Today we check out of the Hotel Vista in Kyoto, and take the train from Kyoto to Toyama, and check in to the APA Toyama-Ekimae hotel.

Why Toyama?

We actually got this question from our waiter at the hotel restaurant.  Toyama is not really a tourist destination.  The web won’t come up with much to do in Toyama.  So why stay there?

One reason:  it makes for a good base camp for visiting several destinations in the area.  We wanted to visit:

• Kanazawa
• Takayama and Shirakawa-go
• The Alpine Route

Toyama is well connected by train to these places, and roughly in the middle of them, and big enough to have a number of hotels.  That’s why we stayed there.

Alternatives

The way most people seem to do this is to take a 3-day bus tour out of Tokyo that visits some of those places.  You can also do a bus tour that finishes in Kyoto instead of going back to Tokyo.  I found those options to be expensive, and in general I prefer a DIY approach.  The main thing I gave up on this plan is that instead of taking the Alpine Route all the way, I took it most of the way and then returned – more explanation in the article on the Alpine Route.

Train to Toyama

As mentioned in another article, Hyperdia is the easiest way to look up train schedules.  We took the Thunderbird, which is a limited express train, the 2nd fastest trains in Japan after the Shinkansen.  Reserve your seats at any JR Ticket office at Kyoto Station or elsewhere.

The trip takes about 3 hours.

Luggage

There are two options for luggage.  The obvious is to bring it with you.  If you have all carry-on sized luggage, you should be OK using the overhead racks.  Otherwise, trains don’t really have luggage storage space.  There is supposed to be space behind the last row of seats in each car – we never tried using that.

Since we kept ourselves to carry on luggage, this method worked.  However, what many people do who have larger luggage, or just don’t want to be bothered with it, is to use Takuhaibin services.  For about $20 per bag, these services will pick up your luggage and deliver it to your destination, typically the next day.  You pack a day bag with whatever you must have overnight.

Arriving in Toyama

Toyama station was being rebuilt in June 2010, so specifics are sure to change.

Staying in Toyama

We stayed at the APA Toyama-Ekimae.  It’s about 4-5 blocks east of the station.  There are other hotels that are closer to the station that for whatever reason we didn’t pick.  See our general discussion on hotels.

Rest of the first day in Toyama

OK, having said at the beginning that this isn’t really a tourist city, what else can you do your first day in town?  We enjoyed waking along Matsukawaberi River and enjoying the sculptures along the way.  From the Toyama station, walk south along any of the main streets heading away from the station until you get to the river.  The sculpture garden extends several blocks in either direction of the main park.

There is also a nice park along the river with some fun playground equipment if you have kids (or even, apparently, if you have teenagers).