How to take bus from Shirakawa-go to the cities nearby?
There are 4 different bus routes running by different bus companies to Shirakawa-go. Please see the map below.
Four different bus routes match the bus time table provided by the Shirakawa-go association, you can check the time table here (time table AB, time table CD).
The Bus routes information
 |
Route A:
Kanazawa←→Shirakawa-go←→Takayama
Route B: Toyama←→Shirakawa-go←→Takayama
Route C: Nagoya←→Shirakawa-go
Route D: Takaoka←→Gokayama←→Shirakawa-go
|
*The time able C that didn’t mention is the route from Shirakawa-go to Hirase Onsen, 1 bus a day to go (departure at 17:35), 2 buses for return (8:30 and 9:30), need to make a reservation in advance.
Transportation time and fees
| Departure from Shirakawa-go to | Travel time | Single ticket (yen) | Return ticket (yen) | Website for making reservation |
| Kanazawa | 75-85 mins | 1,850 | 3,290 | reservation required |
| Takayama | 50-57 mins | 2,470 | 4,420 | recommend to make reservations |
| Toyama | 80 mins | 1,700 | 3,080 | reservation required |
| Nagoya | 3 hr | 3,900 | 7,000 | reservation required |
| Takaoka
＊also stop at Gokayama |
115-130 mins | 1,800 | 3,500 | Non-reserved bus |
＊For the travelers with ”Takayam and Hokuriku pass”, you cannot make a reservation through website.
Please make a phone call to the bus reservation center directly at Japan time 9 AM-6 PM.
Phone number: +81(0)577-32-1688 (spoken language Japanese and English)
Or make a reservation at ticket office after enter Japan.
Bus time table
If you think the time table that provided by the Shirakawa-go association is too complicated to understand, we have made a simplify one as follow:
Departure from Shirakawa-go to Kanazawa (reservation required)
| Running by | Departure time | Kanazawa train station |
| Nohi bus | 8:50 | 10:05 |
| Hokuriku railroad bus | 10:25 | 11:50 |
| Hokuriku railroad bus | 10:55 | 12:20 |
| Hokuriku railroad bus | 11:25 | 12:50 |
| Hokuriku railroad bus | 12:20 | 13:35 |
| Nohi bus | 13:50 | 15:05 |
| Hokuriku railroad bus | 15:10 | 16:35 |
| Hokuriku railroad bus | 15:55 | 17:20 |
| Hokuriku railroad bus | 16:25 | 17:50 |
| Hokuriku railroad bus | 17:30 | 18:45 |
Departure from Shirakawa-go to Takayama (part of the buses are reservation required)
| Running by | Departure time | Takayama Nohi bus station |
| Nohi bus | 6:43 | 7:50 |
| Hokuriku railroad bus | 9:35 | 10:25 |
| Toyama Chihou railway | 10:20 | 11:10 |
| Nohi bus | 10:45 | 11:52 |
| Nohi bus | 11:15 | 12:05 |
| Toyama Chihou railway | 12:05 | 12:55 |
| Nohi bus | 12:35 | 13:25 |
| Nohi bus | 13:15 | 14:05 |
| Nohi bus | 13:30 | 14:20 |
| Hokuriku railroad bus | 14:35 | 15:25 |
| Nohi bus | 15:15 | 16:05 |
| Nohi bus | 16:15 | 17:20 |
| Nohi bus | 17:20 | 18:10 |
| Nohi bus | 17:30 | 18:35 |
| Nohi bus | 19:43 | 20:48 |
Departure from Shirakawa-go to Toyama (reservation required)
| Running by | Departure time | Toyama |
| Nohi bus | 9:20 | 10:40 |
| Nohi bus | 13:20 | 14:40 |
| Toyama Chihou railway | 15:30 | 16:50 |
| Toyama Chihou railway | 16:50 | 18:10 |
Departure from Shirakawa-go to Nagoya (reservation required)
| Departure time | Nagoya Meitetsu station |
| 14:20 | 17:31 |
| 15:30 | 18:19 |
| 15:55 | 18:44 |
| 16:30 | 19:19 |
The world heritage bus departure from Shirakawa-go to Johana and JR Takaoka
(non-reserved bus)
| Departure time | Johana train station | Shin Takaoka station | Takaoka station |
| 7:00 | 8:55 | 9:10 | |
| 9:15 | 10:30 | — | — |
| 10:15 | 11:30 | — | — |
| 11:45 | 13:40 | 13:55 | |
| 12:50 | 14:05 | — | — |
| 13:50 | 15:45 | 16:00 | |
| 14:45 | 16:40 | 16:55 | |
| 15:35 | 16:50 | — | — |
| 16:00 | 17:55 | 18:10 |
I hope this article can help everyone to has a clearer concept about the buses of Shirakawa-go area. Thanks for reading.
For the bus time table from nearby towns and cities to Shirakawa-go please see the following articles.
