Ideas for afternoon arrival to Narita

Hi,

I will be traveling to Japan in the fall and will be arriving to Narita around 5pm. The following day I intend to travel towards Takayama and will be back in in a week to spend about 7 days in/around Tokyo. I was wondering if anyone would recomment hanging aroudn Narita until the following day? and if so where would you recommend? Or should I maybe attempt leaving for Takayama that night? The first 4 days of my schedule are pretty flexable so I'm open for ideas. Thanks!

I would suggest staying the night in central Tokyo (e.g. somewhere like Shinagawa) so you are all set to continue on to Takayama first thing the next morning. Narita is not really worth allocating time to see.

Depends where you are coming from and how jet lagged/tired you will be. I would try to g et to Takayama that night, maybe stay at a Ryokan for the night. Then wake up fresh and rested early in the morning ready to explore Takayama :)

If you are just interested in city lights and lots of congestion, by all means travel to Tokyo.

If you are interested in the Japanese culture, I would recommend staying in Narita for at least a day. The temple will be closed when you get there, however spend a few hours there in the morning, it's a beautiful temple complex.

A few miles to the north of Narita at the Ajiki stop is the Boso no Mura museum. It is a reproduction of the Edo period.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6401.html

http://en.wa-shoi.com/?page=100550

http://www.chiba-muse.or.jp/MURA/english/english-inform...

Arriving at 5pm means you could get to Shinagawa around 8pm: time for a meal and collapse into bed: no matter where you have come from you will be tired. The trip to Takayama is beautiful, through the Alps from Nagoya, and past Mt Fuji on the Shinkansen out of Shinagawa. It would be a shame to miss all this with a night trip. You can book your reserved seats at Narita JR counter when you arrive, (you'll need a reserved seat on the Narita Express anyway), and then you can set off after a good rest in the morning. Staying at Narita just adds more travel time the next day: you won't see anything with a 5pm arrival.

I agree with fmj- there is no reason to stay in Narita for the evening- get to Tokyo so that you can get a good start on heading to Takayama the next day- Narita is a long way out of Tokyo and it adds a lot to the travel time to start out from there. A 5pm arrival is too late to start the trip to Takayama really.

Despite the congestion, many people actually consider Tokyo a worthy destination in itself, even if it doesn't appeal to Paul.

Despite the congestion, many people actually consider Tokyo a worthy destination in itself,
Tokyo is wonderful: there is congestion, yes, but also beautiful gardens, museums, old historic areas, shrines and temples, and the excitement of New York with amazing food...love it. And so easy with a JR Pass...

staying in Narita
-You can save 1day if you planning to use a 7day JR Pass or some other Xday pass.
-You dont need to travel after long or short flight.
-There are also something to do in Narita(shopping etc.)

staying in Tokyo
-You can start earlier next day.
-There are tons of thing to do in Tokyo even late at night(night life or excellent restaurant, shopping).

As for historical attractions, neither Narita nor Tokyo is something...

They are spending 7 days in Tokyo at the end of the trip. They just arrived after a 10+ hour flight. They are at least a half day out of whack (unless they are from down under). They said they are flexible for the first few days. So, why not relax and spend some time in a quiet little town instead of rushing into Tokyo?

I, personally, have nothing against Tokyo. In fact, I enjoyed my time there immensely.

Oyesuare doesn't know their Japanese geography. You can't get to Takayama after a 5pm arrival.

It will dark by the time you leave the airport so you won't see anything that day anyway. I'd suggest staying in Narita for the night and see Narita-san temple in the morning. Take the train to Matsumoto after that. Stay in Matsumoto for the night and see the castle in the morning (one of Japan's best). Take a bus from Matsumoto to Takayama which will be a beautiful ride through the Japanese Alps.

Thanks all for the responses, I appreciate everyones opinion, I was leaning towards staying downtown getting up and traveling to Takayama, but the idea of Minamoto sounds really appealing. I might still try to stay downtown that first night so I can get travel to Minamoto early that morning so I cna spend some time there relaxing. Again thanks for everyone's advice!

Sorry I meant Matsumoto :-P My brain ws wandering

Definitely stay in Tokyo: the idea of traveling is to see things: you won't see anything anywhere else with your arrival time so you may as well see the neon scapes of Tokyo: where you go in the morning is up to you: it also saves a heap of time: Narita to Tokyo is over an hour by train. Have fun!!