Narita Express vs Keisei Skyliner

[railsquid]

Continued from here:

 

Quote

And yes, the JR Pass CAN be used on the Narita Express or (N'EX), which is my personal choice over the Keisei as Shinjuku, Tokyo or Ueno sounds better than Keisei-Ueno which is a long walk from JR Ueno station... Not nice to be doing that route with all your luggage along... 

 

If you're taking the Skyliner from Keisei-Ueno, you're doing it wrong ;). Unless you actually need to go to/from Ueno itself, of course.  Real pros change at Nippori, which is much less hassle.

 

If you're taking the Narita Express from Ueno, you must have supernatural powers as it doesn't pass through there ;).

 

But seriously, if you're using a railpass and are not in a tearing hurry, the Narita Express is the more convenient option, especially if transferring from another JR line or staying close to a station served by it.

 

However if you want to get to/from Narita quickly (and luggage is not an issue), quite often the Skyliner will be the better bet, especially from the western/northern side of the Yamanote line, and the first arrival is also more than 30 minutes earlier than Narita Express.

 

[JR 500系]

aahhh... I see! I took the N'EX from Tokyo that time, and the Keisei Skyliner back in 2012.... Then, I wasn't a pro, and tried to take the Skyliner from Keisei Ueno, which is a seriously wrong move as we had to lug the luggage a long distance from Ueno station, thinking that Keisei Ueno is the same as Ueno... 

 

Along the years, I learnt that The Skyliner should be taken at Nippori which is much less of a hassle than Keisei Ueno... 

 

Then again, being team N'EX that I am, I still feel the ride of the E259 really smooth and comfortable... The skyliner is great, and it's fast, but sometimes depending on where you are when you are planning to go to the Airport, the N'EX travels as far as Hachi-oji and beyond, which is great.... 

 

Of course, with the Rail Pass, one probably would go for the N'EX since you have to pay extra for the Keisei... I rode the Keisei Skyliner was due to the fact that my JR Pass had expired, and gotten for myself a 2-day Keisei Skyliner plus Metro card that allowed unlimited travel on Metro lines and one way journey on the Skyliner...

 

There had always been a huge debate over which is better (kinda like Kato vs Tomix)

 

 

[Yavianice]

23 hours ago, JR 500系 said:

Of course, with the Rail Pass, one probably would go for the N'EX since you have to pay extra for the Keisei... I rode the Keisei Skyliner was due to the fact that my JR Pass had expired, and gotten for myself a 2-day Keisei Skyliner plus Metro card that allowed unlimited travel on Metro lines and one way journey on the Skyliner...

 

I've always found myself taking the Keisei Skyliner for this specific reason, as it saves 2 days off your JR pass, if you go round trip. Since I arrive in the afternoon, using a JR Pass only for the part from Narita - Tokyo (or Ueno) and then taking the subway to my hotel, it's simply not worth using the JR pass for just this connection. I'd prefer to use the JR pass for longer trips. The Keisei Skyliner round trip + metro card combo is worth it, to me.

Edited May 15, 2018 by Yavianice
Weird sentence grammar

[chadbag]

3 hours ago, Yavianice said:

 

I've always found myself taking the Keisei Skyliner for this specific reason, as it saves 2 days off your JR pass, if you go round trip. Since I arrive in the afternoon, using a JR Pass only for the part from Narita - Tokyo (or Ueno) and then taking the subway to my hotel, it's simply not worth using the JR pass for just this connection. I'd prefer to use the JR pass for longer trips. The Keisei Skyliner round trip + metro card combo is worth it, to me.

 

Of course, it all depends on how long your pass is (they come in only week increments) and how long your stay is...

 

We are always based in Osaka, but sometimes fly into Tokyo (usually Narita) due to the often huge differential in price of flying into Kansai vs. Narita.   We use the pass to take the Narita Express and transfer onto a Shinkansen down to Osaka.    It is good that there are a variety of options to meet each person's needs.  I should try the Keisei Skyliner just for the experience one of these days.

 

(When the price differential is $100 extra to fly directly to Kansai, we fly to Kansai as that is only $400 more for 4 people, and saves the trip from and and back to Tokyo.  When the difference is $400 per person, we are talking "real money", and then we fly into Tokyo and take the Shinkansen.  Since we have the pass anyway, the only cost is "time")

 

[Yavianice]

Yeah. For me I always plan my holiday to be JR pass(es) duration + 2 days for the Keisei. And I am always based in Tokyo because going to other destinations is usually much more expensive to fly, and Tokyo is (for me) a very cheap stay.

[railsquid]

I am glad I started this thread, as I just noticed there are a couple of early morning Narita Express departures from Mitaka, which is the closest JR station to Chez Railsquid, which may provide a useful lower-hassle route than the Skyliner.

 

Paradoxically thanks to the Skyliner I almost prefer flying from Narita as with that it only takes about 10 minutes longer from Chez Railsquidt than to Haneda, which is all on commuter trains, so no chance of a nice sit-down before getting to the airport.