In another article I wrote about the methods of entering Shikoku, which mainly involve land, sea, and air transportation.
You can choose one of these options.
By air, you can fly from Osaka Itami Airport to Matsuyama Airport or Kochi Ryoma Airport.
By sea, you can mainly depart from Osaka Nanko or Kobe Port, or from Hiroshima or Kure Port.
The main ports in Shikoku are Takamatsu Port, Tokushima Port, Matsuyama Sightseeing Port, and Toyo Port.
By land, you can choose between bus or train.
Buses can be taken from Osaka Namba Bus Center or Kobe Sannomiya Bus Center, and you can take a expressway bus to destinations such as Naruto and Tokushima.
Trains can be taken from Okayama Station, and then you can transfer to the Seto-Ohashi Line to reach various parts of Shikoku.
Today, I will introduce the process of taking a expressway bus from Kobe to Shikoku.
This image shows the Onaruto Bridge.
If you want to take a bus from Kobe to Shikoku, there are two main places where you can board.
One is at Sannomiya Bus Center, and the other is at Maiko.
So, it is much more convenient to board at Sannomiya Bus Center.
Sannomiya Bus Center is located near Sannomiya Station, as shown in the picture below, the green building (Mint Kobe).
Take a look at the map, its location is right here in the image below, on the first floor of the Mint Kobe building.
(The first floor is where all the expressway buses depart from).
The place to buy tickets is here.
The place to catch the bus is right outside at Bus Stop No. 6.
From here, you can take buses to various destinations such as Takamatsu, Kochi, Tokushima, and Matsuyama.
Because our group consists of a total of 5 people, the most cost-effective option is to purchase 4 round-trip tickets and have the remaining person purchase a one-way ticket.
In this case, each person will have 2 tickets.
One ticket is a designated ticket, which includes the date, departure time, starting and ending stations, and most importantly, the name of the bus, which is the Tokushima ~ Kobe Awa Express Kobe Go.
The other ticket is a round-trip ticket without a designated seat, and it has an expiration date for its usage.
If you buy a ticket directly, you will only have one, which will have seat information and fare printed on it.
Since I am only going to ride to Highway Naruto, it will cost ¥2750.
Before boarding the vehicle, the driver will check the information in his hands before allowing passengers to get on.
So, simply show him your ticket and return it when you get off.
The seating in this car is in 4 rows and the aisle is not very spacious, so if you have luggage, be sure to place it in the luggage compartment underneath the car.
The car is quite spacious, with enough distance between the front and back.
However, if two overweight people sit together, it might still feel cramped.
The tent in front of the car will tell us the name of the next stop.
Because we need to get off, so we need to press the stop button (red light).
It takes about 82 minutes from Sannomiya to the Highway Naruto by taking this express bus, and it is usually quite punctual~
If there are special circumstances, it’s a different story.
Due to the Highway Naruto, this station name is very special.
I thought it would be a roadside sign, and it is indeed so.
However, its roadside is on the highway. XD
Also, because it was too dark, my camera couldn’t take a photo.
I was too lazy to use an external flash, so I didn’t take any.
Its location is shown in the picture below, marked by the blue balloon.
Of course, because this area has some elevation, you have to go down the stairs.
Just a short walk down the stairs, you will come across this rare sight of an elevator.
This elevator is a unique inclined transverse elevator called “Surotsupi” (Japanese: すろっぴ).
As shown in the picture above, the orange line represents its travel distance, which is only two stops.
One stop is on this side of the road, while the other stop is on the ground level.
This is the situation after sitting on the ground.
After sitting down, you can choose to take a taxi or walk a little further to catch a bus. XD
Above is a brief introduction of the journey from Kobe to Shikoku (Naruto).
If you have friends planning to visit Shikoku next time, they can also consider taking the express bus!
【Additional Explanation】
1. Tokushima ~ Kobe Awa Express Kobe Go, on the West Japan JR Bus website, you will see it as Awa Express Kobe Go (Japanese: 阿波エクスプレス神戸号).
If you plan to depart from Kyoto or Osaka, you can take the Awa Express Kyoto Go (Japanese: 阿波エクスプレス京都号), Awa Express Osaka Go (Japanese: 阿波エクスプレス大阪号).
Kobe Go, the route is as follows:
Kobe Airport → Shin-Kobe → Sannomiya → Kosokumaiko → Naruto Koen Exit → Highway Naruto… → Tokushima .
route map is as follows:
2. For those who want to visit Wakayama first before going to Shikoku, you can take the Nankai Ferry from Wakayama Port to Tokushima Port, which takes about 2 hours and 10 minutes and costs ￥2500 (Thanks to netizens cemwfha and meggy for providing information about Wakayama).
Reference:
Awa Express Bus
Nankai Ferry
『Original Source：https://nicklee.tw/1208/』
