From Narita airport
The airport limousine bus is the easiest and fastest (about 60 min). Unfortunately, since the pandemic, the number of services has been reduced and not completely recovered. There are six services per day from Narita airport to Tsukuba Center. If the waiting time at the airport is less than one hour (unless you are familiar with trains in Japan), we recommend you to take this service.
At the arrival level, you can easily find a bus ticket desk. Get a ticket (2,400 JPY) to Tsukuba and go to the bus stop. They are bound for Tsuchiura and you need to get off at "Tsukuba Center" (Do not stay until the end). Here is the time table, provided by PWRI in Tsukuba. This is the official one provided by the company, but in Japanese only.
By trains, you need to change at least twice. The fastest way is the following, and it takes about 90 minutes in total. You need to buy a ticket at a vending machine every time you change the train. If you have a travel IC card, you can use it all the way.
From Haneda airport
The fastest access to Tsukuba is by trains and it takes about 90-100 minutes to Tsukuba. In the weekdays, some trains, especially those in the Yamanote Line, may be very crowded. If you want to avoid them, a possible choice will be taking a taxi to Akihabara station, then, take the TX Line to Tsukuba. The following chart is provided by the TX line.
There are direct limousine buses to Tsukuba, but only two services per day: The one in the morning, departing Haneda airport at 9:20/9:30/9:35 (T3/T2/T1), and the another in the evening at 17:05/17:15/17:20 (T3/T2/T1). It takes about 2 hours.
From Tokyo
From Akihabara station, the Tsukuba Express Line directly takes you to Tsukuba in 45 minutes (Rapid train). Akihabara is connected to many of major stations in Tokyo, such as Tokyo St., Ueno St., and Shinjuku St.
There are also highway buses to Tsukuba Center (bound for University of Tsukuba), approximately every 30 minutes from Tokyo station (Yaesu Bus Terminal), which takes about 70-100 minutes, depending on the traffic condition.
Tsukuba City
You can visit many places in Tsukuba by walking and/or by taking bus. In addition, Tsukuba City operates a bicycle rental business, and bicycles are rented out at the Tourist Information Center on the 1st floor of BiVi Tsukuba in front of Tsukuba Station. Anyone can use it with their ID (passport).
You can bike to many research institutes where you can visit museums of free admission. You can also enjoy cycling in surrounding countryside of Tsukuba city. Check the following sites.
- Japan National Tourism Organization
- Match-jp.com
- Ringring-road.com (Check this, if you want to rent a road bicycle)
