In late spring I'll be travelling though Asia, and my final Asian flight will arrive at NRT in the late afternoon. The following noon, my transpacific flight will depart for North America. I do plan on booking a hotel for overnight, either at or near the airport or in Narita town.

I am not sure, though, whether I should book a room at an airport hotel now or simply wait until my day of arrival (in late spring).

Have any of you on this board had experience with last minute hotel bookings at NRT upon arrival? Are rooms in good hotels (3 or 4 stars) easy to obtain upon arrival? Or is an advance booking for only one night really the way to go?

Thanks very much.

Check out the Mercure Narita. Clean and comfortable. My rate was around $60 .. great value for a western hotel in Japan. They operate a limited shuttle (every 1 1/2 hours) so if that doesn't suit, it's right next to the Keisei line station and 1 minute from JR station (both of which are one stop from Narita). It's about a 15 minute walk to Narita-san temple and there's a great Ramen shop just around the corner (and even a McDonald's if you want!)

I was extremely happy with the service, location and price. Great for a transit. Be careful if you look at other hotels as most are on the motorway and miles from Narita town thus no easy access to anywhere!

John,

As I understand your post, you will be arriving late PM, thus clearing customs and getting to a hotel in early evening and then leaving before noon, so will need to get to the airport by 10:00 am or so. It seems that you are not going to have much time for "seeing" Narita City, but rather just need a comfortable place for a meal and sleep. If so, one of the airport area hotels might better suit your needs than going into Narita. I've posted a link below. As for reservations, you could probably find something without, but spring is a heavy travel time for Japan and you might feel more comfortable with a reservation.

http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/travel/hotel/airport.html

JR

Thank you both for sharing your thoughts with me.

I appreciate the tip on the hotel, Bumshee; I also appreciate the web link and the tip on spring being heavy travel season in Japan, JR! Well said. Thanks again.

There was a guy just ahead of me tonight in the immigration line who was in exactly this situation: spending the night in Narita, no booking. The immigration clerk was very understanding (given he couldn't fill in the line on the form labeled "address in Japan") and just told him where to go to check on a room.