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From Tokyo

There are two main ways to get to Hakuba from the Tokyo region:

 

Take the Chuo Expressway north until Okaya Junction where you should then take the Nagano Expressway until the Toyoshina Interchange. From there, follow Routes 147 and 148 through Omachi to Hakuba village or

Take the Kanetsu Expressway to Fujioka Junction changing towards Nagano on the Joshinetsu Expressway. Take the Nagano Interchange and follow the Nagano Olympic Road to Hakuba village.

 

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Go to Maps section on site and use the maps of Hakuba zoom out and you can find the route!

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I think the fastest and cheapest way from Zushi would be:

 

Get on the Yokohama-Yokosuka expressway at Zushi IC, change to the Daisankeihin and get of at Tamagawa IC. Zushi IC – Tamagawa IC 1200 \

From there turn left on the Kannana Dori and go all the way up to Mejiro Dori. Turn left to mejiro dori and it will bring you straight to Nerima IC of the Kanetsu highway.

Get on the Kanetsu highway and change at the Fujioka junction to the Shinetsu higway that goes towards Nagano and get of at the Koshoku IC. Nerima IC – Koshoku IC 4850 yen

I usually go through the 19 national road – hakuba nagano road ( 200 yen) – 31,33 national roads root ( Olympic road ?). Once you get of at the Koshoku IC, head north till you find the 19th national road. Turn left towards Matsumoto and it will bring you to the hakuba-nagano road.

 

If you have a car with an IC card, there is a way to do the part from Nerima IC – Koshoku IC for 2850 \

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I would be more specific with my question... which is the least painful route through Tokyo, driving to Hakuba from Narita Airport. My GPS gives me about three options, depending on my set preferences for highway vs. local roads, but they all involve a few zigzags in the region of Shiba Park...

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Don't get off the highway - there are 2 main routes through Tokyo from Narita - North and South. The Southern route (follow Bayshore signs from Narita) is slightly longer than the Northern route (follow #7 Hakozaki signs) but traffic is usually better and you get to go over the Rainbow bridge - a sight worth seeing.

 

The Northern route is only slightly shorter in distance but just before Tokyo it narrows to one lane near Hakozaki and the traffic can be really bad. I usually avoid this route unless its late evening because of traffic.

 

Once in Tokyo on either route, the Shuto Expressway makes a few loops but you want to stay on it and follow the signs for #4 Shinjuku. Once you get off the highway, its hard to find the ramps to get back on if you don't know the city well. Just keep going until you have cleared the city and see the mountains (or start going up if you are driving at night). Then stop for a break.

 

I think the Southern route around Tokyo and then the Chuo highway from Shinjuku is an easier drive than the Kanetsu (follow Shuto #5 if you want to go this way) mainly because you stay on the highway right through and usually avoid more traffic.

 

There is no escape from Tokyo traffic if you are in the morning 6:30 am to 9 am - lunch 11am to 1pm - or evening 4:30 pm to 7 pm high traffic periods on weekdays.

 

When are you planning to drive?

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Saturday 27th January, fjef, so I hope the traffic won't be too bad. We have a Subaru Legacy AWD wagon, with snow tyres (and chains). Not really all that worried about driving on snow (done that before), but getting lost in Tokyo would be a real hassle, with a baby in the car.

Thanks for the directions.

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Keba, in order to avoid traffic I usually see to that I get on Kanetsu before 5:30 in the morning. The traffic hasn’t built up yet by that time. It might be hard to do that when you are coming all the way from Chiba-Narita area.

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"will the traffic be OK on the weekend, or no different to weekdays?"

 

Driving towards the mountains on a Saturday morning, however early, means traffic jams - that's an unavoidable fact. Try and do the journey as early as possible on a week day, if you can...

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If you are leaving from Narita Saturday morning, I'd try and miss the early traffic and leave about 9am. You'll pass through Tokyo sometime after 10 and miss the morning rush. Maybe. All it takes is an accident (even a small one or a car with a flat tire can jam the highways here) or construction on the road and you may get held up.

 

Saturday morning rush toward the mountains is not worth getting stuck in -everyone in Japan tends to leave at the same time. Maybe its because their cars are nicer to sit in then their homes and they can still watch TV so they don't mind being stuck in the jams.

 

Whatever happens I would not recommend getting off the highway near or in Tokyo - there are a few rest stops on the highway if you need them (not many in the immediate Tokyo area) but it is tricky getting back on the ramps even if you have a navi system. I'd wait until you clear Tokyo before you stop if you can.

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Sounds like a good plan... might leave the hotel at about 10am, to let the traffic settle, then hope to be in Hakuba before dark, if possible.

 

Our in-car navi is in Japanese only, so we have only the map and the arrows to guide us...

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 Quote:
Originally posted by keba:

Our in-car navi is in Japanese only, so we have only the map and the arrows to guide us...
Ask the rental agent to program the Navi for Hakuba - you don't need it English to follow the arrows - it will also warn you before you need to make decisions about where to turn and which direction to take.

If you ask them to set for highway for the whole route, it should make navigation easier. It will also let you know which Parking Areas have food and how far the next one is - it will be very useful even in Japanese. You might want to ask them to turn the voice off - it may drive you crazy. And don't believe the ETA - I have never seen an accurate calculation yet!
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We just drove from Narita to Hakuba and whilst the maps seem easy enough to follow and signs are in English I would not do it without a gps in the car as there is no way we would have picked all the turn offs that are not clear on the maps without it! And believe me, the jungle of traffic getting out of Tokyo ven when you are just trying to use the ring roads leaves little time to dither about which lane to choose! But with the gps it was a breeze! Cost about 8200 yen in tolls. See tolls or electronic tag post from a couple of weeks back and Narita to Shiga, are we mad post

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yep. good roads, interesting scenery once you get closer to the mountains and freedom to stop whre you want. We stopped at Yorii roadside diner....very interesting Japanese green tea from a vending machine, tasted like lollie water! And about 20 cats sitting around us while we ate at the outside tables!

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We leave in less that two weeks, so we are trying to fine-tune our travel plans, so that everything goes as smoothly as possible. We need to get to Hakuba by the time the party at the White Horse starts...

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