Chiller3333

Thank you all for your replies.
The costs I mentioned are "all in", 3 nights including tax etc, i.e. what we'd actually be paying (for the room).
Since the service charge is (considerably) higher at the Conrad the rates alone seemed very deceiving to me.

@lincolnjkc:
We've got a room at the Hilton NRT for the last night, too.
Now I'm reconsidering that
I'll have to check how much more expensive it would be to stay in the city instead.
Unfortunately our JR passes will expire on the day before the flight :/

Back to topic:
I'll take this as an unanimous vote in favor of the Hilton
Thank you so much!!!

smithrh

Unless your flight is extremely early, stay in Tokyo and take the N'EX to the airport in the morning. Don't fret so much about the small additional charge for the N'EX - compared to one more night in Tokyo it will be soon forgotten.

Trains run to schedule and the airports are efficient - you don't need to arrive super early.

Those rates are fine then. Typically people are going by nightly rates, hence the confusion.

Chiller3333

Thanks to everyone once again!!!
I cancelled the last night at the Hilton Narita and we will be staying in the Hilton Tokyo before flying home.
Since our flight is only at 11:10 this should give us enough time to have breakfast and then take the N'EX to the airport.

AlwaysAisle

Just give you heads up. If your flight out of NRT is 11:10 a.m. then you want to be at NRT by 10:00 a.m. at latest, since I do not know your airlines so do not know exact check-in cut off time for your 11:10 flight. The N'Ex train which work for your schedule is:

Narita Express No. 11
Departs Shinjuku: 8:02 a.m.
Arrive Narita Airport: 9:29 a.m.

Next N'Ex is Narita Express No. 15 arrives at Narita Airport 10:58 which will not work for you.

If you are going to use free hotel shuttle bus between Hilton Tokyo and Shinjuku station then first bus of the day from Hilton Tokyo is 8:12 a.m. which does not work for you. You have to find other ways to get from Hilton Tokyo to Shinjuku station. If you walk from Hilton Tokyo to Shinjuku station is about 10-15 min, if you have luggage then longer. I strongly recommend more than 10 min. from the time you arrive at Shinjuku station to get to the platform to get on N'Ex, Shinjuku station is a large station.

To catch N'Ex departing Shinjuku 8:02 a.m. I strongly recommend leave hotel before 7:30 a.m. and make sure you buy ticket for N'Ex the day before to save time in the morning you head to Narita airport.

N'Ex is all reserve seating express train, even with JR Rail Pass you need to get a reserved ticket before you get on a train. With JR Rail Pass you pay nothing extra for reserve seats on N'Ex but you still need to get a reserve seat ticket prior to boarding the train. If you do not have a reserve seat ticket on the morning of the trip to Narita Airport then I will give more than 10 min. at Shinjuku station, will give 20-30 min. just in case if ticket counter has long line. Again, Shinjuku station is a large and major station in Tokyo it is not unusual to have long line at ticket counters.

Breakfast buffet at Marble Lounge restaurant on the ground floor starts at 6:30 a.m., breakfast at executive lounge starts at 6:00 a.m.

You do want to be done with check-out and ready to leave the hotel before 7:30 a.m. to catch N'Ex from Shinjuku station, which may not leave a lot of time for breakfast, get your luggage, check-out and leave the hotel.

P.S.
There is reliable Limousine Bus service from Hilton Tokyo to Narita Airport. Bus leaves from the front entrance of the hotel as you exit the lobby and arrives at the departure level of the terminal. Luggage is stored at the belly of the bus, where there are attendants at both at Hilton Tokyo and Narita Airport to load and unload your luggage from the bus.

Depart Hilton Tokyo: 7:40 a.m., arrive Narita Airport Terminal 1: 10:05
Depart Hilton Tokyo: 6:50 a.m., arrive Narita Airport Terminal 1: 8:55

Obviously JR Rail Pass does not cover Limousine bus and will be 3200 yen/person.

N'Ex train is fast between Narita Airport and Tokyo station, but between Tokyo station and Sinjuku station become very slow. For example:

N'Ex runs between Narita Airport and Tokyo station of 78.2 km in 55 min, which is average speed of 85.3 km/hr or 53.0 mph. From Tokyo station to Shinjuku station N'Ex runs 17.4 km in 25 min, which is average speed of 41.8 km/hr or 26.4 mph.

N'Ex is fast getting to Tokyo station but between Shinjuku station and Narita Airport the train takes a lot longer because of this,

FlyingHighlander

I'm not sure if theres a thread somewhere dedicated to this question - but what are the recommended/best car services?
I'm looking to do

• Haneda to Conrad Tokyo
• Conrad Tokyo to Narita

I was looking at http://www.tokyoairporter.com

AlwaysAisle

Haneda to Conrad Tokyo
Take taxi from outside of airport terminal. Most convenient, does not have to make any prior arrangement, not cheapest. Limousine bus is infrequent on this route.

Conrad Tokyo to Narita
Limousine Bus, door to door, right from right outside of the ground floor hotel lobby to the departure level of the airport terminal. Attendants ab both end to load and unload your luggage from a bus.

teemuflyer

Couple of things to keep in mind. I f you decide to take the Limo Bus. Let the staff know the day before what time you would like to take it. I would not necessarily wait for the morning of, could be sold out as it stops at several hotels on it's way out to the airport. Also, you can charge the ticket expenses to your hotel bill so you earn Honors points.. Lastly, convenience wise, while hauling luggage around, this is way easier than the NEX.

thbe

Going by taxi is always a good idea in Tokyo. Very clean, no cheating. I've never had a traffic jam between HND and Conrad Tokyo.

FlyingHighlander

what's the process to get one? Go outside and line up? Airport desk?

Also, I have have 3-4 suitcases. Presumably I'll struggle to get them in a regular car. Are there larger/minivan type options?

AlwaysAisle

Just go outside and there is a taxi stand, line up there. Are you arriving domestic or international? Go to Haneda Airport website and there is a terminal diagram and show you where is the taxi stand. Are you alone or traveling with few people? If alone then luggage can also be put on passenger seat at front and seat next to you beside the trunk. If traveling with few people then there is a wagon taxi, likely need to wait little but there is an attendant at a taxi stand and he/she will coordinate that.

teemuflyer

There are clearly marked signs where to exit for the Taxi stands. Just follow those if this is your choice. Expect to pay quite a bit..

Unless these aren't all oversized suitcases they will also figure it out.

But I would check the Limo Bus schedule in advance.. they are a good value and extremely convenient if the schedule works out.

https://www.limousinebus.co.jp/en/ar...hibiya/dep/70/

Chiller3333

Thanks for your long message
We'll be leaving on SK984 in C from Terminal 1 so checkin deadline is 40min before departure.
I was looking at NEX 9 departing at 7:26 (also in order to get up early and worst case take the next one), but I'll think about it a little more till then.
NEX 11 looks maybe a little more reasonable.

Breakfast would be nice, but isn't a must, so leaving relatively early isn't a big problem for us.

Since our JR passes will expire on the day prior to our departure, we'll have to pay for the way back anyway.
And as we both don't like taking busses I think it's gonna be the NEX both ways.
Regarding Hilton -> Shinjuku I was thinking either walking (since our suitcases will be very light, it's just a week), taxi, or metro.
But that I think I'll ultimately decide when actually in Tokyo and having gotten a better feel for the distances.

FlyingHighlander

Arriving internationally. Just my wife and I. Will likely have 3 standard full size cases and 2 backpacks, so will probably squeeze in a regular taxi.

I did look at Limo bus but there is no option for my 6am flight arrival. Also, value isn't a priority on this trip.

dangerclose

Some quick tips:

• The Tokyo Hilton hotel is the finest Hilton hotel I have ever stayed at.
• You'll likely to be surprised at the heat and humidity when you arrive. It's been about 95F with 50% humidity during the past week.
• The JR pass is generally only worth it if you're planning to take the shinkansen bullet trains somewhere round trip.
  • Don't plan on using your JR passes for everything, or forcing yourself to find JR stations to save a few hundred yen here and there -- You won't get the time back, and you'll feel better saving your feet and yourself from the heat of walking "just a few extra minutes."
  • Your JR pass usage goes by calendar-day, and if your first day generally involves going to your hotel and sleeping, it's not worth using a day on your JR pass for this purpose.
• You can get round-trip NEX tickets at a discount, as tourists for 4,000 yen per person. You'll need to have seats reserved for the trains you wish to take. There's a fixed-window for how long the return ticket can be valid for, up to 14-days from the originating trip. (https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/pass/nex_round.html)
• You can get 1/2/3-day Tokyo Metro + Toei passes for ~800-2400 yen. Even if you already have a JR pass, get these for your trip, and you won't worry as much about trying to figure out which lines are part of which network, and which part of __ station to go to, if that network even goes to that station. You can also purchase these at the hotel.
• The Tokyo Hilton has a ~40-person shuttle bus to/from Shinjuku station every 20-minutes or so. Last bus leaves around 9pm. It's about a 5-10 minute ride, versus the time you'll spend on your feet walking to/from one of the nearby train/subway stations.
• The breakfast offering is much larger on the first-floor than in the executive lounge.
• Shinjuku station is Massive. It is said to be the busiest train station in the world, in terms of passenger throughput. As a newbie, don't expect to be able to quickly navigate from place to place, platform to platform, etc. Expect to get lost several times. Budget extra time. The crowds are definitely an experience.

mphall