# Where to live for best access to Narita



## nb12345

Hi,

I'm looking to relocate to Tokyo, but travel about 3 weeks a month, so I'm looking to live somewhere that's most convenient to get to Narita airport, in terms of travel time and frequency of buses/trains/etc, and not a hassle to bring luggage to the airport. The Tokyo city air terminal seems pretty convenient with buses every 10 minutes, while the narita express train is only every hour right? 

So is the best location to live next to the Tokyo city air terminal? Any other better options? Thanks!


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## apptsuku

Hi nb

I lived in Nishiazabu, next to roppongi for about 3 years and I would say that either
1) next to a reliable subway line to take you to Ueno and swith to the SkyLiner
2) Live close to a bigger hotel where a airport limosine bus will pick you up or take a taxi to the hotel. No problem with luggage but need to pay attention to traffic.

The area around Tokyo city air terminal is quite boring and you would not like to live there.

Roppongi (the good side), Nishiazabu etc or anywhere along Hibiya line would be nice in terms of access and living.

tsuku


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## lsg168

Haneda(HND) has opened the new international terminal last week and more international flights are coming in/out of there. 

This page provides some updated info about it.
Haneda Airport (HND)


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## larabell

I have a couple more data points to add...

First, Keisei recently enhanced their SkyLiner service with a new, more direct, route and faster trains. The time from Nippori to Narita Terminal 2 is 36 minutes. So any area from which you can easily access Nippori would be fair game.

Also, the Hanzomon subway which used to terminate at Suitengumae (the station that connects directly to TCAT) has been extended out to Oshiage. Given that Oshiage is also on the Keisei line (which goes to Nippori), that might be a convenient place to live. Probably cheaper, too, but not as modern-looking.

My wife was living in Monzen-nakacho when we first met. That's just across the river from TCAT and, at the time, was a 5-minute cab ride (that was before the Hanzomon line was extended). I didn't think it was all that boring, though I guess that depends what you like to do. There's a huge Hachiman shrine near there, several good-sized parks, and plenty of reasonable restaurants.

By the way, unless you're a fan of the Limousine Bus, I'd recommend taking the train to Narita -- either NEX or the SkyLiner. Just a few weeks ago my boss came to visit and stayed in the Shinjuku Hilton. It took him 2 1/2 hours to get from the airport to the hotel -- mostly due to heavy traffic. That's not always the case. Most of the busses arrive according to schedule. But it's unpredictable. You're a lot less likely to experience significant delay on the trains.

If you're going to be out of town more than in, you could also check out Chiba. Some of the NEX trains stop there but even the regular express doesn't take all that long. Chiba will also be cheaper than Tokyo but you can still get to Tokyo fairly quickly (though at rush hour the trains to/from Chiba will be incredibly crowded).

Haneda Airport is probably OK too. I haven't seen the new terminal but I did fly to Korea out of Haneda a couple of times and getting there wasn't nearly as simple as Narita. But now Keihin-kyuko has trains that run directly to Haneda from the Shinagawa area so that's certainly a possible solution. It's just a hassle from the Shinjuku area.


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## nb12345

Thanks for the replies

Ok, so after looking up the NEX and Skyliner, it seems like the Skyliner is faster and living around Ueno or Nippori will be best. Also, I see what you guys are saying regarding the limousine bus, I would much prefer the train myself. The only reason why I was preferring the bus before is that I tend to travel with a slightly larger bag, can be bit of a pain if I have to walk around with it a lot

So would living in Ueno or Nippori be better? Or maybe somewhere that's a 5 min cab ride away from either of these stations? I'm interested in somewhere with restaurants, grocery stores, etc., would prefer if there are a couple bars around, but can do without these

Also, looking at the timetables of the bus and both the trains, it seems like none operate 24 hours... so what are my options when my flight arrives outside of normal times? Thanks


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## lsg168

nb12345 said:


> Also, looking at the timetables of the bus and both the trains, it seems like none operate 24 hours... so what are my options when my flight arrives outside of normal times? Thanks


That's problem with narita, it practically shuts down around 10pm local time and opens back up around 6am due to noise restriction.


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## larabell

nb12345 said:


> So would living in Ueno or Nippori be better?


Better than what? Pretty much every area has restaurants and grocery stores if you include a "5 minute cab ride" radius. So if the only other criteria is minimal time to get to Narita then Nippori is probably your best choice. But both Ueno and Nippori are on the "shi-tamachi" side of Tokyo and will likely be less modern and with a smaller ex-pat community. Maybe that doesn't matter to you but it's worth mentioning. (Note: Ignore the hyphen above -- it's only there to prevent the brain-dead forum software from deleting what it thinks is a cuss word.)

Ueno has a large park, a zoo, plenty of interesting restaurants, a discount shopping street (Ame-yoko), and other cultural gems like museums, etc. If you can find reasonable accommodations near either station, you're probably fine.

Also, I mentioned Oshiage before -- which is a short ride from Nippori by regular Keisei trains. I also noticed that, according to Wikipedia, Oshiage is also close to the new Tokyo Sky Tree -- which is likely to have some interesting shopping and restaurant choices once it opens next year... not to mention you'll get the best digital television reception in the country . It's also on the Asakusa line, which means you can easily get down to Asakusa -- another rich source of shopping and restaurants.



> Also, looking at the timetables of the bus and both the trains, it seems like none operate 24 hours... so what are my options when my flight arrives outside of normal times?


Fortunately, I've never had to find that out first hand. My suspicion is that you're screwed. There are several reasonable hotels in the general Narita area but if a whole plane-load of people become stuck at the airport for the night, the chances of finding a room are probably slim. Narita Airport itself doesn't even operate 24 hours. There may be late-night busses (other than the Limousine Bus) but, like I say, I've never had to find out first hand.

A cab ride from the airport to Tokyo can run as much as 30-40K yen so, if I were you, I'd just crash in the airport until the first train the next day.


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## Joppa

Oshiage isn't a simple train ride from Ueno or Nippori, but you have to change at Aoto with a change of platforms using stairs. No big deal. From Oshiage you can catch a fast Limited Express Narita Sky Access, which doesn't require a supplement like Skyliner and gets you to the airport in under an hour for 1130 yen.

As for what to do when your plane lands after the last surface connections to Tokyo, this rarely happens as the airport nominally shuts down after the last scheduled flight, but if you are unfortunate to be in that situation, you should expect the airline to look after you, like putting you up in a hotel (there is huge overcapacity at Narita hotels so securing last-minute rooms isn't normally a problem) or they put on a fleet of buses to take you into Tokyo and other major destinations. Don't leave the airport counter untill you get proper compensation/provisions.


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## nb12345

Thanks a lot for the info, I think I've lots more research to do, will get on it


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