njxbean

Thanks.

BF=Business First. Sometimes, when flying first class or business first, some airports/airlines give a fast pass through the customs/immigration lines. But sounds like NRT doesnt do that.

ksandness

Immigration, Customs, and security at NRT are fast and efficient.

The staff at certain other airports should go take lessons from them.

njxbean

^

mapleg

Suggest they send the staff from KIX first.

DrewGzy

I’m scheduled to get into NRT at 3:45 PM on Monday, Oct. 26 and I depart 19 hours later at 11:15 AM. I am looking to fill my layover with as much “stuff” as possible. Would love some opinions as far as what to do, see, and where to stay.

Here is my tentative plan:

I’ll get through customs, hit an ATM, and plan on doing the NRT Express but don’t know where exactly to go. I want to do dinner and walk around town (prefer to see less touristy stuff but I am not opposed to being in the heart of Tokyo). In the morning I will do the Tsukiji fish market, breakfast (sushi), and then back to the airport.

Questions I currently have:
1. What area should I look at to stay in for the night? I have no problem walking around a lot and I enjoy it as a way to see the area.
2. I am open to hotel suggestions. I was thinking something more traditional but being that it will only be one night and a rather short night I don’t want to go too crazy.
3. Is there anything else I should consider doing instead of my plans?


Many thanks!

evergrn

Based on your plans, it'd make most sense to be at a place that's most convenient to NRT and to Tsukiji. After all, you have to squeeze in a trip to Tsujiki before taking a fairly early train back to NRT. I'd consider a place like Ginza. I'm not as familiar with hotels in Ginza as I am in other parts of Tokyo, but I can recommend Courtyard by Marriott. It's close to Tsukiji. You could probably walk there. You have many options to get back to NRT. You can catch the Access train from Higashi Ginza, you can take Ginza line to Ueno and then catch the fast Skyliner train, or you can go to Tokyo Sta and catch Narita Express.

teemuflyer

When in the Ginza area, I stay at the Conrad, and can highly recommend it. But just checked current prices for Oct 26th, and the lowest rates are at 112,000 Yen, so probably not the best value out there

Since you're in town for such a short visit, I would also recommend considering the Shinjuku area, which is easily accessible as it is a NEX stop. There is a lot to see, especially in the evening time when you'd be there. Neon rules in this neighborhood! Downside would be making the trip to the fish market the next morning, not convenient at all.

italdesign

I have a similar question. Arriving NRT 4:30pm 12/19, out 10:30am next morning.

1. Would you recommend visiting Narita or Tokyo? Any must-dos?

2. Is this a good/OK time of year to visit for a few hours?

3. How much cost for transit + hotel? Don't need anything fancy; 2.5 star hotels in US are lovely. Any good redemptions?

Thanks for any tips.

DrewGzy

I was looking at the Ginza area and based on some reviews on TripAdvisor I will likely settle in at the Hotel Sardonyx based on it's central location to the Tokyo station and Tsukiji.

I have no problem spending more money on a nicer hotel but for how little time I intend to be there I feel it is waste to spend much more than $100.

Any suggestions on hotels I should look at in the area instead?

evergrn

I usually try to stay at hotels that get a rating of >4.0 on Rakuten Travel. Based on the criteria of being in/near center of Ginza, close to Tsukiji, >4.0 Rakuten rating, and being <15,000yen per night, places that come up on my search are Solaria Nishitetsu Hotel, Via Inn Higashi-Ginza, Tokyu Stay Higashi-Ginza and Keio Presso Inn. I disclose that I have not stayed at any of those places, and you might be looking at a tiny room on the order of 15m2 although I'm sure it's very decent accommodation based on the rating.

As far as places with firsthand experience, Courtyard by Marriott's the only hotel in Ginza I've been to that I can recommend. I've stayed at other places in distant past that were business hotel types places, but I either don't remember them or vaguely remember them to be not that great. I've stayed at Conrad, but that's not quite Ginza (although pretty close) and of course not worth it for such a limited use.

evergrn

Kind of depends on where you're coming in from, how tired you're going to be, and how much burning desire you have to go see stuff on your layover. If you're flying in from America, some might be exhausted at that hour and would want to just crash at the airport hotel. Otherwise, you definitely do have enough time to head into Tokyo, enjoy dinner and check out the night scene and then return to NRT in the morning. If you want to take it easy but feel like you want to stay up a little bit to experience a little bit of Jpn, then go stay at Narita city center in one of several hotels around Keisei Ueno station. By the time you get there, it's already early evening so you may not get to see much. But at least there'll be some places to eat and some stores to check out in that area.

There's no bad time of the year to go visit Tokyo other than that summertime heat/humidity can be oppressive. Anyways Dec is perfectly fine.

Hotel... clean modern (albeit tiny) business hotel room can be had for 6000-12000y per night depending on the location. Transit... Narita Express train is 4000y return as a special discount to foreigners.

jpatokal

For the first time ever, I'm doing an international overnight transit through Narita. Arriving around 5 PM, leaving next morning at 11:30 AM (T2), solo traveler on my own dime, lounge access, know Tokyo well but no clue about Narita (the city).

So I'm thinking of poking around Narita-shi a bit, eating dinner and then crashing somewhere suitable. I'm tempted by the 9hours capsule hotel in T2, as I've stayed in capsules before and they're fine... but they want 4900 yen, which seems kinda steep for a capsule, especially when jalan.net is offering fairly decent hotels like the Nikko for 6000 yen, Mercure for 5000 yen, and crappy business hotels for less.

Any recommendations? And yes, I've seen the megathread, but it seems to be mostly about people doing blitzkrieg visits to Tokyo and/or massively out of date (thread started in '01!).

rts123

The Richmond Hotel is decently located and usually reasonably priced.

Duke787

Stayed in the Mercure with the gf earlier this year on the recommendation of other FTers that frequent this forum. Perfectly fine - bed was comfortable, place was clean, check-in and check-out was easy. In a nice location right smack in the middle of Narita town next to the train station and within walking distance of restaurants and across the street from a couple of convenience stores.

Not going to be anything spectacular but it would seem to fit perfectly with your needs and allows you to actually be in Narita instead of stuck at the airport or at another off-airport hotel. Like you we arrived ~430 from BKK and had an overnight before our flight to JFK the next day and we felt like it was a good value for money (I think we paid 6000 yen).

Only thing to check is the (free) airport bus schedule - it runs rather infrequently so you may have to take the train from NRT (not a big deal). In the morning they run an early bus that likely would fit your needs.

ksandness

I recommend the Shinshoji Temple, the big temple at the center of town. It opens at 8AM, and when I visited at that hour, there was some sort of ceremony going on.

The grounds have a path that leads through a wooded garden, so it's a relaxing place to recover from jet lag.

On my two overnights in Narita, I stayed at a ryokan that no longer exists (2002) and at the APA Hotel (2013), which had the tiniest single room it's possible to have outside of a capsule, and tasteless food. The room was OK for showering and sleeping off jet lag, but I would never eat breakfast there again.