I am arriving at Narita tomorrow Nov. 10 at 3:00 pm. I will be traveling to Sasebo immediately. I will purchase a jr pass at Narita as I did not allow for the voucher mailing time! Which train station should I transfer to from Narita and what is the best route from that train station to Sasebo – given I’ll be using the jr pass?
I appreciate your guidance!!!
Hi Dawn,
That’s a really long train journey. You would start by taking the Narita Express to Tokyo and then the Shinkansen from there. Since you’re on a JR pass, you can’t take the Nozomi (the fastest Shinkansen) so you’ll need to take the Hikari Shinkansen instead, which means you have to transfer at Shin Osaka Station. You’ll eventually arrive at Hakata Station in Kyushu and then you’ll have to take another limited express train from there to Sasebo. Overall, you should allow about 10 to 11 hours for the trip. If you don’t start your journey before about 1:30pm in the afternoon, you probably won’t make it to Sasebo on the same day. If you can’t start your journey until later in the afternoon, you’d be best to get a hotel at some point along the route - either Tokyo, Osaka or Fukuoka (Hakata).
Also, use Google Maps for transit directions - it’s pretty good.
Happy travels!
Greg
I am sorry I am just seeing this. I did go into Tokyo via Narita Express and stayed the night in Tokyo – which shortened my trip a bit.
The next day trip to Sasebo was not bad at all:
Tokyo Station to Shin-Kobe.
Shin-Kobe to Shin-Tosu.
Shin-Tosu to Sasebo.
Taking the Shinkansen into Shin-Kobe instead of Osaka makes it so much easier, as you depart from the same platform to go to Shin-Tosu.
The trains are so lovely in Japan - especially the green cars – and some of the train stations have the best bento boxes.
It was a great trip!
Thanks for your attention.
Dawn