What to do on a Narita layover

Every plan below starts and ends at Narita International Airport (NRT). Each one allows about an hour from landing to the train and gets you back to the terminal 90 minutes before your flight, onward boarding pass in hand; add time if you still have to check in or drop bags.

Before you set off, check that your passport lets you leave the airport: US, UK, EU, Canadian and Australian ones need no visa, Indian ones do. Then check the day. On Mondays the Tokyo National Museum is closed, and after a Monday public holiday it closes on the Tuesday instead. Naritasan and Senso-ji are open every day. The walks below are our allowances from map distances.

6 to 7 hours: Naritasan and Omotesando

You’ll have about 1.5 hours in Narita town on a 6-hour layover and about 2.5 hours on a 7-hour one.

Naritasan Shinshoji and Omotesando

The closest real sight to the airport: a 1,000-year-old temple at the end of a street of shops, 8 minutes away by train. It suits a first visit to Japan and any short layover, every day of the week.

1. Keisei Main Line from the airport to Keisei Narita, about 8 minutes. Trains run every 20 to 30 minutes in the day.
2. Walk about 10 minutes along Omotesando, some 800 metres of about 150 shops and restaurants, to the temple gate. Leave lunch for the walk back.
3. Go up to the Great Main Hall of Naritasan Shinshoji, open to anyone from 6am (5:30am from April to September). If the timing works, sit in on the goma, a fire ritual held several times a day: it lasts about 30 minutes and anyone can join it in the hall, with no booking. You pay only if you want a prayer said for you, from ¥5,000, at the goma counter. Ask before taking photos in the hall.
4. Walk back down Omotesando to Keisei Narita and take the train to the airport, leaving 2 hours 35 minutes before your flight.

Pick your day. The goma times change with the month and the day of the week, so check them on the temple’s website (in Japanese) or ask at the hall. On the 28th of each month, the temple’s festival day, there are extra goma. On Thursdays the Narita Tourist Pavilion holds a free tea ceremony from 10:30 to 11:30am, except in January.

With more time. Naritasan Park, about 165,000 square metres, adjoins the temple. The Naritasan Calligraphy Museum is open 9am to 4pm (last entry 3:30pm) and costs ¥800, free under 18. It’s closed on Mondays (on the Tuesday instead after a Monday public holiday) and between exhibitions, so check its website before you go.

Bags. Leave them at the airport: coin lockers in every terminal cost ¥400 to ¥800 a day by size.

7 to 10 hours: Ueno Park or Asakusa

You’ll have about 2 hours in Tokyo on a 7-hour layover, 3 on an 8-hour one and 5 on a 10-hour one.

Ueno Park and the Tokyo National Museum

The Tokyo National Museum, in a park a few minutes’ walk from the Skyliner’s last stop. It’s indoors, so it suits a wet day, and it needs a layover of about 7 hours, from Tuesday to Sunday.

1. Skyliner to Keisei Ueno, 41 minutes.
2. Walk into Ueno Park, open 5am to 11pm, and about 10 minutes through it to the museum.
3. Give the Tokyo National Museum about an hour: ¥1,000 for adults, 9:30am to 5pm, and to 8pm on Fridays and Saturdays, with last entry 30 minutes before closing.
4. With time to spare, walk back through the park to Ameyoko, the market street near Ueno station.
5. Skyliner back from Keisei Ueno, leaving 2 hours 55 minutes before your flight.

Opening hours. The museum opens at 9:30am, so a landing before about 7:15am means waiting outside. To have an hour inside before it closes, land by about 1:40pm. On Fridays and Saturdays it stays open until 8pm, so a landing up to about 4:40pm still works for a flight late that night: leave the museum by 8pm and you catch the last Skyliner from Keisei Ueno, at 8:20pm (8:17pm on Saturdays). It’s closed on Mondays, and on the Tuesday after a Monday public holiday, such as 24 November 2026 and 12 January 2027: take the Asakusa plan instead. In December it’s also closed on the 15th and from the 26th to the 31st, and from 22 to 25 December only its Gallery of Horyuji Treasures and the Kuroda Memorial Hall are open.

Bags. The museum has lockers in each hall, but large bags aren’t allowed in the galleries, so leave cases at the airport.

With children. Ueno Zoo is in the same park: 9:30am to 5pm (last entry 4pm), closed on Mondays and from 29 December to 1 January. Adults pay ¥600, and children up to sixth grade go free. Swap it for the museum on a layover of about 8 hours.

Asakusa and Senso-ji

Tokyo’s best-known temple, one short subway ride from the Skyliner. It needs a layover of about 7.5 hours, which leaves about 2 hours in Asakusa, and it’s open every day.

1. Skyliner to Keisei Ueno, 41 minutes, then walk to the Ginza Line at Ueno station.
2. Ginza Line to Asakusa, about 5 minutes and about ¥180.
3. Walk through the Kaminarimon gate and along Nakamise, the street of stalls that leads to the temple.
4. Senso-ji’s main hall is open 6:30am to 5pm from October to March, and 6am to 5pm from April to September.
5. Nearby, the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center has a free viewing terrace, open until 10pm.
6. Ginza Line back to Ueno for the Skyliner, leaving Asakusa 3 hours 10 minutes before your flight.

Opening hours. The main hall closes at 5pm, so to see inside, land by about 1:30pm. Nakamise’s stalls keep their own hours, and the area is crowded at weekends and on holidays.

Paying. Tap a Suica or PASMO card on the Ginza Line, or buy a ticket. Keisei’s Skyliner & Tokyo Subway Ticket combines the Skyliner with a 24, 48 or 72-hour subway pass.

Tours from the airport

Two ways to see the area with a guide: the airport’s free Transit & Stay tour, run by volunteers, or a private tour you pay for.

Tour	Length	Layover you need	Price
Transit & Stay: Naritasan and Omotesando	About 3 hours, starting 9am to 11am	6.5 hours, landing by about 10am	Free guide; you pay trains, food and entries
Private layover tours on Viator	3 to 8 hours	The tour’s length plus about 2.5 hours	From about US$128 (seen November 2026)
Private layover tours on GetYourGuide	Varies	The tour’s length plus about 2.5 hours	Live price on GetYourGuide

Transit & Stay tour: Naritasan with a volunteer guide

The airport’s own programme, running again since 1 October 2026: two local volunteer guides take you to Naritasan Shinshoji and Omotesando for about 3 hours. The guide costs nothing. It suits a first visit to Japan, and anyone who’d rather not find their own way.

1. Book online on the programme’s website at least 6 days ahead, by 11:59pm Japan time. Each month’s tours open for booking at midnight on the 15th of the month before, first come, first served, and a tour is confirmed once two guides are assigned. These booking rules and the start times can change, so check them on the programme’s website when you book.
2. Check your times. Tours start between 9am and 11am, and you need a layover of at least 6.5 hours. Land by about 8am for a 9am start, or 10am for an 11am start.
3. On the day, pass immigration and customs, put any bags that aren’t checked through in a locker, and go to the Transit & Stay reception counter before security, on the 1st floor of Terminal 1’s Central Building or Terminal 2’s Main Building.
4. Bring your passport, boarding passes, a visa if you need one, the booking confirmation and cash. The guide is free, but you pay your train fares, food and any entries: the programme suggests a budget of at least ¥2,000.

Extras. Ask about sutra copying (up to 90 minutes), an eel lunch (¥2,500 to ¥5,000), wearing a kimono (Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 2:30pm) or the free Thursday tea ceremony.

One tour per layover. On a layover under 24 hours you can book one; staying longer, two. The programme’s other tours, to nearby towns such as Sawara and Shibayama, last 4 to 6 hours and need a longer layover by the same sum.

Private tours

• What’s on offer. GetYourGuide lists private tours from Narita (opens in a new tab), and Viator has a Narita layover tours category (opens in a new tab), with tours to Naritasan and into Tokyo that meet you at the airport.
• Prices. Viator’s start from about US$128 for a 3-hour private tour (seen November 2026), and longer Tokyo tours cost more. Check whether a price is per person or for the group.
• Layover needed. Add about 2.5 hours to the tour’s length: an hour to get out of the airport and 90 minutes to be back before your flight.
• Check before booking. What’s included, the cancellation terms, and what happens if your flight lands late.

Overnight: nine hours capsule hotel, then Naritasan

A night at Terminal 2, then Naritasan at 6am

For a landing after about 9pm and a flight the next morning, if you can enter Japan. You’d pass immigration anyway: Narita’s transit area closes from midnight to 6am.

1. After customs, sleep at the nine hours capsule hotel in Terminal 2’s basement (book ahead), or on the landside seating that stays open all night.
2. Take the first Keisei train from Terminal 2·3, at 5:20am (5:19am at weekends), to Keisei Narita, and walk 10 minutes to the temple.
3. Be in the Great Main Hall of Naritasan Shinshoji for the morning goma at 6am (5:30am from April to September), about 30 minutes. On 13 December there’s no 6am goma: the temple holds its year-end cleaning.
4. Train back to the airport by about 7:35am, in time for a flight from about 9:05am.

With a later flight, take the first Skyliner instead, at 7:27am (7:34am at weekends), and be at Senso-ji in Asakusa by about 8:30am; that works for a flight after about 12:40pm. Check-out at nine hours is 10am.

24 hours

A full day and a night: time for both Tokyo plans, or Narita town and Tokyo.

• Store your bags or book a room: at the airport covers the capsule hotel, the lockers and the showers.
• Start at Naritasan for the 6am goma, then head into Tokyo.
• In Tokyo, be at the Tokyo National Museum when it opens at 9:30am (not Mondays), walk through Ueno Park to Ameyoko, then take the Ginza Line to Senso-ji, whose main hall is open until 5pm.
• End on the free terrace of the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center, open until 10pm, but be on the 8:20pm Skyliner from Keisei Ueno (8:17pm at weekends) if you’re heading back to the airport that night.
• Staying over 24 hours, you can book two of the airport’s free Transit & Stay tours.
• Flying ANA? Its TOKYO+ offer adds a domestic flight to another Japanese city to an international ticket at no extra airfare, though taxes and fees may apply.

Rest at the airport

Narita’s transit area closes from midnight to 6am, so the only places to rest without entering Japan are the day rooms in Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 Satellite, by day. Everything else is landside, after immigration. At the airport covers lounges, left luggage and prices.

Showers and day rooms at Terminal 2 Satellite, airside

On the 3rd floor of Terminal 2 Satellite, after security, for transit passengers and those who’ve passed departure procedures. Open 7am to 9:30pm, with last check-in at 9pm for showers and 8:30pm for rooms.

• Showers, four rooms: ¥1,500 for the first 30 minutes, then ¥750 for each 15 minutes. They can’t be booked.
• Nap rooms, three single and three twin, each with a shower: a single costs ¥3,000 for the first hour, then ¥1,500 for each 30 minutes; a twin ¥5,000, then ¥2,500. They can be booked.

Prices seen in November 2026.

Showers and day rooms at Terminal 1, airside

On the 3rd floor of Terminal 1’s Central Building, after security, with the same rules and prices as Terminal 2 Satellite’s. Open 7am to 9pm, with last check-in at 8:30pm for showers and 8pm for rooms. It’s the larger of the two: eight shower rooms, ten single nap rooms (one suited to wheelchairs) and three twins. Flying from Terminal 1, use this one.

nine hours capsule hotel, Terminal 2 basement

Landside, on Terminal 2’s B1 floor next to the P-2 car park, with a front desk open 24 hours, every day of the year. Day use costs ¥1,500 for the first hour, then ¥500 an hour; a shower alone costs ¥1,000 for up to an hour, and is free for guests (seen November 2026). Check-out is at 10am. For a night, book on nine hours’ own website: it can be full on the day.

24-hour areas and Café Nodoka, landside

These floors stay open all night, landside: Terminal 1’s 1st floor and basement, Terminal 2’s 1st and 2nd floors and basement, and Terminal 3’s 1st and 2nd floors. Other floors close from midnight to 5am. For food at any hour there are Lawson convenience stores in Terminals 1 and 3, a 7-Eleven in Terminal 2’s basement, Yoshinoya in Terminal 2 and Matsuya in Terminal 3. Café Nodoka, on the 2nd floor of Terminal 2’s Main Building, is open 24 hours and rents space by the hour. Cleaning or building work sometimes goes on near the seating at night.

Shower rooms at Terminal 1, landside

Eight shower rooms on the 2nd floor of Terminal 1’s Central Building, before security, open 7am to 8pm, with last check-in at 7:30pm.

Tips that make a Tokyo layover easier

• Fill in Visit Japan Web before you land. The free government service does the immigration and customs forms in advance.
• Land early? Go to Narita town first. Keisei trains to Narita town start at 5:20am, but the first Skyliner into Tokyo isn’t until 7:27am (7:34am at weekends), and the next two are about an hour apart.
• Buy the Skyliner ticket before boarding. Every seat is reserved, and boarding without one costs ¥300 more.
• Carry some yen. The free tour asks you to bring cash, and small shops and stalls may not take cards.
• Mind Mondays. The Tokyo National Museum and Ueno Zoo are closed, while the temples are open every day.
• Watch the clock in Ueno. The last Skyliner leaves at 8:20pm (8:17pm at weekends), long before Narita’s last flights.