Going to Japan at end of May — three adults, first time and super excited!
Delta just moved our arrival time into Haneda airport back by several hours, upending our plan to proceed directly to Kyoto. Now, our arrival at Haneda is scheduled for 4:25 pm.
Do we have enough time to get to Kyoto in the evening? I like to build in a cushion, so let´s say our plane could be an hour late, and arrive at 5:30 pm.
* How long will it take us to collect luggage and get through customs?
* We figure we will grab a taxi from Haneda to Tokyo Station. Allow maybe 45 minutes to accomplish this?
* This could place us at Tokyo Station around 7:30pm or so. If we catch a train at 8pm, we arrive in Kyoto about 10:15pm.
* **What can we expect arriving in Kyoto this late? Will we be able to find a taxi to go to our hotel okay**?
* Am I being realistic with my time estimates?
Our reason for not staying overnight in Tokyo is the same as many other posters — we don´t want to lose a half day of vacation days on the train, especially since we only have 7 days in Japan. We planned on the first 3 in Kyoto, and the last 4 in Tokyo, which is why we really want to get to Kyoto the first evening. But if there is a chance it could leave us stranded somewhere, as first time visitors, that doesn´t sound too appealing either.
Thanks in Advance!
10 comments
Do not take the taxi from the airport. That is stupidly expensive. Take the keikyu train to shinagawa station and take the shinkansen there. Even if you get in Kyoto at 10 there is still public transport and obviously still taxi. Just take a hotel with late check in time.
First, let me assuage your fears: you will not be stranded anywhere. Tokyo and Kyoto both have incredible public transport and taxi services. So, that isn’t a worry.
But good idea to plan “more” time, let’s run through with that thought process. I’ve got some questions also for you to think about and plan around.
Let’s say you land a little late, at 5. Have you done the Visit Japan Web customs thing, that gives you the QR code for easy intake (check the stickied post of this sub if not, get it done for everyone)? Do you have JR Passes to grab? Pocket wifis or sims? All of this will take extra time, on top of customs.
So let’s say customs is going slow, you get out at 6:30 or 7. How much luggage do you have? Because if you each have a small suitcase, skip the taxi and get on the Keikyū Airport Line to Shinagawa Station, about a 20 minute ride. From there you can transfer to the Tokaido-Sanyo shinkansen. No need to go the extra time to Tokyo Station. No need to wait/take the extra time in an incredibly expensive taxi. Now, this completely changes if you all are hauling suitcases (which I would heavily advise against, especially for 7 days, but that’s another post) because you’ll take up a ton of space on the trains and that’s just rude af.
From there it’s just over 2.5 hours to Kyoto Station. Great! What part of the city is your hotel in? If you’re central, you might be able to walk to it. Or easily hop on a train at Kyoto Station to get to where you need to go. All in all, it’s still around 10, which…isn’t ideal. But it’s also great. Kyoto at night is safe and beautiful. And you can hopefully get right to sleep after an exhausting day and start on resetting the jet lag.
But, yeah, I’d say it all comes down to how much luggage you have (because that will impact travel plans) and how much stuff you need to pick up from Haneda before you head out.
I’d consider transferring to the Shinkansen at Shinagawa-it’s about 15 minutes away by taxi or train and a way easier connection to make. (It’s a smaller and less confusing station- and much closer to Haneda.) I ran a test search and departing from Haneda at 5:30, you might make it to Kyoto as early as 8:21 if you make the 6:17 Nozomi. This would, of course, assume you know what you’re doing- it’s a 20 minute transfer, which is very doable- but there are later departures. Just get tickets for the next Nozomi or Hikari when you get there.
How long it takes to get though the airport is luck of the draw- have your QR codes ready, but an hour is a decent estimate. (That’s how long it took me at Narita last week. We had friends on another flight in another terminal that got in about the same time and they were under 20 minutes.)
Doable, but depends on some factors:
– Have you completed the registration on visit Japan website? This will speed up the immigration process.
– How many luggages will you be traveling with. You might need to take more than one taxi, which will add time.
– Have you familiar yourself with the layout, how to get the taxi, etc from Haneda?
– if you’re traveling with a shinkansen, you might find issues with your luggages.
I recommend travel light, learn the process of getting transportation, how to buy the train tickets, etc. YouTube is an excellent source.
Have some Japanese yen available and get pocket wifi in your home country.
I’ll give you my timeline for a similar trip in January. We were travelling to Tokyo station and getting the train to Kanazawa, but arrived much earlier in the day (flying from London Heathrow to Haneda)
– flight was due to arrive at 10:25am, we were delayed over an hour departing due to the plane needing to be de-iced. We arrived around 45 minutes late.
– Getting off the aircraft and walking through Haneda took at least 15 minutes.
– immigration, luggage and customs took just under an hour.
– We were in arrivals by 12:30pm and collected our sim card. We spent some time visiting the bathroom and getting cash.
– We were on the Haneda monorail by 1:05pm
– We were in Tokyo station by 1:30pm and buying bento boxes.
– We had bought our shinkansen tickets and were on the train by 2:20pm. The Kanazawa trains only go every hour so we caught the 2:25pm, having missed the 1:25pm
I’d say adding in a potential delay, immigration, collecting a rail pass/buying tickets, navigating Tokyo station, you’d likely not be able to make it. We had the full day but still felt pretty rushed, even though we’ve visited before and are familiar with Tokyo station and the train systems. I’d recommend getting a hotel by Tokyo station and getting the train first thing instead
Doable. Even if you get to kyoto late there should be taxis at the main station to get you to your hotel. Timeline is feasible. But I would consider a little bit more buffer just in case.
Haneda thru customs – 1 hour
Haneda to Tokyo station – 50-60 min
Tokyo to Kyoto – 2.5 hrs
All times are total door to door including the wait on the platforms. Double check the time tables on the shinkansen. If you take hikari or kodoma you should be able to take it immediately. Nozomi (fastest) i think its every hour. But dont quote me on that.
I just wanna say I got bumped to that time also. Completely screwed up my connecting flight and had to cancel and rebook. There was an option with a layover that would have gotten me in Haneda at the original time (1:30PM or so) so check it out. I was ATL to HND and the new itinerary would have been ATL-DTW-HND. 3 hours layover and around 2 hrs earlier departure.
can you switch your flight to KIX? that would make way more sense than taking a 3 hour train from Tokyo. seems like Delta changing the flight times on you would give you justification for them allowing you to change it.
Is it possible, yes. But if I were in your shoes, as first time Japan travelers, I wouldn’t want so much stress immediately upon arrival. Instead I would:
1. Check with your airline and see if, because they changed your flight, could they reroute you so you fly direct into KIX Osaka airport instead of Tokyo. This way it’s [easy to take the airport bus or train into Kyoto.](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2033.html?aFROM=2033_2158)
2. Or, keep your planned arrival into Haneda. Pack a change of clothes and essentials for 1 night in your carryon bag. At the airport, after clearing immigration and customs, head to one of [baggage delivery counters.](https://tokyo-haneda.com/en/service/facilities/delivery.html) Pay to ship your large luggage/suitcase direct to your hotel in Kyoto.
Take [the Keikyu line from Haneda direct to Shinagawa.](https://www.shinagawastation.com/keikyu-lines-from-shinagawa-to-haneda-and-narita-airports/) Stay 1 night at a hotel near Shinagawa station (search a site like booking for lodging options near Shinagawa station). Then, since you’ll likely wake up very early anyways due to jet lag, take an early morning Shinkansen to Kyoto the next morning right from Shinagawa station. You can stash your carry on luggage in a luggage locker at Kyoto station and sightsee until 3 pm which is typically checkin time. You’ll be ready for a nap then anyways and your luggage should be waiting for you at the hotel or delivered that evening usually. Latest it would arrive would be the next morning.
You should hopefully have time to collect your JR Passes and/or get tickets/seat assignments for your Shinkansen to Kyoto the night you arrive either at the travel service center in Haneda or at the service center in Shinagawa station.
While it does mean an extra hotel shift, staying the night of arrival near Shinagawa keeps you from having to negotiate a long trip to Kyoto under a time crunch when the whole process is brand new after a very long international flight.
Unsure if this is helpful or not, but we just did this the other day – except in the opposite direction and to Narita rather than Haneda. Narita is quite a ways further out from Tokyo.
Start 6:00 AM, Kyoto:
1. Train from Ace Hotel Kyoto (Karasuma Oike Station) to Kyoto Station.
1. Shinkansen (express) to Shinagawa Station, Tokyo.
1. Narita Express from Shinagawa to Narita Airport
We arrived to Narita two hours before our 12:45 PM flight home.
Our goal for the huge travel day was the same as yours – to maximize time in Kyoto, and while the logistics were a bit stressful it was definitely worth it.
Look to see if there’s an evening express Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto – it’ll save a ton of time and the ride is pretty enjoyable. From Kyoto station there are *very* reliable train and bus lines all over the city. Check to see when they shut down for the evening.
For those saying the airport taxi to/from Haneda is ‘absurdly’ expensive, we took one from near Imperial Palace to Haneda for one leg of our trip and it was like ~$70.00ish. About the same price as an airport Uber in Chicago. Not super cheap but sooo much less stressful than hauling suitcases down the street and into a subway system we weren’t super familiar with. I took like 20 taxis in Tokyo – they’re clean, easy, and super convenient – especially if you don’t have a ton of time to figure out the subway.