Cheaper options travel to Kanazawa / Takayama

Hi ,

Does anyone have any advice with cheaper options travel to Kanazawa or Takayama without JR Pass ?

Thank you

You can save money by taking a bus from Tokyo to Kanazawa. It takes considerably longer but it is quite a bit cheaper.

I believe there are direct buses to Takayama as well, but I suspect the route is less competitive than to Kanazawa.

You could also presumably see if there are any discount airfares to Komatsu Airport a little ways out from Kanazawa.

Good luck!

Check out the Nohi Bus website that I have provided. It is based in Takayama, and has Highway express busses to Tokyo(Shinjuku), Osaka, Kyoto, Kanazawa, Takoka, Nagoya, and Matsumoto. Some of the JR passes include a discount for the Matsumoto to Takayama express bus.

https://www.nouhibus.co.jp/english/
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_nagano_niigata.html

The Nohi bus line also has tourism packages that are attractive. If you are at Shinjuku Station, the bus takes about a half hour longer to get to Takayama, but you don�ft have to transfer trains two times. Frankly, the extra half hour with having to transfer luggage between train is worth it to me.

I have thought about starting a trip by going to Takayama by bus, and then using some of the tourism packages before heading to Kyoto, which also seems to be better served by day bus passes. I would then go to Nara and Koyasan on a Kansai Thru pass before boarding an overnight ferry to Beppu.

All of this could be at a slower pace, and not involve a JR pass.

I hope this helps.

Good Luck, in planning your trip.

Avoid the shinkansen to/from Kanazawa as you pay a premium for speed. A simple route is express train to Matsumoto, bus to Takayama and bus (or train) to Kanazawa. Certainly the bus and there are some good connections with Nohi - a bit cheaper, but takes longer.

First, you don't say where you are coming from, which matters a lot. The simple answer is that the bus is the cheapest way - though it is also very time consuming.

But it also occurred to me also that if you are a foreign tourist, flying is another option, and there are cheap airfares on both ANA and JAL, even for 11,000 yen per flight to Komatsu Airport.