Narita to Nagoya at night - possible?

Hi,

I am arriving at Narita, international Terminal 2 at 6:55pm. I will have a JR pass which I need to activate and am hoping I can somehow manage to get to Nagoya that night.

I checked Hyperdia.com and it looks like I will need to catch a train to Tokyo from Narita at 8:06pm...

Do you think it will be possible?

Hyperdia says I could catch an 8:36pm or 8:46pm train which may be more realistic to make Nagoya that night...

if that helps...

The JR Travel Service Center at Terminal 2 is open until 20:00 (and the ticket office until 21:30) so exchanging your exchange order for your JR Pass shouldn't be a problem.

I also find that the 20:46 Narita Express departure will allow you to catch a shinkansen to Nagoya, and about an hour and a half should be enough time to collect your luggage, go through customs, exchange for your JR Pass, make your train reservation, and catch your train.

It would help to have the names of the trains that you want to take written down to speed along your reservation. If you arrive on a weekday then it will be the 20:46 Narita Express 52 and the 22:00 Hikari 533. But make sure to double check the trains and departure times for your exact day of arrival on hyperdia before you get here.

What date are you arriving? Some days may be considerably busier than others. Of course, the train timetables change too. Having said that, I don't think you will have any problems.

You should be able to clear immigration, get your rail pass activated and book your Narita Express train bound for Tokyo as well as book your Shinkansen from Tokyo to Nagoya all within one hour.

The Hikari trains bound for Nagoya usually run fairly late into the evening. Using today as an example there is a train that departs Tokyo at 9:30pm and the last one at 10:00pm so you should certainly be able to make it to Tokyo station by that time.

Hi, thanks for the quick responses!

So basically, it sounds possible, just risky.

I am arriving on a Monday: 24th Jan if it helps.

I wouldn't call it risky at all. I assume you are flying with Jetstar? From your arrival time until the NEX that you need is 1 hour and 50 minutes, this will easily be enough time. There are not many other flights landing at Narita around then, and once you grab your luggage it is not too far to walk downstairs to the JR office to exchange and do the booking. If you are overly concerned or the plane is running a little late you may want to grab a seat toward the front of the plane and then hurry once you are in the airport to get to the immigration queue first, but I doubt it will be a problem.

Assuming you are in economy my only suggestion is to not pick a seat too close to row 23 as this is the baby/bassinet row. Unless you like crying children of course!

Worst case scenario if your plane is delayed and you miss the 8:46pm NEX is you grab a hotel in Tokyo (or Narita, or Yokohama) and then catch an early morning train to Nagoya.

Enjoy your trip!

Yes arriving on Jetstar.

Thanks for checking the flight schedule and for the vote of confidence! I think I will give it a go. Cheers,