Ride the Hokuriku Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kanazawa

What the experience is

The Hokuriku Shinkansen leaves Tokyo for the north-west, crosses the central mountains by way of Nagano and comes down to the Sea of Japan. It reached Kanazawa in March 2015, an opening that turned that city into one of the most visited in Japan. On 16 March 2024 the line was extended about 125 kilometres south-west, through six new stations, to Tsuruga.

The journey from Tokyo to Kanazawa takes between two and a half and three hours, depending on the service. It is a comfortable way to change landscapes: the Kanto plain, the highlands around Karuizawa and Nagano, a long run of tunnels under the mountains, and then the coast, with the Tateyama range inland on a clear day.

Making a loop

The extension makes a circuit possible without retracing steps. From Tokyo, travel to Kanazawa for two nights. Continue to Kaga Onsen, the station for four old hot-spring towns, or to Fukui, the station for the Zen monastery of Eiheiji. At Tsuruga, change to a limited express for Kyoto, and return to Tokyo by the Tokaido Shinkansen.

A stop at Nagano on the way out adds the temple of Zenko-ji and the mountains beyond.

When to go

The line runs all year. Winter brings deep snow to the mountain section and the coast, with the trains running through it on time, and is the season for crab on the Sea of Japan. Spring and autumn are the most comfortable for walking in Kanazawa.

Good to know

Seats can be reserved. The fastest services stop only at the main stations; slower ones call everywhere, so check the stopping pattern if getting off at Kaga Onsen. The top class of travel on this line, above the Green Car, is Gran Class, a small cabin of wide leather seats. The whole route, and the Tokaido line home, is covered by the national rail pass, and there is a regional pass for the Hokuriku arc between Tokyo and Osaka.

Travellers starting from Kyoto or Osaka do the loop in reverse. Since 2024 they must change at Tsuruga; there is no longer a direct train to Kanazawa.

Why OKYTO recommends it

It is the simplest way to see a different Japan from the Tokyo-Kyoto corridor, and it needs no more than four or five days. The trains are the pleasure they always are in Japan, and the stops along this line are substantial: a castle town, hot springs and a working monastery.