Sleepless in Narita

[gottago]

Due to the vagaries of using FF points LHR-SYD, I have a 12 hour stop-over in Japan (daylight hours), late September. Given that it can take three hours to get into central Tokyo from Narita airport, any suggestions on how to spend the time? Is Narita itself worth a tour?

 

[drron]

Certainly Narita town is worth a visit.Lovely typical japanese main street leading from the station down to a temple.You can definitely while away a few hours.

 

[Brisbane Flyer]

12 hrs...

Narita Express is 90+ mins into Tokyo, JR-EAST: Shinkansen-Reservation
Great things to do in the city in a 4-5 hour visit, Tokyo Imperial Palace - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Might be a bit hot and humid, shower up at the terminal (they have good public access restrooms for hire) and take off on your next flight.

Tokyo is a great city, give it a go.

 

[cosi]

Agree with the suggestion to take the nartia express to Tokyo

This is the main web site About N'EX | Narita Express | JR-EAST

You must be travelling from Syd-Nrt on QF so early morning arrival means no shops will be open at the airport.

You simply buy a ticket at Nartia Aiport (payment can be made by credit card) and travel time is between 60-90mins.

Do not take the Narita Rapid train which is a local train stopping at many local stations to collect workers travelling to the city.

Have lunch in Tokyo and visit the department stores for an interesting experience.

As already suggested, upon return to Narita take a shower to refresh before the long haul flight to London.

Recommend you have a back pack with a change of clothes to use after your shower.

Enjoy

 

[grussellt]

We did the same trip a few years ago (BA/QF) and there is adequate time to visit Tokyo. If your baggage is not interlined (ours wasn't for some reason) there is a left luggage office in the airport and the railway station is just down stairs. Tokyo streets are very walkable but the underground is easy to use and fairly cheap. Note that you will have a specific seat on the train and that's where you must sit. If not accessing a lounge then the showers at Narita are excellent. Happy travelling!

 

[psi999]

Another option from NRT is the 'skyliner' or tad cheaper/slower 'Cityliner' from the Keisei rail company (which operates from the same rail terminal as JR).

Quite often when i arrive in Tokyo and dont have a JR rail pass i'll take the cheaper Keisei option over JR.

Keisei 'Skyliner' will take you to Ueno (tokyo chinatown) in 41 minutes - And Ueno gives easy transfer to the JR Yamanote Tokyo circle line (green).

Have fun on Tokyo, great city.

 

[OverrideServlet]

The Narita Express train is fast, clean & quiet. Some of the views are spectacular.

One word of warning, if you take this train and decide to get off at one of the bigger stations, say, Shinjuku; be careful to remember how to get back to your train stop.

Some of the stations are like small cities, with seemingly a small handful of stations combined into one. Maps can be hard to find and are deceptively oriented in the direction you're facing (instead of North like usual).

If I had a 12hr stop-over in NRT I'd definitely be doing a little trip out of the airport.

 

[cosi]

Another option is to take the bus to a downtown hotel.

http://limousinebus.co.jp/en

The main shopping area is Ginza, so you simply take a bus to a hotel in the Ginza area.

Many locals use the bus to get from downtown to the airport so you don't need to be staying at the hotel you get off.

The concierge will also give you the return trip times.

 

[thewinchester]

12 hrs...

Narita Express is 90+ mins into Tokyo, JR-EAST: Shinkansen-Reservation
Great things to do in the city in a 4-5 hour visit, Tokyo Imperial Palace - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Might be a bit hot and humid, shower up at the terminal (they have good public access restrooms for hire) and take off on your next flight.

Tokyo is a great city, give it a go.

+1 for this option, used it last year myself when arriving into Japa (details in my trip report). To reach Shinagawa Sta. from NRT is 75min on the nose.

The best ticket to score for this service is the N'EX and Suica combo, which costs JPY5500 (ordinary car). This gives you a return N'EX ticket plus a Suica card (stored value travel pass for surburban trains in Toko and beyond) with JPY1500 pre-loaded. N'EX is also a significantly faster trip over the limo buses (which can take 2hrs and beyond each way) and far cheaper.

Some info and hints on getting around Tokyo by metro, plus info on the Hama-Riyku Gardens (another must see) is available from this segment of my TR.

 

[Balwyn3103]

Another option if you don't want a downtown experience is to go to the old district of Asakusa-go there on the subway (Ginza line I think) and return on the boat to downtown. There's a great temple and old specialty shops (e.g. one that just sells brushes) in the surrounding streets.

 

[drmikki]

There's also Tokyo Disneyland - 1 hour each way by Limousine bus from Narita

 

[blu]

Be watchful of your time as you will only have around 6 hours in the city before returning to NRT.
Here's a link for the temple in Asakusa (lots of other information as well):
Tokyo Travel: Sensoji (Asakusa Kannon Temple)

And here's a Narita layover site:
Welcome to Mike Newman's Narita Layover Page

 

[thewinchester]

There's also Tokyo Disneyland - 1 hour each way by Limousine bus from Narita

Depending on the time of day, I wouldn't recommended it.

Tokyo Disneyland has a high entry fee, plus if you arrive at the wrong time of day you'll just end up walking the park due to 1hr+ queues on the good rides plus the fastpass machines have already been switched off.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The quickest way to Tokyo these days is the keisei Skyliner... just 36 minutes from NRT to Nippori station. From there transfer to the JR circle line for destinations such as Tokyo Station (a few minutes away). The fare is also rather good compared to the NEX.

SUICA card is also good.