Narita Airport to Tokyo with kids,and the three ways to get it wrong.
- To Tokyo Station
- N’EX: Â¥3,140, every seat reserved
- The Fast Way to Ueno
- Skyliner: ¥2,580, 41 minutes
- With Small Children
- Reserved seats keep the family together
- By Bus
- ¥1,500, child ¥750, about 68 minutes
- Last Departures
- N’EX 21:44, Skyliner 23:00
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Narita to Tokyo with kids is decided by where your bed is: four ways into the city land in four different places, so the service that gets closest to your hotel wins even at a higher fare. The N’EX reaches Tokyo Station in 53 to 59 minutes for Â¥3,140, every seat reserved; the Skyliner reaches Ueno in 41 minutes from Terminals 2 and 3 for Â¥2,580; the bus to Tokyo Station takes about 68 minutes for Â¥1,500. Children aged six to eleven pay half. The last N’EX leaves at 21:44 and the last Skyliner at 23:00.
It is decided by where your bed is.
The cheaper ticket is rarely the cheaper journey. A saving of a thousand yen buys you a change of trains at Nippori or Aoto with luggage, a stroller and children who have been awake for eighteen hours, and that is a bad trade at any price. So find your hotel below, board the thing named there, and skip the rest of this page.
Tokyo Station, Ginza or the bay.
The Fast One: Narita Express, 53 to 59 minutes.
¥3,140 for an adult and half that for a child aged six to eleven, two departures an hour, first at 07:37 and last at 21:44. Every seat is reserved, which is the whole appeal with children: nobody stands, the luggage goes in a rack you can see, and the family sits together because the seats were allocated before you boarded.
Half the Price, Ten Minutes Longer: the AIRPORT BUS TYO-NRT.
¥1,500 adult and ¥750 child, about 68 minutes, departures from Terminal 1 roughly every 10 minutes from 07:25 to 22:55, then one late-night run at about 23:30 (Terminal 3 about 23:20). Nothing to book. One suitcase per person in the hold, Tokyo Station and Ginza only, and the late-night run costs double at ¥3,000 and ¥1,500. For a family based near Tokyo Station this is the default and the difference is better spent on the trip.
Shinjuku, Shibuya or the west.
Check the Carriage, Not the Platform: Narita Express, 80 to 85 minutes.
¥3,330 adult, half for a child, and the only service that reaches Shinjuku, Shibuya, Tokyo Station and Yokohama without a change. One thing decides whether it works: the train splits at Tokyo Station, so half of it goes on to Shinjuku and half does not. Your reservation names the carriage. Sit in the wrong one and the family is divided by a set of doors at Tokyo.
When the Hotel Is the Stop: the Airport Limousine Bus.
¥3,600 adult and ¥1,800 child, setting down at hotel doors across Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro, Asakusa, Odaiba and Yokohama rather than at station forecourts, with two checked bags per person. It takes nearly two hours and the operator warns that rush hour and peak season add to that. Worth every yen when the alternative is a station transfer with a stroller, and worth nothing when your hotel is not on the list.
Ueno, Nippori or the north-east.
Faster and Cheaper Than the Alternative: the Keisei Skyliner, 41 minutes.
¥2,580 adult and ¥1,290 child, 41 minutes from Terminals 2 and 3, three an hour, last departure 23:00. It beats the Narita Express on both time and price, and the Yamanote loop starts at Nippori, so a hotel anywhere on that side of the city is one short ride from the platform you arrive on. This is the one to board if your bed is north or east of the palace.
Card at the Skyliner Desk, Cash Everywhere Else: how to pay for it.
Keisei takes credit cards for Skyliner tickets and for nothing else. Every other Keisei ticket is cash in yen or an IC card, and the B1F ticket floors at both airport stations have few or no exchange counters or cash machines. Change money on the 1F arrivals floor before you go down, or buy and load a PASMO at the station machines.
Asakusa, Oshiage or along the Asakusa Line.
The Cheapest Train That Is Still a Train: the Keisei Access Express, about 50 minutes.
¥1,280 adult and ¥640 child, or ¥1,267 and ¥633 on an IC card. No surcharge, no reservation, and it runs straight onto the Toei Asakusa Line, so Asakusa, Oshiage, Nihombashi and Higashi-Ginza arrive without a change. For a family staying anywhere on that line it is less than half the price of the reserved services and loses very little.
Read the Front of the Train: most of them are not going to Ueno.
The Access Express is one line doing two different jobs, and this is the single most common mistake at Narita. Most daytime departures run through to the Asakusa Line and onward to Haneda or Nishi-Magome. On the weekday board from Terminal 1 only three run to Ueno, at 18:44, 19:25 and 22:04; the rest are signed for Haneda Airport, Nishi-Magome or Misakiguchi, and the 23:08 last train goes to Keisei-Takasago. If Ueno is your stop, read the destination on the front of the train rather than the name of the line.
Yokohama, Odaiba or at Tokyo Disney Resort.
One Seat, No Changes: the Limousine Bus to the resort.
Tokyo Disney Resort is the clearest case on this page for paying more. The Limousine Bus sets down at the hotel door, and the alternative from Narita is two trains and a monorail with a family that has just flown. Yokohama and Odaiba are also on its network, and Yokohama is reachable on the Narita Express without a change as well.
Two rules that catch families on every service.
A Free Child Still Needs a Ticket: if they want a seat.
Every Narita Express and Skyliner seat is reserved, which changes what a small child costs. Children under six travel free on a lap, two per fare-paying adult, and the third pays a child fare. But a child riding free who takes a seat of their own needs a child ticket bought for them, because that seat has to be reserved to somebody. A family of four wanting four seats buys four tickets whatever the ages.
The Last Train Is Earlier Than You Think: 21:44, then 23:00.
The Narita Express stops at 21:44 and the Skyliner at 23:00. After that the buses are the whole of it, and the TYO-NRT’s last departure leaves Terminal 1 at about 23:30 (Terminal 3 about 23:20), with nothing scheduled after it. A flight that lands at nine in the evening is already inside the window where the choice narrows to two; one that lands after ten has less than ninety minutes, ten fewer at Terminal 3, to clear immigration, collect the bags and reach that bus. Check the arrival time against those three numbers before deciding anything else about the transfer.
Six fares into the city, and a 6,300 yen spread.
A family of four can leave Narita for as little as 4,500 yen or as much as 10,800 yen, and both of those are correct answers depending on where they are going. Here is the whole board, with the school-age child rate beside every adult one.
| Service and Destination | Adult | Child (6 to 11) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Narita Express to Tokyo Station | ¥3,140 | Half the adult fare | 53 to 59 minutes. Two departures an hour, first 07:37 and last 21:44. |
| Narita Express to Shinjuku or Shibuya | ¥3,330 | Half the adult fare | 80 to 85 minutes. The train splits at Tokyo, so check the carriage. |
| Keisei Skyliner to Nippori and Keisei Ueno | ¥2,580 | ¥1,290 | 41 minutes from Terminals 2 and 3. Last departure 23:00. |
| Keisei Access Express to Keisei Ueno | ¥1,280 | ¥640 | No surcharge and no reservation. IC fares are ¥1,267 and ¥633. |
| AIRPORT BUS TYO-NRT to Tokyo Station | ¥1,500 | ¥750 | Double fare on late-night runs: ¥3,000 adult and ¥1,500 child. |
| Airport Limousine Bus to Shinjuku | ¥3,600 | ¥1,800 | ¥3,100 and ¥1,550 to Tokyo City Air Terminal or Tokyo Station Yaesu. |
Narita Express to Tokyo Station
Adult ¥3,140 · Child half fare
Narita Express to Shinjuku or Shibuya
Adult ¥3,330 · Child half fare
Keisei Skyliner to Nippori and Keisei Ueno
Adult ¥2,580 · Child ¥1,290
Keisei Access Express to Keisei Ueno
Adult ¥1,280 · Child ¥640
AIRPORT BUS TYO-NRT to Tokyo Station
Adult ¥1,500 · Child ¥750
Airport Limousine Bus to Shinjuku
Adult ¥3,600 · Child ¥1,800
Worked once, for two adults and two children aged 8 and 11 staying at Tokyo Station. The N’EX Tokyo Round Trip Ticket costs 5,200 yen an adult and 2,600 yen a child, so 15,600 yen for the return journey, against 18,800 yen for the same four ordinary reserved returns bought separately. That is 3,200 yen saved for holding one product instead of eight tickets. The same family on the TYO-NRT bus pays 4,500 yen each way, 9,000 yen returning, which is 6,600 yen below the train and buys a seat at Tokyo Station rather than a platform inside it.
The trade is the usual one and it is worth naming plainly. The train costs more and is immune to traffic; the bus costs less and is not. On an arrival where the flight has already run late, the fixed hour of the Narita Express is worth the difference. On a departure day with a morning flight and a settled family, the bus usually is. The Japan Rail Pass covers the Narita Express outright, and whether the pass itself is worth buying is a separate calculation that belongs on its own page.
The cheap bus goes to one place, and goes there every ten minutes.
Narita runs two express bus products and they are not competitors. One is a shuttle to a single station at a low flat fare. The other is a network of hotel doors at more than twice the price.
| Bus | Pros | Cons | LuNi Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recommended AIRPORT BUS TYO-NRT ¥1,500 / ¥750 | Departures from Terminal 1 roughly every 10 minutes from 07:25 to 22:55, plus one late-night run at about 23:30 (23:20 from Terminal 3). No booking to make. | Tokyo Station, Ginza and a few bay stops only. One suitcase per person in the hold. Late runs cost double. | The default for any family based within reach of Tokyo Station who would rather spend the difference on the trip. |
| Airport Limousine Bus ¥3,600 / ¥1,800 | Sets down at hotel doors across Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro, Asakusa, Odaiba, Yokohama and Tokyo Disney Resort. Two checked bags per person. | Nearly two hours to Shinjuku, and the operator warns that rush hour and tourist season add to it. | Worth it when the hotel is the stop, and when the alternative is a station transfer with a stroller. |
AIRPORT BUS TYO-NRT
¥1,500 / ¥750The default for any family based within reach of Tokyo Station who would rather spend the difference on the trip.
Airport Limousine Bus
¥3,600 / ¥1,800Worth it when the hotel is the stop, and when the alternative is a station transfer with a stroller.
The luggage rules are the real difference between them. TYO-NRT takes one suitcase per passenger in the hold, with the three dimensions totaling no more than about 158 centimeters, and refuses cardboard boxes, golf bags, instruments and any second bag outright. The limousine takes two checked pieces per person, each within 50 by 60 by 120 centimeters and 30 kilograms. Neither coach is low-floor and neither is wheelchair accessible, so a stroller folds at the door on both.
Two operational notes for the cheap bus. There is no reservation to make and no standing room, so a bus that fills leaves without you, which argues for the line rather than the coffee. On the last bus of the night you pay on board in cash or with an IC card, and no credit cards are taken. Only some buses carry a restroom and the bus terminals have none at all, so take the children before boarding. If the bags are the problem rather than the fare, send them instead: the same-day cut-off into Tokyo is 10:30 with Yamato Transport and 14:00 with Sagawa or JAL ABC, from counters on the 1F arrivals floor of all three terminals.
The questions parents actually ask.
What is the best way to get from Narita Airport to Tokyo with kids?
Match the service to the station nearest your hotel. The Narita Express is the only one reaching Tokyo Station, Shinjuku, Shibuya and Yokohama without a change, at 3,140 to 4,480 yen. The Keisei Skyliner is faster and cheaper for Ueno and Nippori at 2,580 yen. AIRPORT BUS TYO-NRT reaches Tokyo Station for 1,500 yen adult and 750 yen child.
How much is the Narita Express for a family of four?
The N’EX Tokyo Round Trip Ticket costs 5,200 yen an adult and 2,600 yen a child aged 6 to 11, so 15,600 yen for two adults and two children returning. Four ordinary reserved return fares to Tokyo bought separately come to 18,800 yen, so the round trip product saves about 3,200 yen and is valid for 14 days.
Is the Keisei Skyliner or the Narita Express better for families?
The Skyliner is better for Ueno and Nippori, where it runs 41 minutes from Terminals 2 and 3 for 2,580 yen, three times an hour, with a luggage bay in every car and a toilet carrying a baby bed and a child seat. The Narita Express is better for Tokyo Station, Shinjuku, Shibuya and Yokohama, which the Skyliner does not reach without a transfer.
Does the Keisei Access Express go to Ueno?
Only three times on a weekday, all in the evening: on the board from Terminal 1, the Ueno-bound Access Express services leave at 18:44, 19:25 and 22:04. The others run to Haneda Airport, Nishi-Magome, Misakiguchi or Keisei-Takasago instead, so check the destination shown on the front of the train.
Do young children need a ticket on the Narita Express or the Skyliner?
Children under 6 travel free, two per fare-paying passenger, with a child fare from the third. Because every seat on both trains is reserved, a free-riding child who takes their own seat still needs a child ticket bought for them. Children aged 6 to 11 pay half the adult fare, though on the Narita Express Green Car a child pays the full adult Green Car charge.
Can we pay by credit card at Narita Airport station?
Only for Skyliner tickets, or a combined base fare and Skyliner ticket. Every other Keisei ticket is cash in Japanese yen or an IC card, and the B1F ticket floors at both airport stations have few or no exchange counters and cash machines. Change money on the 1F arrivals floor first, or buy and load a PASMO card at the station machines.
What time is the last train from Narita Airport to Tokyo?
The last Narita Express leaves Terminal 1 at 21:44, reaching Tokyo Station at about 22:37 and Shinjuku at 23:12. The last Skyliner leaves at 23:00 and reaches Keisei Ueno at 23:48. After that the only service left is one late-night TYO-NRT bus, leaving Terminal 1 at about 23:30 (Terminal 2 about 23:25, Terminal 3 about 23:20) and reaching Tokyo Station at about 00:38, at double fare.