe it’s because I’ve been associated with Japan 40 years and lived here for 35 years…but are people so stupid they can’t figure out how to get from Narita to Tokyo? And need this idiot article to figure it out? (Use your hands and any written notes, and the Japanese staff will go out of their way) What about their feet? Or maybe they can arch their eyebrows? Krist. Figured out it all by myself and didn’t even need the internet. Guess that makes me a genius.
Well done you. I often use my toes if I run out of fingers, but then perhaps I am not a genius. Go figure.
Very helpful! We will need to do this in a couple of months 🙂
Thanks, it is simple in a complicated way.