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Limited express train “Shinano” takes you to 1998 Winter Olympic host city, Nagano (長野) from Nagoya (名古屋). And also one of 13 round trips is extended to operate to Osaka (大阪). If you go to Hida Mountains (a.k.a. Norther Alps), you can use this train to Matsumoto (松本), and transfer to local train Oito line bound for Shinano-Omachi (信濃大町), Hakuba (白馬) and Minami-Otari (南小谷). And also there are some preserved small town in Kiso Valley (木曽谷) along Chuo line where this train goes through. These towns are getting popular for the tourist from overseas these days.

This train is fully covered by Japan Rail Pass with no restriction. Let’s see the details.

Route, schedule and time required

It takes 2 hours 55 minutes to get Nagano from Nagoya. It takes another 2 hours from Osaka. Most of Shinano depart from both side Nagoya and Nagano once every hour. Shinano #9 depart from Osaka at 08:58 and Shinano #16 depart from Nagano at 14:00 to Osaka. These trips are operated between Osaka and Nagano. But if you cannot catch this, you can simply transfer to/from Shinkansen at Nagoya. Actually Shinkansen connects Shin-osaka with Nagoya for 1 hour. So Shinkansen and Shinano combination is way faster.

View Limited Express Shinano in a larger map

Stations

Osaka (大阪)	x
Shin-Osaka (新大阪)	x
Kyoto (京都)	x
Maibara (米原)	x
Gifu (岐阜)	x
Nagoya (名古屋)	x
Kanayama (金山駅)	*
Chigusa (千種)	x
Tajimi(多治見)	x
Ena (恵那)	*
Nakatsugawa (中津川)	x
Nagiso (南木曽)	*
Agetsu (上松)	*
Kiso-Fukushima (木曽福島)	x
Shiojiri (塩尻)	x
Matsumoto (松本)	x
Akashina (明科)	*
Hijirikogen (聖高原)	*
Shinonoi (篠ノ井)	x
Nagano (長野)	x

x:All trains stop *:some trains stop

Accommodation

Shinano is serviced by 383 series. The seat configuration is 2+2 for both Green and Ordinary. Green car is car#1. It has a huge glass window at the cockpit. If you get the front row seat when you go to Nagano, you will enjoy the beautiful scenery. The seat pitch is 1160mm in Green class and 1000mm in Ordinary class. 1000mm in Ordinary is bigger than the standard.

*Sonic Rail Garden has copyright for all images of accommodations below.

Train formation

1	2	3	4	5	6
G	R	R	R	NR	NR

*2 or 4 more cars are added during the peak season.

*G=Green seat R=Reserved seat NR=Non reserved seat
Smoking is not allowed on this train.

Images
Green seat

Ordinary seat

Sanitary space

You may also like these posts:

• Guide for train access to Nagano, Matsumoto and other places in Shinshu and surrounding area.
• Access to Takayama and Hida from Nagoya. Limited Express Wide View Hida
• Nagano Shinkansen, direct access to Nagano and Karuizawa from Tokyo.
• Train to Matsumoto, Kofu and Hakuba from Shinjuku, Limited Express Azusa, Super Azusa and Kaiji
• The fastest train access to Tottori from Osaka and Kyoto. Limited Express Super Hakuto

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4 Comments to “Access to Nagano from Nagoya and Osaka. Limited Express Shinano”

1. BSan says:

   May 28, 2012 at 12:05 pm

   Hello Tak San,

   ON June 15th I arrive back from Koyasan to Osaka.
   June 16th-17th I want to take the kids to see Togakushi and JIgokudani for (ninja museum and monkey onsen view)

   Can you suggest possibilities if we leave early from Osaka on 16th and stay overnight in Nagano area somewhere or even in Togakushi village. http://www.ninjamura.com

   DO you suggest to do this or visit another Ninja museum 2 hours from Kyoto in a day trip. The advantage of Nagano is to see Jigokudani as well.

   The plan is then to goto Sapporo from Osaka on 17th or 18th. We can adjust based on your suggestion.

   Thanks

   Reply
   • JPRail says:

     May 28, 2012 at 10:12 pm

     Hi BSan,
     I think you can take your kids to Togakushi. But it will be a long trip from Osaka. It takes about 4 hours from Osaka to Nagano by Shinkansen and Ltd Exp Shinago (Nagoya-Nagano). And then take a bus from Nagano to Togakushi for another one hour. So you will spend 5 hours to get there. If you leave Osaka around 7 am, you will be there around noon. You still have half day to enjoy Togakushi.
     I cannot compare Kyoto Ninja village and Togakushi Ninja village because I have never been both of those.
     If you and your kids are okay to take 5 hours trip, you can go for it.
     Cheers,
     Takeshi / JP Rail

     Reply
2. virginblock says:

   April 7, 2011 at 6:30 am

   Hello! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and tell you I truly enjoy reading your blog. Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that cover the same topics?

   Reply
   • JPRail says:

     April 7, 2011 at 12:27 pm

     Hello,
     I have never seen the blog that tells us about Limited express Shinano in English. But if you need some info about the rail travel in Japan, this blog shows you some info.
     Takeshi / JP Rail

     Reply