Nagano station guide. How to catch the bus to the tourist spots. How to change between Hokuriku Shinkansen and other local trains.

Nagano is known as Winter Olympic Game host city. That means this place has very good snow. Nagano has many ski slopes, such as Shiga-Kogen, Hakuba, Nozawa-Onsen. Nagano station is the gateway to Shiga-Kogen. In these days, the express bus runs between Nagano and Ogizawa where is the base of Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route. And please do not forget that Nagano is the gateway to world famous “Snow Monkey” place, “Jigokudani”, a.k.a. “Snow Monkey Park”.

In this post, I would like to explain about Nagano station’s structures with many photos of this station. And I also show you the bus stops around Nagano station and Nagano Dentetsu Nagano station.

Nagano station overview

Nagano is very accessible from Tokyo, Nagoya, Kanazawa and Toyama. Hokuriku Shinkansen connects Nagano, Tokyo, Kanazawa and Toyama. Limited Express Shinano connects Nagano and Nagoya directly. You can get Nagano from Osaka and Kyoto via either Nagoya or Kanazawa. Trains depart and arrive at Matsumoto from the following destinations:

• Hokuriku Shinkansen to/from Tokyo, Kanazawa, Toyama
• Shinonoi line to/from Matsumoto, Nagoya
• Shinano Railway (a.k.a. Shinano Tetsudo line) to/from Myoko-Kogen, Ueda, Komoro
• Iiyama line to/from Togarinozawa-Onsen, Tokamachi

And Nagano Railway (a.k.a. Nagano Dentetsu line) has the station underground. This local railway connects Nagano and Yudanaka where is the gateway to Shiga-Kogen. And also the express bus depart and arrive at Nagano station to/from Shiga-Kogen, Snow Monkey Park and Ogizawa (the base of Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route).

You may find some more information about the location and route in this region in the links below:

Guide for train access to Nagano, Matsumoto and other places in Shinshu and surrounding area

Nagano station structure, tracks and platforms

Before I start to explain, please see the link below. JR East provides the station map in English in the following link:

JR East official site, Nagano station map

Nagano station is two levels structure. On the ground level, there are conventional lines platforms. Shinkansen platforms are a bit higher level than conventional lines, like mezzanine level.

Nagano station building is on the bridge. This bridge has the walkways both inside and outside the ticket gate. The walkway outside gate connects both side of the station, east side and west side. This walkway is public. Anyone can use this walkway without a ticket to access to other side of the station.

The walkway inside the ticket gate connects all platforms. You can go down to the platforms by stairs, escalators and elevators from the walkway. This walkway is divided by Shinkansen transfer gate. You have to go through Shinkansen transfer gate whenever you change the trains between Shinkansen and conventional line trains.

Platforms

Track#	Lines/Trains	Destination
2	Local and Rapid on Shinonoi line	Matsumoto
	Local and Rapid on Shinano Tetsudo line	Ueda, Komoro, Karuizawa
	Local and Rapid on Shinano Tetsudo Kita-Shinano line	Toyono, Myoko-Kogen
3	Local and Rapid on Shinonoi line	Matsumoto
	Local and Rapid on Shinano Tetsudo line	Ueda, Komoro, Karuizawa
4	Local and Rapid on Iiyama line Seasonal Rapid, Oykot	Togarinozawa-Onsen Tokamachi
5	Local and Rapid on Shinonoi line	Matsumoto
	Local and Rapid on Shinano Tetsudo line	Ueda, Komoro, Karuizawa
	Local and Rapid on Shinano Tetsudo Kita-Shinano line	Toyono, Myoko-Kogen
	Seasonal Rapid Resort View Furusato via Shinonoi line and Oito line	Matsumoto, Hakuba, Minami-Otari
	Local and Rapid on Chuo line (east) via Shinonoi line	Matsumoto, Kamisuwa, Kobuchizawa
	Local and Rapid on Iida line via Shinonoi line	Matsumoto, Tatsuno, Iida
6	Limited Express Wide View Shinano	Matsumoto, Kiso-Fukushima, Nakatsugawa, Nagoya
	Local and Rapid on Shinonoi line	Matsumoto
	Local and Rapid on Shinano Tetsudo line	Ueda, Komoro, Karuizawa
	Local and Rapid on Chuo line (east) via Shinonoi line	Matsumoto, Kamisuwa, Kobuchizawa
7	Local and Rapid on Chuo line (east) via Shinonoi line	Matsumoto, Kamisuwa, Kobuchizawa
	Local and Rapid on Shinano Tetsudo line	Ueda, Komoro, Karuizawa
	Local and Rapid on Shinano Tetsudo Kita-Shinano line	Toyono, Myoko-Kogen
11,12	Hokuriku Shinkansen	Toyama, Kanazawa
13,14	Hokuriku Shinkansen	Takasaki, Omiya, Tokyo

Nagano station does not have many tracks. It is not hard to find the platforms and tracks. Most of you take Hokuriku Shinkansen and Limited Express Shinano.

Limited Express Wide View Shinano depart from track #6. All conventional lines tracks, from #2 to #7 are used for all conventional trains of both JR and Shinano Tetsudo line (Shinano Railway). If you intend to take local or rapid train, please check the departure information board to find the track.

Shinano Tetsudo line is not JR. You have to add single fare if you use JR pass. JR Pass does not cover this railway line.

As you see, there are four tracks, #11 to #14, and two platforms for Hokuriku Shinkansen. It has only two directions, bound for Tokyo or bound for Kanazawa. Please make sure which direction you will go before proceeding the platform.

Ticket gate/Exit

There are three ticket gates and one Shinkansen transfer gate in Nagano station.

All ticket gates are located on the second level. There are one gate each for Shinkansen and Conventional line to connect to main walkway outside gates. If you stay in Nagano or transfer to other transportation, you will use these gates to exit Nagano station.

There is Shinkansen transfer gate inside ticket gate. This gate divide into walkway inside ticket gates, conventional lines part and Shinkansen part. You will go through this gate when you change Shinkansen and conventional trains.

And there is one more gate in conventional lines part. This gate is called “Midori ticket gate”. It is connected with shopping mall, “Midori”. You can exit the station at this gate too.

Nagano station has two exit at both east and west sides. West exit is called “Zenkoji-guchi” and this is the primary exit of Nagano station. Zenkoji is very famous temple in Nagano. This is the “Icon” of downtown Nagano. You may visit this temple if you can spend a couple of hours. So most of travelers to visit Nagano use this side.

Other exit at east side does not have any specific name. It is called just “East exit”. This side is much quieter than Zenkoji-guchi side. But many of express bus depart from this side. If you go to Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, Shiga-kogen or Snow Monkey Park, you can catch the bus at the bus stop in East exit side. I will explain about bus stops later.

Nagano Dentetsu (a.k.a. Nagano railway or “Nagaden”), Nagano station

There is one more station underground Nagano station Zenkoji-guchi side. This is Nagano Dentetsu’s station. Nagano Dentetsu is officially called Nagano Electric Railway. But local residents call this train company, Nagano Dentetsu or “Nagaden” (NAGAno + DENtetsu).

This train company is a local private railway lines. Any of JR deals, such as JR Pass, JR East Pass do not cover this train.

This train connects Nagano and Yudanaka. Yudanaka is one of hot springs towns in mountain side of Nagano. Yudanaka is located on the way to Shiga-Kogen and Snow Monkey Park. You may get these places by this train and local bus from Yudanaka.

I used this train on the way back to Nagano from Snow Monkey Park in February, 2016. Please see the link below to find more information. I shared my experience and how to buy Snow Monkey Pass at Nagano station.

Trip to Tohoku, Chubu and Chugoku in 2016 winter – Part 9, Visit Snow Monkey Park in Nagano

Station structure, ticket gate and platform

This station is small and very simple. There is only one ticket gate. You need to go down one more floor to get the platforms. There are escalators between ground level and ticket gate, and also another elevator connect ticket gate level and platform.

There are three tracks and two platforms. You can find the destination at the departure information board.

You may find the detailed information of Nagaden Nagano station at the link below.

Nagaden Group official site, Station information, Nagano Station

Nagano station bus stops

There are many bus stops at both Zenkoji-guchi (west) and East side. At Zenkoji-guchi side, many of city bus arrive and depart. If you intend to visit Zenkoji temple, bus depart from bus stop #1. There are many express bus depart from this side. But express bus to Shiga-Koge, Snow Monkey Park and Ogizawa depart from other side.

At East exit, all bus stops are used for mostly express bus. Very few city bus depart from this side but I do not think you will take a local bus from East exit.

Express bus to Snow Monkey Park and Shiga-Kogen

If you visit Shiga-Kogen or Snow Monkey Park, the bus depart from bus stop #23 and sometimes #24. If you go to Snow Monkey Park, Snow Monkey Pass is highly recommended. It includes return fare between Nagano station and Snow Monkey Park, and admission for Snow Monkey Park. You may choose either express bus or Nagano Dentetsu train + local bus to get Snow Monkey Park. It is much cheaper than purchasing a ticket separately. I put this link above. But I just want to let you know about this link one more time. You will find how to use and purchase Snow Monkey Pass in this link.

Trip to Tohoku, Chubu and Chugoku in 2016 winter – Part 9, Visit Snow Monkey Park in Nagano

Express bus to Ogizawa (Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route)

If you intend to take a bus bound for Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, express bus depart from bus stop #25. You may find the timetable at the link below:

Alpico Express Bus bound for Omachi-Onsenkyo, Ogizawa

If you use baggage delivery service of Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, you can drop off or pick up at Yamato Transport, Midori Nagano Station Building Depot Center. Please check JR Nagano station map again.

You can find “Midori” at Zenkoji-guchi side in lower part of the map. This place is located in “Midori” at lower right part on second floor. The following link is in Japanese. But you can find the photo of this place. It may help you to find this place easier.

Midori official site

I hope this post will assist you to make a plan to visit Nagano.