Narita and Haneda to Central Tokyo: Trains, Buses, Taxis

Which airport changes the answer

Narita is the far airport. The Skyliner costs ¥2,580 per adult one way, the N'EX is sold to visitors as a ¥5,200 round trip, and the fastest runs take 41 and 53 minutes, and a taxi into the central wards starts at ¥29,000 before tolls. Haneda is close enough that the monorail and train cost under ¥900 per adult to any Yamanote Line station, so the decision there is mostly about transfers, luggage and the time you land.

The second variable is your hotel's nearest big station. Ueno and the east side (Asakusa, Nippori) favour Keisei from Narita. Tokyo Station, Shinjuku and Shibuya favour JR from Narita and the monorail or Keikyu from Haneda.

Narita: train and bus options

Keisei Skyliner (Ueno, Nippori)

The Skyliner fare table splits the price into a base fare and a Skyliner charge between Narita Airport and Keisei Ueno or Nippori (checked 12 October 2026):

All Skyliner seats are reserved. Boarding without a Skyliner ticket costs an extra ¥300 per adult, so buy the seat first at the Skyliner counters in the Terminal 1 or Terminal 2·3 stations, or at the machines, which take major credit cards. Tickets go on sale one month ahead. Keisei's English Skyliner page gives the run to Keisei Ueno as "as little as 41 minutes" and also sells discount Skyliner tickets and Skyliner plus Tokyo Subway Ticket sets.

Keisei Access Express and Main Line (cheaper, slower)

Keisei's Traffic Access page lists two services that need no limited-express charge: the Access Express, which runs through to Nihombashi, Shimbashi and Shinagawa, and the Main Line Rapid Limited Express via Funabashi. The airport's rail page shows both also call at Nippori and Keisei Ueno. You pay only the base fare, which saves the ¥1,300 Skyliner charge per adult, at the cost of a slower ride. Keisei does not publish these fares as text on its English pages, so check the amount at the ticket machine.

JR Narita Express (Tokyo, Shinagawa, Shibuya, Shinjuku)

JR East's N'EX page gives the fastest run from Narita Airport to Tokyo Station as 53 minutes and names Tokyo, Shinagawa, Shibuya, Shinjuku and Yokohama among the places it serves.

The N'EX TOKYO Round Trip Ticket costs ¥5,200 for adults and ¥2,600 for ages 6 to 11, is for holders of non-Japanese passports, and covers one ride from Narita into Tokyo and one ride back within 14 days. You can change to other JR East lines in the Tokyo area on the same ticket without leaving the gates. The same page compares it with the regular reserved-seat round trip: ¥6,280 to Tokyo and ¥6,660 to Shinagawa, Shibuya or Shinjuku. Neither JR East page lists a one-way N'EX fare, so if you only need a single ride, check the price when booking. Buy it online through JR-EAST Train Reservation or at the JR EAST Travel Service Centers in both airport stations, and bring your passport (checked 12 October 2026).

Airport Limousine and low-cost buses

Buses suit you when your hotel is on a bus route or you have heavy bags. The airport's bus departures page puts most Tokyo city routes, including TCAT, Tokyo Station and Shinjuku via TCAT, at stop No. 10, buses to Tokyo Station, Ginza Station and Shinonome at No. 7, Shibuya (SHIBUYA FUKURAS) and Ikebukuro at No. 3, and Shinjuku buses not via TCAT at No. 11.

Low-cost bus fares come from the airport's LCB page, which says the ¥1,500 Tokyo and Ginza fare excludes late-night and early-morning runs; it does not state the late-night fare. Airport Limousine child fares are half the adult fare. The Limousine Shinjuku timetable starts at 7:05 from Terminal 3. On the TCAT route the last buses leave at 22:55 from Terminal 3 and 23:05 from Terminal 1, but the last listed arrival at Tokyo Station Yaesu North is 21:00, so late buses end at TCAT (checked 12 October 2026). The airport and operator pages read do not give a fixed Narita bus journey time, so allow for traffic.

Haneda: train, monorail and bus options

Tokyo Monorail plus JR

The monorail reaches Hamamatsucho in 13 minutes and runs about every five minutes, according to Tokyo Monorail's transfer guide. The fare page lists ¥520 per adult from any Haneda terminal to Hamamatsucho (¥519 by IC card), and the discount ticket page gives the through fares to the JR Yamanote Line (checked 12 October 2026):

On Saturdays, Sundays, holidays and listed holiday periods, the Monorail and Yamanote Line Discount Ticket takes you from any Haneda terminal to any Yamanote Line station for ¥590 per adult and ¥290 for a child. It is sold only on the day at the Haneda monorail ticket machines, and you cannot stop over at Hamamatsucho. The page lists 31 October to 3 November 2026 and 26 December 2026 to 3 January 2027 among the extra periods.

Keikyu (Shinagawa, Shimbashi, Asakusa, Yokohama)

Keikyu suits hotels near Shinagawa, Shimbashi, Asakusa and Oshiage. Keikyu's fare and travel-time page gives these guide times from Terminal 3 (Terminal 1·2 adds about three minutes): Shinagawa 11 minutes, Shimbashi 21, Asakusa 34, Oshiage 38, Yokohama 23, and, with a change of train, Tokyo 20, Shibuya 23 and Shinjuku 30. Its English fares sit in an image table, so the amount for your station is easiest to read off the machine or the Keikyu route search.

At Terminal 3 the Keikyu gates for central Tokyo and Yokohama are in the 2F arrival lobby, according to the airport's rail page.

Buses from Haneda

The airport's bus page lists about 35 minutes to Tokyo Station and to Shinjuku Station West Exit, 40 minutes to Shibuya and 55 minutes to Ikebukuro. Airport Limousine's Shinjuku timetable shows ¥1,400 per adult and ¥700 per child to Shinjuku station and the main Shinjuku hotels, and its Tokyo Station timetable shows ¥1,200 per adult but only six departures, from 8:00 to 16:00 out of Terminal 3. Buy bus tickets before boarding, from machines at Terminals 1 and 2 or machines and counters at Terminal 3. Several central routes, including Akasaka and Roppongi, and Ginza and Shiodome, are marked suspended.

Choosing by destination and party

These totals use the adult fares above and leave out taxi tolls (checked 12 October 2026).

From Narita, the N'EX also serves Tokyo, Shinjuku and Shibuya, but the only N'EX prices JR East publishes in English are round trips: ¥5,200 for visitors, or ¥6,280–6,660 at the regular fare.

Worked examples:

• Two adults and two children (6–11) to Ueno from Narita: Skyliner by paper ticket is 2 × ¥2,580 + 2 × ¥1,290 = ¥7,740.
• Four adults to Shinjuku from Narita: the Limousine is 4 × ¥3,600 = ¥14,400, and a fixed-fare taxi ¥31,500 via Keiyo Road or ¥32,500 via the Bayshore route, plus tolls. If all four hold non-Japanese passports and fly home from Narita, four N'EX round trips cost ¥20,800 and cover the ride back to the airport too.
• One adult to Tokyo Station from Narita on a budget: the ¥1,500 low-cost bus costs ¥1,600 less than the ¥3,100 Limousine to TCAT and Tokyo Station; that fare excludes late-night and early-morning runs.
• Two adults to Shinjuku from Haneda with big suitcases: the Limousine at ¥2,800 for both stops at Shinjuku Station and the main Shinjuku hotels, with no transfer at Hamamatsucho.

Taxis

Narita sets fixed taxi fares by Tokyo zone. Zone C (Chuo, Chiyoda, Taito, Bunkyo, Arakawa) is ¥29,000 via Keiyo Road or ¥31,000 via the Bayshore route; zone D (Shinjuku, Shibuya, Toshima, Minato excluding Daiba and others) is ¥31,500 or ¥32,500. Expressway tolls come on top, a late-night and early-morning surcharge applies from 22:00 to 5:00, and you agree the fare with the driver before getting in. No booking is needed. Stands are No. 15 at Terminal 1, No. 28 and 31-A at Terminal 2, and the taxi stand at Terminal 3.

Haneda's taxi page says fixed fares exist between the airport and Tokyo and Kanagawa, with tolls extra and metered fares in some areas, but it does not publish the amounts and refers you to the taxi associations. Ask the driver for the fixed fare before setting off. The general taxi stands are on 1F of each terminal's arrival lobby.

Landing late

At Haneda, Keikyu's late-night page gives the last train from Terminal 3 to Shinagawa as 00:08, arriving 00:20 (timetable as of 13 December 2025). After that, the airport's bus page lists Shinjuku and Ikebukuro buses from Terminal 3 at 00:20, 01:00, 01:40 and 02:20, from Terminal 2 at 00:05 and from Terminal 1 at 00:10, noting that times can change with flight schedules. If customs runs past 02:20, a taxi is the remaining choice.

At Narita, the bus counters at Terminals 1 and 2 stay open until about 23:00, and for low-cost buses leaving at 23:00 or later you pay staff at the stop, according to the airport's bus ticket page. The airport's rail and bus pages do not publish last-train times, so check the Skyliner or N'EX timetable against your landing time before you fly. If you miss the last service, Narita's night-time page lists 24-hour areas on 1F and B1F at Terminal 1, a 24-hour capsule hotel connected to Terminal 2, and 24-hour convenience stores in all three terminals.

Paying for the ride

Skyliner machines take major credit cards, and Keisei and the Tokyo Monorail both charge slightly less by IC card (¥1,267 against ¥1,280 for the Skyliner base fare, ¥519 against ¥520 on the monorail). Tapping a foreign contactless bank card is not a way into town from Narita: Toei's tap-and-go page lists JR East and Keisei among the companies that do not accept it and says it cannot be used at Narita Airport or Airport Terminal 2 stations. At Haneda, Keikyu is one of the 11 operators on that page that accept a card tap; the Tokyo Monorail is not on the list. If you plan to use an IC card from the airport, our guide to Suica, PASMO and paying with a foreign contactless card explains which card to get at arrival. If you shop tax-free in Tokyo, our tax-free shopping and airport refund guide covers what to do at Narita or Haneda on the way home. If your first trip out of Tokyo is to Mount Fuji, the Kawaguchiko bus guide covers the highway bus from Tokyo, which helps decide which side of the city to stay on.