Takasaki
高崎市36°19′ N 139°01′ ECityPop. 372,639Gunma
Takasaki suits travellers who want one Shinkansen base for Minakami, Kusatsu and Karuizawa with a hotel inside the station, and it is a commuter city with little reason to linger once the trains are sorted.
Photo Mass Ave 975 · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Who should base here
Stay one night at the station when you arrive late from the airport and want the first train to Minakami or Kusatsu.
Takasaki Station is where the Joetsu Shinkansen to Niigata and the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Nagano split, and nine lines meet there, which makes it the biggest terminal in northern Kanto. The JR Joetsu Line runs local trains north to Minakami, and the limited expresses for Kusatsu on the Agatsuma Line pass through on their way from Ueno. That makes the station a good place to sleep before an early train into the mountains.
Hotel Metropolitan Takasaki fills floors 6 to 10 of the station building and opened in 1982, ahead of the Joetsu Shinkansen. For the train, buy a daruma bento from Takaben, the local ekiben maker since 1884, which sells it at ¥1,500 since its 1 June 2026 price change.
Quick answers about Takasakiよくある質問
Is Takasaki a good place to stay?
Stay one night at the station when you arrive late from the airport and want the first train to Minakami or Kusatsu.
Within 12 km