Kuwana

The city government's official site has a good Japanese-only tourism section.

Nagoya-Centrair is about an hour away by car. Mie Kōtsū (Sancō) run three buses a day to and from Nagashima Onsen and Kuwana Station, taking 1hr 30 min and costing ¥1600 (Suspended as of May 2024). Otherwise, take a Meitetsu train to Nagoya and change there to either Kintetsu (using the dedicated interchange gate) or the JR Kansai Line.

Kuwana is connected to Nagoya by two competing lines.

• The JR Kansai Line usually runs four trains per hour (two local, two non-stop rapid) at a cost of ¥350, taking between 20 and 30 minutes. On the hourly Mie Rapid trains, you have the option of paying an extra ¥520 for a reserved seat.
• The Kintetsu Nagoya Line runs three Express trains per hour (taking 20 minutes) and two Semi-Express trains per hour (taking 26 minutes), costing ¥440. There are also three Limited Express trains per hour which run non-stop in 16 minutes, but these cost ¥950.

From Tokyo, allow 2hrs 20mins and ¥11,510 (via the JR Kansai Line) or ¥11,730 (via Kintetsu) (slightly longer and cheaper if avoiding Nozomi trains).

Kintetsu runs one direct Limited Express per hour from Osaka-Namba, taking just over 2 hours and costing ¥3730 (about 30 minutes longer than taking the Shinkansen and going through Nagoya, but roughly half the price). Alternatively, you can take a Limited Express to Ise-Nakagawa or Tsu and change there for a train to Kuwana. If you want to take Kintetsu from Osaka but avoid Limited Expresses, it will take about 3 hr 20 min but cost only ¥2120.

Kuwana is also served by the JR Nanki Limited Express four times a day. From Nagoya this is no faster than the JR Rapid trains, and at ¥1820 is far more expensive than any other train; in the other direction, however, it serves Owase, Kumano, Shingū, and Kii-Katsuura (about 3 hr 20 min and ¥7050 from the latter). The JR Mie Rapid trains compete with Kintetsu on the route to Ise and Toba, which is roughly 1 hr 30 min away.

(Note that between Yokkaichi and Tsu, Nanki Limited Express and Mie Rapid trains run on the non-JR Ise Railway. If you are using a Japan Rail Pass, you must pay a surcharge of ¥510 for Mie trains and ¥820 for Nanki trains.)

Kuwana also sits at one end of the Yōrō Railway, which runs to Ōgaki (via Kaizu and Yōrō) in 1 hr 10 min for ¥830 – cheaper, but about 10 minutes slower, than going through Nagoya.

Despite being so close to Nagoya, Kuwana is served by three overnight buses a day:

• Two buses to Tokyo and Ōmiya (one to Tachikawa, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, and Ōmiya, the other to Yokohama, Ikebukuro, and Ōmiya), taking between 4 hr 15 min and 7 hr 15 min (depending on service and destination) and costing between ¥5700 and ¥10,000 (depending on destination and day of travel). Operated by Seibu Kankō Bus and Mie Kōtsū.
  • Kuwana is the first stop of 10 in Mie Prefecture, so buses leave for Tokyo after 23:30 and arrive in the morning before 05:00. It may be more sensible to take an overnight bus to Nagoya and take the train from there.
• A bus to Tokushima, Takamatsu and Matsuyama, taking between 5 hr 10 min and 10 hours and costing between ¥5500 and ¥12,000. Operated by JR Tōkai Bus and JR Shikoku Bus (Olive Matsuyama).
  • This bus leaves Kuwana for Shikoku at 23:45 and arrives before 05:30; the departure and arrival times for Tokushima in particular are equally inconvenient.