Getting around Tokushima

Getting inHow you arrive in Tokushima

Tokushima Airport · Tokushima Station — no shinkansen; about 2 hours by bus from Osaka

Confirmed journey times

Fastest services, checked on the date shown.

There is no shinkansen here: Tokushima has no shinkansen station. The bus across the Seto bridges from Osaka is the normal way in, and it is one bus with no changes.
Checked 2026-08-16
Osaka to Tokushima by bus: About 3 hours, and up to about 3 hours 30 when the road is busy. Four companies run it jointly from Hankyu Sanbangai bus terminal and Herbis Osaka, with 46 round trips on weekdays and about 50 at weekends — so a missed bus is not a lost day.
Checked 2026-08-16
Get off before Tokushima for the whirlpools: The same bus calls at Naruto-koen-guchi, the stop for the whirlpools, before it reaches Tokushima station. Get off there and save yourself an hour in each direction.
Checked 2026-08-16
If the motorway is jammed, split the journey: Take the JR Kobe line from Osaka to Maiko, about 50 minutes, and pick the bus up at Kosoku-Maiko for about 1 hour 20 minutes to Tokushima. This skips the city traffic, and a Japan Rail Pass covers the train half.
Checked 2026-08-16

A Japan Rail Pass does not cover Nozomi or Mizuho. What a rail pass covers

An IC card works on most of them. Signs and station names are in English.

Worth it the moment you leave the main city. What you need to drive here

Permit neededDrive left

Clean, safe and metered. Show the address on your phone rather than saying it. Doors are often opened for you.

Show the address

City: Usually around midnight
Country: Far earlier — sometimes mid-afternoon. Ask at the stop when you arrive, not when you want to leave
If you miss it: Ask your inn to call a taxi before the last bus goes, not after

ATMs: Use 7-Eleven or Japan Post for a foreign card. Bank ATMs are hit and miss
Carry: ¥10,000–20,000 on a day out of the city. Rural areas have very little
Small places: Cash only is common. Ask “Card OK?” before you order

Lockers: At the main station, paid by IC card. They fill by mid-morning
Send it: Any convenience store will deliver it to your next hotel, usually next day. Cheaper than carrying it up stairs
At your inn: They will hold it before check-in and after check-out