How do you get from the airport into the city?
Short answer
By train, nearly always. Which train depends on the airport and on which side of the city you are sleeping.
From Narita: two expresses, two directions
Narita is served by JR and by Keisei, and they do not go to the same places. The JR service runs to Tokyo Station and on to Shibuya, Shinjuku and the western side. The Keisei service runs to Nippori and Ueno, which puts you near Asakusa and the north-east.
Pick by where you are staying rather than by price or speed. Arriving fast at the wrong side of Tokyo and then crossing it with luggage cancels out whatever you saved.
From Haneda: much shorter
Haneda is connected directly to two lines, the Keikyu and the Tokyo Monorail, and the difference in distance is the real story. Shinagawa is roughly a quarter of an hour away, and central Tokyo well under an hour.
Both lines leave from the terminal building itself, so there is no shuttle to find first.
Buses and taxis
Limousine buses run from both airports to hotel clusters and to neighbourhoods the trains do not reach. They are worth it with heavy bags or a late arrival, at the cost of being exposed to traffic.
Taxis are the expensive option from Narita, and the price is a function of distance rather than of anything you did wrong. From Haneda a taxi is merely costly.
Good to know
- Both airports sell rail tickets at a counter in the arrivals hall, so you do not need to work the machines with luggage in hand
- The last trains leave earlier than you would expect for a capital city — check before booking a late arrival
Rail, in every case. Each major airport has a dedicated line, and the ordinary metro is always the cheap way in.
From Suvarnabhumi, the Airport Rail Link on floor B1 — or a metered taxi, which adds a THB 50 airport surcharge on top of the meter.
Metered taxi or a city bus, and the answer scales with the city: Hanoi's airport is far, Saigon's is close but slow, Danang's is practically downtown.
Train, bus or taxi. The airport railroad runs from both terminals into central Seoul and is the cheapest of the three.
The Airport MRT. One line, two kinds of train — take the Express, not the Commuter, and it runs straight to Taipei Main Station.