So you arrived! Now What?
Narita and Haneda are the two international airports closest to Tokyo. Haneda is practically in Tokyo (see map) and Narita is quite a bit further out.
From memory, landing in Haneda is slightly more expensive, but I suppose that if you were sticking to a tight budget you would weigh up the cost of the slightly more expensive ticket and the cheaper transfer to landing in Narita with a cheaper ticket but a slightly more expensive transfer. It all depends on your chosen airline, you possibly will not get a choice.
After considerable research and weighing up the logistics of manhandling our luggage and two children, landing in another country and having next to no language skills apart from 'hello', 'thank you' and 'excuse me' I opted for a shuttle to hotel transfer.
It wasn't cheap. There are cheaper options out there, there are trains (which may require a transfer depending on where you want to stay) and buses that stop in main areas requiring you to taxi to your final destination or walk. We did not want the stress of either of those options. I went for convenience and I am totally ok with our decision.
For reference we used Green Tomatoe Shuttles found here: https://www.greentomato-j.com/eng/shuttle/index.php
You should check if where you want to stay is on their list of hotels, they will not, absolutely will not, drop you at a hotel unless you are staying there. Which means that if you are opting for Airbnb you can not catch their service to the closest hotel and walk to your accommodation. (When investigating Airbnb I emailed and asked and received a polite but firm 'no')
Obvious Perks of the shuttle:
Airport to Door pick up and delivery. When you book you give them your flight number, they will track it for any delays and when you arrive they will pretty much be waiting for you. Our driver was running 15 minutes late (which was a heart stopping moment for me) but as it was a Public Holiday (The end of Golden Week in Japan) the traffic was insane. The normal 60 minutes back into Shinjuku was closer to 90 minutes and he apologised profusely when he arrived.
Cheaper Options from Narita:
Narita Airport Limousine Bus and Skyaccess Trains. With the bus they make several stops near main hotels in most of the main areas around Tokyo so it is is worth looking at if they drop out the front of your hotel or nearby. All the trains seem to have a stop at Nippori Station, where you will need to board another train depending on where you are staying. The drawback of this is that you will then need to catch a taxi or walk to your hotel and this is going to rely heavily on your arrival time. After dark isn't going to be fun (not for safety reasons or anything like that, just that navigating tends to be easier in daylight)
From memory, landing in Haneda is slightly more expensive, but I suppose that if you were sticking to a tight budget you would weigh up the cost of the slightly more expensive ticket and the cheaper transfer to landing in Narita with a cheaper ticket but a slightly more expensive transfer. It all depends on your chosen airline, you possibly will not get a choice.
After considerable research and weighing up the logistics of manhandling our luggage and two children, landing in another country and having next to no language skills apart from 'hello', 'thank you' and 'excuse me' I opted for a shuttle to hotel transfer.
It wasn't cheap. There are cheaper options out there, there are trains (which may require a transfer depending on where you want to stay) and buses that stop in main areas requiring you to taxi to your final destination or walk. We did not want the stress of either of those options. I went for convenience and I am totally ok with our decision.
For reference we used Green Tomatoe Shuttles found here: https://www.greentomato-j.com/eng/shuttle/index.php
You should check if where you want to stay is on their list of hotels, they will not, absolutely will not, drop you at a hotel unless you are staying there. Which means that if you are opting for Airbnb you can not catch their service to the closest hotel and walk to your accommodation. (When investigating Airbnb I emailed and asked and received a polite but firm 'no')
Obvious Perks of the shuttle:
Airport to Door pick up and delivery. When you book you give them your flight number, they will track it for any delays and when you arrive they will pretty much be waiting for you. Our driver was running 15 minutes late (which was a heart stopping moment for me) but as it was a Public Holiday (The end of Golden Week in Japan) the traffic was insane. The normal 60 minutes back into Shinjuku was closer to 90 minutes and he apologised profusely when he arrived.
Cheaper Options from Narita:
Narita Airport Limousine Bus and Skyaccess Trains. With the bus they make several stops near main hotels in most of the main areas around Tokyo so it is is worth looking at if they drop out the front of your hotel or nearby. All the trains seem to have a stop at Nippori Station, where you will need to board another train depending on where you are staying. The drawback of this is that you will then need to catch a taxi or walk to your hotel and this is going to rely heavily on your arrival time. After dark isn't going to be fun (not for safety reasons or anything like that, just that navigating tends to be easier in daylight)
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