Airport Transfer Options in Tokyo - How to Get Yourself and Your Luggage to & From Tokyo Airports

If you're travelling to Tokyo with a bunch of suitcases (whether it's due to many people or many suitcases per person), you'll want to save this. 

So some background if you're interested - me and Cheng were on our way to the United States for a conference. I really want to visit Disney World but Disney World was too many flights out of the way for us and we have very limited time. Hence we decided, since we're headed to Tokyo for a transit, why not just go to Tokyo Disney? (And save Disney World for a longer trip.)

If you have a flight into the US, many airlines have a baggage allowance of 2 x 23kg per passenger instead of the usual 1 piece. What was great for us was this allowance was extended to us even though we did a 4 day layover in Tokyo (which came as a surprise). The challenge was - we now have 4 big suitcases, and one carry on cabin bag, which we had to bring to the hotel. 

If you're familiar with Tokyo you know that their taxis are PRICEY, and with their sophisticared but very confusing train system (due to language barriers and the intensity of the crowd), we find ourselves finding options to get to our hotel near Disney (which I'll be sharing in a later post). 

If you're staying at Downtown Tokyo or near the main station, you don't want to fight the crowd or get lost while struggling with pieces of lugagge, take the limousine bus. It's pretty straightforward and takes you direct to Downtown / Disney from Narita or Haneda airport. Also it's only about 12sgd so it's quite affordable. Click here to check out the Limousine Bus. 

If you're NOT staying at Downtown Tokyo's main hotels, nor Disney itself, you may want to consider one of 2 options:

1. Lugagge Delivery

This is great if you have very few pieces of lugagge. You hand the lugagge to the luggage delivery counter or hotel reception, and they send the luggage to you or to the airport. There are a few options, but I'm just going to Klook it for you so at least you have a safe and trusted platform to go back to should anything inconvenient come up. 

The downside of this is, it's not good for Tokyo airport to your hotel. The options I saw sent the lugagges to Tokyo Station, which meant you'll need to find your way to Tokyo station, and then still figure your way to the hotel.

This IS great for hotel to airport, PROVIDED some conditions are met. So the pickup from your hotel is always going to be in the morning. What I'm seeing is they will pick up the lugagges at around 9am so you just need to leave your suitcases with the hotel reception/concierge. The luggage will be delivered to the airport by 4pm. So it could be 4pm. Meaning if you have a 3pm flight, this is out for same day delivery option. There is a workaround, which is to pack your suitcases and have them pick up the morning before at 9am. This made no sense to me as I will need to pack my toiletries and everything else required to be checked in a day earlier. 

That being said, like I mentioned if you have a night flight out of Tokyo and you want to spend an additional day exploring before your flight without having to go back to the hotel to get your baggage, this option is perfect. It costs anything between 20+sgd per piece of lugagge to 70+sgd per piece of lugagge, depending on which provider you go with. I'll leave both links here -  the first one that's more affordable and has great reviews, and Luggagent which is more reputable but also pricier. 

2. Private Car Charter

Another option for transportation to and from the airport is a private car charter. This is a 7-seater car, so it can fit 6 humans and 4 suitcases, or any configuration that fits into a 7-seater car. This can be especially useful if you are staying outside of the usual limousine bus route or have a larger amount of luggage that may not fit in a taxi.

Our car from the hotel to Narita Airport.

We personally took this option on our trip to Disney. We stayed at a nice hotel 2km away from the airport, which was not on the limousine bus route. With four pieces of luggage, a cabin bag and an afternoon flight, we needed to make sure we could check in by 2:45pm. This made lugagge delivery and taking a taxi less appealing options.

It was so fuss-free and relaxing, with no crowd to squeeze with, no confusion. Just us, the driver and our luggage on our way.

Booking a private car charter allowed us to have more control over our schedule and ensured that we arrived at the airport with plenty of time. We also felt safer having our stuff with us throughout our journey.

The drivers on both our to and fro trips Whatsapped us 1 day before to introduce themselves and confirm our trip. This allowed us to have a mode of communication which is very handy in a foreign country where we do not speak the native language. You can also request for a Chinese Speaking driver if you prefer.

The private cars were spacious and comfortable, easily fitting all of our luggage and us comfortably. The drivers were also very polite and helpful, and stayed in communication even though it was a little chaotic at the pickup area at the airport.

In addition, the cost for a private car charter was not much more than taking a taxi. It costs us around $150 each way which was okay for a private car ride in Tokyo. This made it a more attractive option for us as we were able to have a stress-free and comfortable ride to the airport without breaking the bank. Also, on both occasions, we got to the hotel and the airport in 45 minutes.

Overall, booking a private car charter for our trip to Disney was definitely worth it. It gave us peace of mind, convenience and an enjoyable ride to the airport. If you find yourself in a similar situation where public transportation or taxis may not be feasible options, go for this one. This is also super useful for those travelling with children or the elderly.  

I'll leave the Tokyo Private Car Charter link here for easy reference. 

For all the above, use code SILVERCHENG for 5% off your Klook bookings. Code doesn't expire and other than certain activities not applicable for discounts, you can use it site-wide. Max S$15 off per booking, so feel free to place each booking separately out to maximise your savings.