Kyoto to Takayama: The Hida Train, the Nagoya Connection and the Takayama Line

Takayama, a town in the Japanese Alps with old merchant streets, calls from the other side of the map. The way there is by rail, on a limited express called the Hida that begins its run in Nagoya, with one daily service starting in Osaka.

Mount Fuji and the Japanese countryside · Illustration

How do you get from Kyoto to Takayama?

You reach Takayama from Kyoto by rail in two stages: a first train takes you out of Kyoto to a city where the Hida starts, and the Hida carries you up into the mountains. Kyoto Station is served by the Tokaido Shinkansen, which links the city to major cities across Japan, and that line is the way out. The Hida limited express then runs between Nagoya and Takayama, Hida-Furukawa and Toyama.

The two-stage route through Nagoya

The Hida is a JR Central service, and its trains to and from Nagoya Station reverse direction at Gifu Station along the way. In practice you sit facing one way out of Nagoya, and after the stop at Gifu the seats now face the other way as the train heads up the valley. The Nagoya to Takayama run takes 2 hours 30 minutes.

The change in Nagoya is where Kyoto’s part of the journey ends and the mountain part begins. Kyoto Station gives you plenty to look at before you leave, with its department store, its theater and the tall tower a few steps from the main entrance. When you arrive in Nagoya, look for the Hida platforms and the limited express designation on your ticket.

What the Hida ticket involves

To ride the Hida you need two tickets: a limited express fare ticket and a standard basic fare ticket. Both are part of the same trip, so the limited express ticket sits on top of the ordinary fare for the distance. Not every Hida service carries a Green car, the first-class carriage of Japanese trains, so a seat in it depends on the departure you pick.

Hida trains run at a top speed of 75 mph. Onboard catering ended on 16 March 2013, so the train itself has no food service, and a picnic from the station is the habit. Free WiFi is available on the Hida, which helps for checking the hotel in Takayama as the valley slips past.

The route in numbers

Hida journey	Time
Nagoya to Takayama	2 hours 30 minutes
Nagoya to Toyama	4 hours
Osaka to Takayama	4 hours 15 minutes

These are the times on the Hida itself. Add the ride from Kyoto to your starting city and your wait for the connection when you plan the day.

Which options are there?

There are two ways onto the Hida from Kyoto: change at Nagoya, or take the single daily Hida service that starts in Osaka. Both end up on the same line, the Takayama Main Line, and both arrive in Takayama, so the choice is mostly about where you want to board.

Change at Nagoya

Most Hida departures are for Nagoya, and the Hida runs ten return services a day between Nagoya and Takayama, Hida-Furukawa and Toyama. That gives you a choice of departures when you reach Nagoya. After the Shinkansen from Kyoto, you simply step across to the limited express.

The journey from Nagoya takes 2 hours 30 minutes to Takayama. Along the way the train follows the Takayama Main Line, which also serves Gero onsen, a hot spring town on the same line, as well as Shirakawa-go and the Kiso River valley.

The Osaka service

One Hida a day starts in Osaka and runs to Gifu. There it couples with a Hida coming from Nagoya, and the joined train continues to Takayama. The journey from Osaka to Takayama takes 4 hours 15 minutes in total.

This service suits a traveler who would rather board in Osaka than in Nagoya. The section of the route between Osaka and Maibara is operated by JR West, so part of the trip is run by a different company from the mountain section.

Local trains on the Takayama Main Line

All trains except the Hida stop at every station on the Takayama Main Line, and local trains are sometimes run by a single crew member. Local trains in Japan stop at every station, which makes them ideal for short distances, while rapid trains skip the smaller stations and carry no supplement.

That means a local stopping train is a way to break the line into pieces, for instance to get off at a small station in the valley. The Hida is the one that runs through, while the others make every stop.

By road

If you drive, remember that traffic in Japan moves on the left side of the road. Road signs can be hard to read if you do not know Japanese, which is a reason visitors to the mountains stay with the rail line instead.

What should you know before you travel from Kyoto to Takayama?

The main thing to know is that the line you ride into the mountains is a different kind of railway from the Shinkansen you leave on. The Takayama Main Line runs 140.3 miles between Gifu and Toyama, it has a single track, and it is not electrified. That is why the Hida’s top speed is lower than the Shinkansen’s, and why the ride feels like a gradual climb through river gorges.

What the line is like

The operating speed on the line is 68 mph. Because it is all single track, trains in opposite directions wait for each other, and the pace is set by the valley. The line finished its construction in 1934, after its first section opened in 1920 between Gifu and Kagamigahara.

The line’s color on the map is dark red, with the line code CG, and station numbers were introduced in March 2018. Most stations north of Mino-Ota do not have numbers, except Gero, Takayama and Hida-Furukawa, so on the northern stretch you follow station names rather than numbers.

What you find in Takayama

Takayama sits in Gifu Prefecture in the heart of the Japanese Alps, and it is sometimes called the Little Kyoto of Hida because of its well-preserved quarter with Edo-style streets. For a traveler coming from Kyoto itself, it is a chance to see a smaller town with its own wooden merchant houses and its own mountain setting.

The city covers a huge area, the largest of any city in Japan, so the municipality reaches well beyond the old center into the surrounding mountains. In spring, cherry blossoms can be seen there from the middle to the end of April, about three weeks later than in Nagoya. A traveler who has just seen the blossoms fade in Kyoto may find them still to come in the mountains.

Beyond Takayama

The same line leads on to Hida-Furukawa and Toyama, so Takayama need not be the last stop. The section between Inotani and Toyama is run by JR West, which marks the point where the line passes from one company to the other.

The line has a history of weather damage as well. From October 22, 2004, the stretch between Tsunogawa Station and Inotani Station was closed after flood damage from Typhoon Tokage, and the last section reopened on September 8, 2007. It is a reminder that this is a mountain railway that follows rivers.

Good to know before you go

Japanese trains have a reputation for being on time, so connections such as the one at Nagoya can be planned to the minute. Takayama Station on the JR Takayama Line does not accept IC cards, so local line tickets there must be bought in cash, and it helps to arrive with yen in your wallet. Typhoons and heavy rain can affect mountain rail lines, as the closure after Typhoon Tokage showed.

Sources

Wikipedia, Hida (train) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hida_(train)), checked October 11, 2026
Wikipedia, Takayama Main Line (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takayama_Main_Line), checked October 11, 2026
Japan National Tourism Organization, Kyoto (https://www.japan.travel/en/destinations/kansai/kyoto/), checked October 11, 2026
Wikipedia, Takayama, Gifu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takayama,_Gifu), checked October 11, 2026
Wikivoyage, Takayama (https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Takayama), checked October 11, 2026
U.S. Department of State, Japan travel information, travel and transportation (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Japan.html), checked October 11, 2026
Japan National Tourism Organization, trains and buses (https://www.japan.travel/en/guide/how-to-travel-by-train-and-bus-in-japan/), checked October 11, 2026
Japan National Tourism Organization, traveling by rail (https://www.japan.travel/en/guide/traveling-by-rail/), checked October 11, 2026