I’m trying to plan a leg of our trip and can’t seem to narrow down our best travel options for getting from Kanazawa to Miyazu (and eventually Ine). We will be spending three days total exploring Miyazu and Ine before heading back to Kyoto to meet up with another group of friends. No matter what method we choose from below, we will be renting a car to get around this area. This is our fourth trip to Japan and my husband and I both speak enough Japanese to get around.
By car (about 4 hours)
We will wrapping up a trip around the Noto Peninsula and dropping some friends off in Kanazawa so they can head back to Tokyo. Since we’ll need a car for getting around Ine as well, should we just keep our rental and drive to Miyazu? The drive takes about 4 hours (not including any stops we would make along the way) but we’re coming off a heavy driving leg of our trip and wondered if the train might be a nice change of pace.
If you would recommend driving, any stops along that route you would recommend stopping at? We aren’t in any hurry to get to Miyazu so we could squeeze in an overnight if there’s somewhere you would recommend stopping.
By train:
Option 1:
I’m interested in the new shinkansen line opening from Kanazawa from Tsuruga! It opens in March and we’ll be traveling here in May. However, there are three more trains required to get from Tsuruga to Miyazu (Obama line to Higashi-Maizuru, Higashi-Maizuru to Nishi-Maizuru and finally Nishi-Maizuru to Miyazu). Is Tsuruga worth a stop? We could take the shinkansen here, stay overnight, then continue onto Miyazu the next day to break up the trip.
It’s hard to gauge the length of this method since this shinkansen line isn’t open yet….
Option 2 (about 5 hours)
Take the Thunderbird Limited Express all the way back to Kyoto and the Hashidate Limited Express from Kyoto to Miyazu. Rent the car for Ine once we’re in Miyazu.
Appreciate any input as there seem to be so many different options for traveling to that area and the Reddit search brings up a lot of irrelevant info for “Ine”. Thanks!
​