How to Get to Takayama from Kanazawa

The mountainous town of Takayama is one of the most popular destinations from Kanazawa, but it is not always the easiest to get to. When I was planning my Japan winter trip, I found out that it takes between 2-4 hours to travel between Kanazawa and Takayama despite Takayama being a very popular tourist destination.

Having gone through the different transportation methods between the two cities (including some mishap that happened), I will share with you the best (and worst) ways to travel between Kanazawa and Takayama and useful tips so you don’t make the same mistakes I did.

Where is Kanazawa and Takayama

Both Kanazawa and Takayama are located in the Gifu Prefecture in Central Japan. If you look at the map below, you can see that Kanazawa is on the east side of Japan right by the water whereas Takayama is located in the mountainous region of Gifu.

Despite their seemingly close proximity on the map, it was surprising that there is no direct train to Takayama from Kanazawa or Tokyo. There is a direct train from Tokyo to Kanazawa (via Nagano and Toyama).

Kanazawa is a big city and you can easily spend a couple of days here. On the other hand, Takayama is a mountain town that by itself can be done in one day. But most people (such as myself) stay a few days in Takayama since it is the gateway to the Japanese Alps.

How to Get from Kanazawa to Takayama

There are several options to travel between Kanazawa and Takayama. I will list them all so you can figure out the best (and the cheapest way) to travel between the two places. Some of the options involve the Japan Rail Pass (JR Pass); I will write more about that in detail in another section.

Option 1: Nohi Bus from Kanazawa to Takayama

Time it takes: 2 hours 15 minutes
Cost: 2800 Yen per way per person

Nohi Bus is the bus company that operates many bus lines all across Gifu. Since many hot spring towns and tourist attractions are located in the Japanese alps, it is not possible to travel to them by train. Therefore Nohi Bus is the top transportation option in this region.

There is a direct bus between Kanazawa and Takayama that runs 4 times a day and it takes slightly over 2 hours to travel between the two towns. The following time table shows you the departure and arrival time when traveling between Kanazawa and Takayama:

The bus will make a 10 minute stop in Shirakawa-go to let passengers off. You don’t need to get off the bus during this time.

Booking the Nohi Bus between Takayama and Kanazawa

I highly recommend that you reserve your bus tickets online because I’ve read that they could potentially sell out. Given that Shirakawa-go is a very popular day trip from both Takayama and Kanazawa, there are a ton of tourists that take this bus everyday for that day trip.

You can see the timetable and book this Kanazawa to Takayama bus online on its official website. But here are a few things to know about booking this bus:

• There are options other than Kanazawa to Takayama (such as Toyama to Takayama or Takaoka to Takayama). Be sure to select the correct route and time when booking. This is not that confusing but it gets confusing if you are trying to go to Shirakawa-go

• You will be asked for your gender and get assigned seats for the bus. They generally try to assign the same gender passengers to sit together.

• You CAN cancel and get a refund for the bus ticket up to 2 hours before the departure time. You just need to pay a 100 Yen fee if you want to cancel your tickets.

• If you need a round trip ticket, you need to make 2 separate bookings. There is no option for a round trip.

• The website takes Amex! This was a huge life saver because my Citi card kept getting rejected.

• You can take your luggage on the bus. They will store it at the bottom of the bus.

In the event that you don’t want to book online, you will have to go to the bus ticketing office and try your luck. When I was traveling from Takayama to Shirakawago (same bus), there were many people waiting in line 30 minutes before trying to get tickets.

If you have a Hokuriku Area Tourist Pass, you cannot book the Nohi bus online. You will need to call the Nohi Bus Reservation Center directly. This information is on the official website I linked above.

Option 2: Take Express Trains from Kanazawa to Takayama

The next best option to travel to Takayama from Kanazawa will be to take the “express trains”:

Tsurugi Shinkansen + Hida Limited Express train

If you can line up the above trains correctly, the express trains will take you 2 hours and 1 minutes to travel between Kanazawa and Takayama. The cost of this train will be 5710 Yen.

Now this is a very limited option and I will explain why. Since there are no direct trains between Kanazawa and Takayama, any train you take will require two (or three) segments:

• Segment 1: Train from Kanazawa to Toyama Station. Get off the train at Toyama to switch platforms
• Segment 2: Train from Toyama to Takayama (via Inotani Station). No need to get off at Inotani, just stay on the train.

For Segment 1, there are a TON of different trains from Kanazawa to Toyama every hour. There are 3 different Shinkansen (bullet trains).

For Segment 2, there are local trains and the wonderful Hida Limited Express train. The Hida Limited Express is the train you want, but it only runs 4 times a day between Toyama and Takayama:

• 7:58am – 9:28am
• 9:54am – 11:25am
• 1:08pm – 2:39pm
• 5:14pm – 6:41pm

Therefore, if you want the fastest trains between Kanazawa and Takayama, you need to make sure you can catch the Hida Express train from Toyama Station. Google Maps and JapanTravel apps can both help you figure out the train time and the optimal route.

If you have the JR pass (or the JR Hokuriku Arch Pass), you can use it for these trains. BUT YOU NEED TO PAY AN EXTRA FEE for the portion between Itonani and Takayama as the train is operated by a different company. You can pay this fee with cash or a credit card when you book your train at the JR ticket office (in Kanazawa or Tokyo or anywhere else).

Option 3: Take Locals Trains from Kanazawa to Takayama

If you can’t catch the Hida Limited Express train to Takayama, your only other option left is to take 2 local trains, which is what I did. Then your itinerary will look like this:

• Segment 1 (18 – 23 minutes): Train from Kanazawa to Toyama (Shinkansen)
• Segment 2 (55 minutes) : Local train from Toyama to Itonani, get off at Itonani Station and switch to the opposite platform and wait (the station is so small there are literally only 2 platforms)
• Segment 3 (1 hour 17 minutes): Local train from Itonani Station to Takayama station

With the time waiting between trains and Segment 1, you are looking at between 2.5 hours to 4 hours of travel time. When I was taking the trains, I missed the Shinkansen by 1 minute (because the JR office was so slow), which caused me to miss the Hida Express. Therefore I had to take the very slow local trains to Takayama.

Segment 2 local trains were full of Japanese high school students and by the time I got to Itonani Station, I was literally the only person on the train.

The Itonani Station is a very small station with nothing around it, I couldn’t even find a worker there! Good thing the station is just 2 platforms, so I got off the train, waited in the cold outside for the other train on the opposite platform for about 20 minutes.

All the local trains (and Shinkansen) mentioned with this option are covered by the JR Pass (including the Hokuriku Arch Pass). You will need to pay an extra fee Segment 3 between Itonani and Takayama.

Option 4: Driving or private transfer

If you are self driving or you book a private transfer from Klook (or somewhere else) then obviously that’s the simplest option and takes about an hour and half (or longer with traffic).

Using the JR Pass to Travel Between Kanazawa and Takayama

If you are considering whether you should get a JR pass when traveling to Kanazawa or Takayama, you should do a cost calculation first to see if it’s worth it.

I got the JR Hokuriku Arch Pass as I was traveling from Tokyo to Kanazawa to Takayama to Nagano to Tokyo and it was worth it.

The JR Hokuriku Arch Pass covered all the train travels between the cities I mentioned above (I think it also includes Osaka and Kyoto) so I was inclined to use the trains more than the bus. This pass does NOT cover Nohi buses. But here are some of the things you should know.

Extra Fee for Itonani to Takayama Portion

I briefly mentioned this above, if you are using the JR Pass to take the train (whether Hida express or local trains) between Kanazawa to Takayama, you HAVE to pay an extra fee by cash or a credit card.

JR Pass only covers train lines operated by the JR company, which covers up to Itonani. From Itonani Station to Takayama, the railroad is owned by another company, therefore this portion is not covered by the JR Pass.

Even though you can stay on the train at Itonani if you are on the Hida limited express, you still need to pay the other railroad company for the portion between Itonani Station and Takayama Station.

Therefore when you book your trains at the JR Office, they will tell you about this and ask you to pay the extra fee.

If you are taking a local train between Toyama and Takayama (Segment 3), you need to pay 920 Yen. If you are taking the Hida Express, you need to pay 2640 Yen. The difference is for the “express”.

Reserved Trains vs Non-Reserved Train

This concept was very confusing to me but now I finally get it after going through this myself. I can’t speak for the rest of Japan but for Kanazawa area, there are 3 types of Shinkansen if you are planning to travel to Takayama:

• Kagayaki: the fastest Shinkansen from Kanazawa. This train only has reserved seats, meaning you need to go to the JR office and book this train and get an assigned seat. It takes 18 minutes for Segment 1.
  
• Hakutaka: Train cars 1-3 are for non-reserved passengers. So you can just hop on and sit anywhere in these train cars without having to go to the office or a ticket booth to reserve a seat with the JR pass. It takes 23 minutes for Segment 1.

• Tsurugi: Train cars 1-2 are for non-reserved passengers. It takes 23 minutes for Segment 1.

With the JR pass, you can take any of the 3 Shinkansen bullet trains. I read you can try to reserve a seat using the machines outside of the JR offices but I never tried. I usually just go into the JR Office, wait in line, and reserve all my trains at once.

If you have the JR Pass and want to take a non-reserved train, then you just go through the turnstile and hop right on. Make sure you go into the right train car.

You can change trains

If you booked your trains between Kanazawa and Takayama but want to take an earlier or later train, you can just change trains.

The tricky part is the Itonani to Takayama extra fee. I tried to get on an earlier train from Kanazawa to Takayama and the JR Office told me I had to pay another 920 Yen for the new ticket and that I can get a partial refund for the original ticket.

They will refund you the 920 Yen for the train ticket, but only 30% of the “express” portion (30% * 1720 Yen). But they cannot do the refund at the Kanazawa office, and will ask you to go back to Tokyo to try to get it.

Long story short, I never got that refund because Tokyo said they needed to call Kanazawa Office to confirm but nobody ever answered the phone.

Otherwise for the Shinkansens, you can just use the JR Pass to take any non-reserved bullet trains and don’t need to talk to the JR office.

The JR Office takes a long time

No matter which JR Office I visited in Japan, there was always a long wait (like 15-25 minutes). Therefore if you know which trains you want to take, you should reserve your tickets ahead of time (if the trains are reserved seats only).

If you are trying to reserve a train at the last minute, you might miss your train like I did. If you can use the machines to book a train then that would be faster.

Summary of How to Get to Takayama from Kanazawa

Below is a summary of the different public transportation options between Kanazawa and Takayama.

Unless you need to use your JR Pass, I would recommend just taking a bus. It is cheaper and very convenient and you don’t need to worry about dragging your luggage around and transferring trains.

Many people actually make the bus journey between Kanazawa and Takayama into a day trip to Shirakawa-go, since the bus stops there. That is what I did and I 100% recommend it for efficiency purposes.