Getting in

• Komatsu Airport: Take the airport limousine bus direct to JR Kanazawa Station: about 40 minutes, roughly ¥1,300, timed around flight arrivals. The cheaper alternative is a 12-minute bus to Komatsu Station plus an IR Ishikawa/JR connection, about 45–50 minutes in all and roughly ¥900 if the connection behaves; use it only if you are not hauling luggage or racing a timetable.
• Kanazawa Station: This is the real gateway, not an airport city. From Tokyo, take the Hokuriku Shinkansen: Kagayaki is about 2½ hours and Hakutaka about 3 hours, around ¥14,500 one way; Kagayaki requires a reservation. From Kyoto/Osaka, travel via Tsuruga and connect to the Thunderbird limited express. Kanazawa Station’s tourist-information lobby is worth using on arrival: English is more limited here than in Kyoto, and the staff’s maps make the bus system less opaque.