Shinjuku to Odawara train! (Odakyu Line) + EASY way to figure out timings + cost + directions!

Kon’nichiwa!

It’s pretty straightforward to get from Shinjuku to Odawara. You have several direct train options, and they vary in comfort, speed, and cost. I’ll give you a brief overview of the top options, plus show you how you can research further.

 

Limited express Odakyu Line: Romancecar (1900 yen | US$13)

The fastest way to Odawara from Shinjuku Station is the Romancecar limited express on the Odakyu Line. This takes around 1 hour 15 minutes and requires a reserved seat ticket and costs more than the local train. This is basically the comfortable tourist train to Odawara. You can buy this ticket when you arrive at Shinjuku Station, or you can buy it online.

 

Regular Odakyu Line (900 yen | US$6)

You can also take the “express” or “rapid-express” Odakyu train, which will not require any additional ticket. This takes around 1.5 hours. You can use an IC card (like suica card or pasmo card) and tap to pay your train fare just as you would any other local Tokyo train, with no additional fee necessary. Or, you can buy an individual train ticket at the ticket machine when you arrive at Shinjuku Station.

This is the train that’s included if you buy the Owakudani 2-day pass with transportation from Shinjuku. (If you don’t get it specifically to include Shinjuku/Odakyu Line, the Owakudani pass will cover you from Odawara.)

 

Rapid Shonan-Shinjuku Line (1500 yen | US$10)

There is also the “rapid” Shonan-Shinjuku Line that you can take to get to Odawara. This takes around 1.5 hours. You can pay your train fare with an IC card, with no additional fee required. Likewise, you can also buy an individual train ticket when you arrive at Shinjuku Station.

 

Local train + shinkansen bullet train (3500 yen | US$24)

This isn’t the cheapest option, and it’s not a direct way either. But if you won’t have a chance to take the shinkansen bullet train elsewhere during your time in Japan (because you’re not leaving the Tokyo area), then you can use Odawara as an excuse to take the shinkansen! First, you’ll need to go from Shinjuku to Tokyo Station (15 minutes), and then you can take a shinkansen from Tokyo Station to Odawara Station (35 minutes). Allow plenty of time to walk through Tokyo Station.

 

There are partner websites included on this blog.

 

PLAN YOUR TIME IN ODAWARA > Odawara Station location guide | Tokyo to Kyoto shinkansen stops | Hakone Loop visual guide

 

 

How to get from Shinjuku to Odawara by train

I really think google maps is the easiest way to figure out the different train options from Tokyo to Odawara.

So let’s take a look at google maps together!

 

👆 The cheapest direct train to get from Shinjuku Station to Odawara Station is by taking the regular Odakyu Line, which will cost around 900 yen and will be a direct train that takes around 1.5 hours.

When you are actually in Tokyo, you can set the starting location as your current location to make things easier. This will then tell you the best walking route to get to the train station too.

 

👆 Google maps will show you various ways to get from Shinjuku to Odawara, and it will also give you an estimate of how much the train fare will be, how long it will take, and how many transfers you’ll have. Among your options are the Romancecar (Odakyu Line), the Shonan-Shinjuku Line, the regular Odakyu Line, and even an option to take the shinkansen. You can click on any route to get more details.

When doing a public transport search, it will be helpful to change the “departure” time to around a time that you expect to leave Shinjuku.

 

👆 Here are the details for the regular Odakyu Line. It will even tell you what platform you need to go to. Make note of the “rapid express,” and make sure you get on that type of train. It will make less stops, so it will be faster than a train that’s not rapid-express. Also make note of the “also at.” You can click on that to see future train timings of this particular route.

While google maps does offer these helpful details, you don’t want to blindly follow it. Verify everything through the signs you see at the train station. Signs are in English too. Once you get to the platform, there’s a digital sign that will tell you the next trains that are coming. These are displayed in both Japanese and English. So if you see it only appearing in Japanese at first, wait for it to turn into English. Compare what you see on the sign with what google maps is telling you (most importantly, the platform)!

 

👆 Expanding for the “also at” details, you can see the schedule for the rapid express train from Shinjuku to Odawara, which seems to be around every 20 minutes. You can make note that the train comes frequently enough that you don’t need to plan too carefully to catch the train. Just show up to Shinjuku Station and get on the next train that arrives!

The google maps app on your phone will give you more details compared to looking at google maps on your computer. If you’re just in the preliminary stages of research, your computer will be helpful, but also take a look at your phone to see more details such as how frequent the Odakyu train is!

 

Tokyo to Odawara by shinkansen bullet train?

Odawara Station is also a shinkansen stop, and there is a shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo to Odawara.

But going to Odawara from Shinjuku requires a transfer, as first you’ll need to take a local train to get to one of the shinkansen train stations in Tokyo, which are Tokyo Station and Shinagawa Station. (Since the train starts at Tokyo Station, I would choose to start there if you are going for unreserved seats.)

And also, going by shinkansen is more expensive compared to the local trains.

So the local line is not only cheaper, but since it’s direct it’s more convenient when starting from Shinjuku.

While the shinkansen is not necessarily the best option to get from Tokyo to Odawara, you might want to do it anyway for a bullet train experience, whether you’re doing a day trip from Tokyo, or if you’re on your way to Kyoto.

Odawara can make for a quick stop (1 hour for the Odawara Castle) or overnight stop when traveling between Tokyo and Kyoto or Osaka. You can go by local train from Tokyo to Odawara, and then you can go by shinkansen onwards from Odawara to Kyoto or Osaka! You can stop by Odawara to start your 7-day JR pass itinerary.

You can also buy shinkansen train tickets when you arrive at the train station. Stop by the JR office in Shinjuku to buy train tickets that will cover you from Shinjuku to Odawara. (IC cards aren’t good for shinkansen tickets.)

 

 

JAPAN TRAVEL > ODAWARA TRAVEL TIPS | ODAWARA MAP | HAKONE TRAVEL TIPS | TOKYO MAP