Map & Direction

Asakusa is one of the Shita-machi towns in Tokyo, where you can let yourself be enchanted by the air of temple incense. As a contrast to the neon lights of Tokyo's many nightlife attractions, in a Shita-machi (Down-town) you can experience the atmosphere of Edo - the old Tokyo. Tokyo has Asakusa, Ueno, Yanaka, Sendagi and Nezu to relax. It is worth visiting Asakusa Culture and Tourism Center in front of Kaminarimon Gate. The Japanese modern style building has not only all-about information but also nice cafe and terrace where you can get the great view of Tokyo Skytree over Sumida river (no admission ticket required).

Narita Airport --- Keisei Ueno station (last stop)
45 min. on Keisei Skyliner (all reserved, direct train), 2,570yen.

Ueno station --- Tawaramachi station
2 stops 3 min. on Tokyo Metro Ginza Line (G18), 180yen.
(Taxi : Ueno station - Tokyo Ryokan : around 1,000yen per cab / 5 min.)

(Airport Limousine Bus : NRT - Asakusa View Hotel has not many buses)

Are you a Japan Rail Pass (JR Pass) holder? Since it is only 1,050yen to get to Keisei Ueno station, it is not wise to exchange your voucher to actual JR Pass at Narita Airport. If you intend to pass through Tokyo without staying in downtown, and continue train-riding to another cities, say Nagano, Nikko, Takayama, Kyoto and more, then of course, please go ahead and activate the JR Pass at Narita Airport JR station (both terminal 1 station and terminal 2-3 station) which has the exchange office. Sometimes, you may find long queue with more than 1 hour waiting line (no kidding) in which case, it is wise to pay the 1,050yen on not JR but Keisei railway line to downtown Tokyo. On your landing day or later days, you may be able to exchange/activate the pass easier at major JR downtown stations like Tokyo, Ueno, Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Shinagawa and more. Please be noticed that each station has different opening hour for their counter. This page has the available office and its service hours.

Do you need to sleep several hours at the airport? Regardless how many hours you need, we always recommend this capsule hotel called Nine Hours, which is similar to First Class of international flight (judging by how much space it has!).

Narita Airport ( www.narita-airport.jp ) is about 75km train ride from downtown Tokyo. It is located in eastern part of Tokyo (geographically, not in Tokyo but in Chiba, another state or prefecture), perhaps this page would explain without words at single glance. Precisely, it is 69.3km from Keisei Ueno Station on Keisei Railway Line or 79.2km from JR Tokyo Station on JR East Railway Line. Each lines have two stations, one for Terminal 1 (end of the lines, real terminal of the lines), and the other for Terminal 2 & 3 (next stop from the end of the lines, not the real terminal stations so you may not get your seat if you don't have reserved one before boarding). Terminal 3 is "short" walking distance from Terminal 2 & 3 station. Most of the LCC companies are at Terminal 3. Regardless you arrived at either terminal, 1 or 2 or 3, once you cleared the customs and immigration area with best smile (and finger prints!), you are entering officially into Japan (^_^) Welcome and Yokoso.

Many people take Airport Limousine Bus for getting into city center of Tokyo. Although, easier and faster and less expensive (especially for Asakusa and Ueno) is Keisei Railway Line . Some others may be interested in riding on JR East Railway Line . A certain percentage is well-off enough to get uber/cab/taxi with spending around US$200 - US$300 including toll fee. If you were planning ahead to be picked up, we highly recommend that you'd contact with Japan City Tour which is very convenient if you had heavy luggage. Ready to roll your baggage by yourself? Highway buses are departing from the same leveled floor of custom and immigration, so just walk out of another exit door to inhale true Japan Air (outside of terminal building), and you shall find buses line up there.

They are for destinations of T-CAT (Tokyo City Air Terminal), Tokyo station, Nihonbashi, Ikebukuro, Mejiro, Kudan, Korakuen, Hibiya, Akasaka (not Asakusa by highway bus), Shibuya, Takeshiba and Rinkai Fukutoshin, Minami Osawa, Keio Tama Center, Seiseki Sakuragaoka, Tachikawa, Y-CAT (Yokohama City Air Terminal), Shin-Yokohama, Fujimino, Niiza, Shiki, Asakadai, Tokyo Disney Resort Hotels, Haneda Airport, Shinjuku, Kinshicho, Toyocho, Shinkiba, Ginza, Shiodome, Roppongi, Shiba, Ebisu, Shinagawa, Kichijoji, Chofu, Hachioji, Minatomirai, Shin-Koshigaya, Soka, Yashio, Fukaya, Kagohara, Kumagaya, Shinrin Koen, Shin-Urayasu, Chigasaki, Tsujido, Fujisawa, Totsuka, Nakayama, Hashimoto, Sagami-Ono, Machida, Honatsugi, Shin-Yurigaoka, Tama-Plaza, Chiba, Kimitsu, Kisarazu, Matsudo, Kashiwa, Omiya, Sakado, Kawagoe, Oizumi-Gakuen, Wako, Tokorozawa, Hitachi, Utsunomiya, Tsuchiura, Tsukuba Center, Takasaki, Maebashi, Shizuoka, Kofu, Isawa, Katsunuma, Ota, Oizumi, Tatebayashi, Kiryu, Ashikaga, Fukushima, Koriyama, Odawara, Numazu, Gotenba and more!

Cheapest way to get into downtown Tokyo? Keisei railway line is the route with only 1,050yen one way. Here's brief information. KEISEI railway company has three types of trains from Narita Airport to city center ....... Skyliner is the fastest and most comfortable with two seaters (2-aisle-2) reclined at 2,570 yen one way (via Access Line) ....... Access Express is communal type of seat, long bench style seat, cost 1,270yen one way ....... Limited Express (via Main Line) is also communal type of seat, long bench style seat, cost 1,050yen one way (the cheapest). Skyliner stops at Nippori, then terminate at Keisei Ueno Station, at both of which stations, you may transfer to JR trains. Access Express and Limited Express goes also to Keisei Ueno station, but some trains bound for Asakusa, Shinagawa and Haneda Airport (via Toei Asakusa Line and Keikyu Line) direct.

Best deal in terms of discount are you looking for? Options are.......N'EX Tokyo Round Trip Ticket and Keisei Skyliner & Tokyo Subway Ticket and JR TOKYO Wide Pass. If your initial destination (first night) is in Ueno/Asakusa area, Keisei Skyliner & Tokyo Subway Ticket is always highly recommended. There are six options.......one way + 24-hour or 48-hour or 72-hour, round-trip + 24-hour or 48-hour or 72-hour.......tickets are valid for 6 months from date of purchase......but if you were planning to fly back home from another airport (HND, NGO, KIX) or ferry to South Korea and China, One way plus the Tokyo Subway Ticket shall do. N'EX Tokyo Direct Ticket is NOT recommended for Ueno/Asakusa area, but for other area yes highly recommended, say, Tokyo central station, Shinagawa, Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro shall do. For those who would like to receive few yen discount each time you ride, both ic cards, Suica and PASMO are useful. Technically they are the same, just name difference because different company named different name. For your downtown travel routing, Tokyo Metro Transfer Planner is very useful.

New bus service, nick-named as LCB = LowCostBus has these routes => https://www.narita-airport.jp/en/access/bus/lcb

Always Haneda Airport is listed within top 5 of the best world airports according to www.worldairportawards.com/ . Its train station Haneda Airport (Terminal 1-2 Station and also Terminal 3 Station) is located not so far to city center, located in south of downtown Tokyo, actually southern most tip of Tokyo metropolitan city called Ota-ku or Oota-ku (crossing the river is Kawasaki city). Compare to Narita Airport in Chiba (not in Tokyo), Haneda Airport has better access, faster access, cheaper access, newer facilities, once the international terminal awarded as cleanest airport of the world.

Access to/from Asakusa is as easy as ABC.

A : Airport Limited Express (Keihin Kyuko = Keikyu Train)

36 min. on Keikyu Line and Toei Asakusa Line (direct through-train), it costs 610yen (from Terminal 3 station for most of international flights) or 650yen (from Terminal 1-2 station for all domestic flights and for some international flights). There are frequent direct train service to/from Asakusa. Let's not be stingy to ride free-shuttle-bus between international terminal and domestic terminal because it does not worth JPY40 (^^); but for airport fan, it is worth trying actually.

There is another rail method for city center (Hamamatsucho on JR Yamanote line), but this Tokyo Monorail is not highly recommended for Asakusa simply because Keikyu (and Toei Asakusa) Airport Express is much faster, cheaper, easier, but of course if you were a monorail fan, and with JR Pass, you may try changing at Hamamatsucho station (JR <=> Monorail). Maybe not with big luggage.

Late evening flight may not be able to catch the following last train/s, please note that Tokyo has no 24-hour public transportation.

Keikyu T3 Station 23:35 => 23:58 Sengakuji 00:02 => 00:23 Asakusa
Monorail T3 Station 23:48 => 00:07 Hamamatsucho 00:36 => 00:51 Ueno
Keikyu T3 Station 23:51 => 00:10 Shinagawa 00:25 => 00:46 Ueno

B : Bus via Highway

Since there is above mentioned direct train service, it is not advisable to take this highway bus for Asakusa. Although, it is worth riding on Shuto Expressway for the Tokyo scenery, the same vision as you may see on Shutoko Battle on PS4 (or PSP). There are only (almost) every two hours, takes double time of train (more than 60 minutes, and you know the jam of Tokyo sometime as bad as your city;) also costs almost double.

C : Cab/Taxi or Uber

It is relatively expensive, but easy and reliable (in case jam on highway, they go on toll free roads) and flexible, direct and "reservable". Reasonable one is here, and also Japan City Tour is recommended together with your accommodation/transportation/itinerary planned together.

Let's find and track your flight on www.flightradar24.com/

Because downtown Tokyo has no 24-hour public transportation, you may also consider crashing down on couch either at the terminal, well, terminal 3 is comfortable, actually much better than cheapo-ish hostel :D or how about this capsule hotel called First Cabin (new type of capsule hotel) at terminal 1. And here's newly opened hot spring 24-hour open => Spa Izumi, plus Royal Park Hotel available both at terminal 3. Onsen hot spring lovers would also like touch-the-ground style of Heiwajima. The name tells, Heiwa = Peace, jima (or shima) = island. Let's watch sunrise reflecting on Mt.Fuji, and move onto your destination with smile (^_^)

Tokyo station --- Ueno station
7 min. on JR Yamanote Line, 170yen

Ueno station --- Tawaramachi station
2 stops 3 min. on Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, 180yen

(Taxi : Tokyo station - Tokyo Ryokan, 2,500yen per cab / about 20 min.)

Tokyo Ryokan is between Asakusa and Ueno, most nearest station is Tawaramachi, all within walk distance.

Tawaramachi station on Tokyo Metro Ginza Line
Asakusa station on Tobu Skytree Line
Asakusa station on Toei Subway Line
Asakusa station on Tsukuba Express (TX) Line
Ueno station on JR Lines
Ueno station on Keisei Line