Narita Airport hotels with a direct train link
For a hotel near Narita Airport (NRT) with a real train link, stay in Narita town, next to Keisei-Narita or JR Narita station: the ride to the airport takes about ten minutes on the Keisei Main Line or a JR train. The two stations sit a minute or two apart on foot, so either line works from the same hotel. Most other hotels around Narita stand along the airport perimeter and rely on shuttle buses instead of rails. This page explains which station serves Terminal 1 and which serves Terminals 2 and 3, why the Skyliner will not drop you in Narita town, what Center Hotel Narita offers as a station base, and how to plan an early check-in by train rather than by bus.
Narita is a temple town as well as an airport: the Omotesando shopping street that leads to Naritasan Shinshoji starts at the two main stations, so a station hotel puts dinner and a stroll within a few minutes.
Where to stay near the airport
Which Narita station should you sleep next to?
Sleeping by the station in Narita town
Narita town has two stations a minute or two apart: JR Narita and Keisei-Narita. From either, the airport is about ten minutes away. The difference is frequency. Japan's best-known travel guide counts one or two JR trains an hour against about three on Keisei, so for a morning departure I would plan around the Keisei timetable and keep JR as the backup. Both lines continue to the two airport stations, which means you never change trains with your bags. A hotel by these stations gives you a fixed timetable instead of a shuttle bus that leaves only when the driver is ready.
Pick your airport station by terminal. Narita Airport Station, the last stop, sits under Terminal 1. Airport Terminal 2·3 Station, the stop before it, serves Terminal 2 directly, while Terminal 3, the low-cost carrier terminal, is about a ten-minute walk from that station according to the airport. If you fly from Terminal 3, add those ten minutes to the train ride and leave earlier than the timetable alone suggests. Getting off at the wrong station is the classic mistake, because both station names include the word airport. Terminal 1 is itself divided into a North Wing and a South Wing used by different airlines, so read the wing on your ticket as well.
Not every train from the airport stops in Narita town. The Keisei Skyliner and the Access Express do not call at Keisei-Narita, so arriving travellers who jump on the first fast train into Tokyo sail straight past their hotel. For the town, take a Keisei Main Line train or a JR train, both of which the airport lists as stopping at Narita. This matters most after a late landing, when frequencies drop and a missed stop costs you a long wait on the platform at the other end. The airport's own access page lists the Keisei Main Line, JR local trains and the Narita Express as calling at Narita.
Center Hotel Narita, rated 7.6 out of 10 across 667 guest reviews, is the station base on this page: a plain business hotel a short walk from Keisei-Narita station, with breakfast included. Watch the name. There are two neighbouring properties, Center Hotel Narita 1 and Center Hotel Narita 2 R51, and booking sites give walking times from two to eight minutes depending on which one they describe. Check which building your booking confirmation names before you plan a pre-dawn walk to the platform with a suitcase. It suits travellers who want the train rather than a hotel bus; with heavy luggage, the building closest to the station is the one to ask for.
A traveler's takeIf my flight left from Terminal 1 or 2, I would sleep by Keisei-Narita station and take a Keisei Main Line train in the morning: ten minutes, no transfer, and a timetable I can read the night before. For a Terminal 3 departure I would still choose the town, but leave a quarter of an hour earlier for the walk from Airport Terminal 2·3 Station. I would not choose Narita town for a very late landing, since the train back into town thins out at night and a perimeter hotel with its own shuttle bus may then be simpler.
Good to know
- 1Do not board the Keisei Skyliner or the Access Express to reach Narita town: neither stops at Keisei-Narita, so take a Keisei Main Line or JR train.
- 2Keisei runs about three trains an hour between Narita town and the airport against one or two on JR, so plan an early departure around Keisei.
- 3For Terminal 3, get off at Airport Terminal 2·3 Station and allow about ten minutes on foot to the terminal building, as the airport itself advises.
- 4Terminal 1 is served by the last stop, Narita Airport Station; staying on one stop too long or getting off one stop early is the common slip.
- 5Center Hotel Narita has two buildings with similar names; check which one your confirmation shows before counting walking minutes to Keisei-Narita station.
- 6JR Narita and Keisei-Narita stations are only a minute or two apart, so you can switch to whichever line has the next departure.