Getting Around Tokyo

I have recently visited the amazing city of Tokyo in October. As it was my first time to travel to Tokyo, which is one of my dream destinations, the first thing I worried about was getting around the place. I heard that taking a taxi to get to your destination will cost you a fortune so that’s definitely not an option for someone like me who like to travel cheap. So basically, the most convenient way to go to places is by train. But..have you seen the Tokyo railway system?!?!?

Being someone who lives in Hong Kong, I thought I should be alright getting around by train. But looking at this complicated system had me shaking my head hahahaha!

But…like all stories of my travel, we survived (I took the trip with my sister).

So here are a few things…very short and easy tips that you need to have in mind to save you time and energy 🙂

Location of Your Hotel

I know as travellers, we tend to be drawn to hotels with nicer views or nice interior. However, if you are going to Tokyo with the purpose of exploring the city as much as possible with the limited time you have, you need to pick your accommodation based on how near it is to a JR station and all the other places you are aiming to go.

For us, we picked APA Hotel TKP Nippori-ekimae, which is just a 3-minute walk from Nippori station. It was also very convenient for us because we flew in via Narita Airport and they have the Keisei Line from Narita to Nippori.

From the Airport

Like I said earlier, we flew in via Narita not realising that Narita Airport is in Chiba, which is another prefecture. So if you have an option between Narita and Haneda, best to choose Haneda Airport.

So anyways, getting to Nippori from Narita, you can either

• book  Keisei Skyliner ticket ahead of your trip (you’ll need to exchange your e-voucher for a real voucher before going anywhere at Skyliner & Keisei Information Center)
• Keisei Sky Access Express
• just the regular Keisei train

Of course, there are plenty of ways to get to your hotel from the airport but the ones mentioned above are my top choices

Get a top-up IC card

If you are going to be in Tokyo for a few days and want to avoid wasting time lining up and paying at the ticket machine, I suggest you get a Suica or Pasmo card from one of the machines before you leave the airport because Tokyo has different railway companies so if you only get JR rail pass, you may still need to get tickets at some stations, which can be a hassle.

The cost of the card itself is 500 yen, which is around HK$36 and loaded it with ¥10,000 (around HK$700)

Navigating around Tokyo

Now, I know there are a lot of travel apps that promise to make your navigation around Tokyo so much easier. I have downloaded a lot of them (Triposo, Navitime, Funliday and so much more) I had fun exploring them before my trip but didn’t really get to use them when I was there. To make life a lot easier, you actually need to look for other travel apps to navigate your way around. All you need is the Google Maps app.

Yes, this single app saved our asses during our commute around Tokyo.

All you have to do is open the app, press ‘Commute’, type in your location and destination and click the train icon and boom…it will show you

• Recommended route
• Other options
• Train’s scheduled arrival
• Seats availability
• Which Line to interchange to
• Boarding position for fastest exit
• Trip’s duration
• Cost

Additional tips:

I find that in some of the stations in Tokyo, it is not possible to access other exits once you have climb up from the railway platform so you really need to check which side you will be exiting before you take the escalator up to the concourse.

The Exit signs are usually written on the platform pillars