Getting around Hōfu
Hōfu is a compact city on the San'yō Main Line in central Yamaguchi Prefecture, and most visitors find that a combination of trains, local buses and their own two feet covers everything they need. The city sits on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, with the Saba River running through it, and the built-up area is small enough that you rarely need to plan a complicated journey.
Rail
The backbone of public transport in Hōfu is the JR West San'yō Main Line, which stops at Hōfu station and at Daidō, with a freight terminal also on the line. This is a conventional local and rapid rail line rather than a metro or tram system — Hōfu has no subway or tram network of its own.
The important thing to understand is that the San'yō Shinkansen passes through the north of the city without stopping. If you are arriving by bullet train, you will need to connect to a local train to reach Hōfu:
- Shin-Yamaguchi to the west is the more convenient Shinkansen gateway, with somewhat better service. The local train from Shin-Yamaguchi to Hōfu is quick and inexpensive.
- Tokuyama to the east is the other option, a slightly longer and slightly pricier local hop.
Local trains also run along the San'yō Main Line to Shimonoseki in one direction and Iwakuni in the other, and it is possible to reach Hiroshima entirely on local trains by changing at Iwakuni, though it takes considerably longer than the Shinkansen.
Tickets and rail passes
Ordinary tickets can be bought at station machines and counters in the usual way. For visitors doing a lot of travelling in the region, JR West sells three passes aimed at Temporary Visitors with foreign passports, all of which are valid on services serving Hōfu:
- The Hiroshima-Yamaguchi Pass covers all JR stations in Yamaguchi Prefecture and services east as far as Miyoshi and Onomichi, and can be used on non-reserved seats of San'yō Shinkansen trains between Mihara and Hakata, as well as the JR Miyajima Ferry. It is valid for five days.
- The Okayama-Hiroshima-Yamaguchi Pass extends the valid area to Tsuyama and Takamatsu and can be used on all Shinkansen trains between Okayama and Hakata. It is also valid for five days.
- The San'yō-San'in Pass extends the area further still, covering the Kansai Urban Network as far as Tsuruga and Wakayama, and both reserved and non-reserved Shinkansen seats between Shin-Osaka and Hakata. It is valid for seven days.
Buying these passes in Japan costs a little more than buying them abroad in advance. All three can also be used on the JR Bus service to Yamaguchi, which is a useful bonus if you plan to combine rail and bus travel.
Buses
Local buses fill in the gaps that the train line leaves, and they are also the way to reach Yamaguchi city directly:
- Chūgoku JR Bus runs roughly once or twice an hour between Yamaguchi and Hōfu. The journey takes about 40 minutes and is slightly faster than going by train via Shin-Yamaguchi, though a little more expensive. This service is covered by the JR West passes described above.
- Bōchō Bus also runs services toward Shin-Yamaguchi and Tokuyama, but these take longer than the equivalent train journey, so they are mainly useful if the train times do not suit you.
For longer-distance travel, Bōchō Bus operates the highway coaches that connect Hōfu with the rest of Japan, including overnight services from Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe, plus daytime services from Hiroshima and Hakata. These are worth considering if you are arriving from outside the region and want to avoid a Shinkansen connection.
Taxis and ride-hailing
Taxis are available in Hōfu, as you would expect in a Japanese city of this size, and are most useful for short trips that do not line up with a bus or train, or for reaching the airport. The reference material does not describe any ride-hailing apps operating in the city, so plan on hailing a taxi on the street, at the station, or by asking your accommodation to call one for you.
Walking
Hōfu's central area is small and largely flat, having been built in part on land reclaimed from former salt fields along the coast. Walking is a realistic option for getting between the station, the city centre and many of the local attractions, including Hōfu Tenman-gū, the Mōri Museum, the Suō Kokubun-ji historic site and Tamanooya Shrine. For anything beyond the centre, though, you will want a bus, train or taxi.
Getting in from the airport
The nearest airport is Yamaguchi Ube Airport (UBJ), about 45 minutes away by car. It is a small airport with a limited route network — flights to Tokyo Haneda and seasonal services to Seoul Incheon — so many international visitors will find it more practical to arrive via Fukuoka or Hiroshima instead. Kitakyūshū is the closest airport with regular international flights.
From Yamaguchi Ube Airport, public transport into Hōfu works as follows:
- Bus plus train: take the airport bus to Shin-Yamaguchi station (about 35 minutes), then transfer to a local train to Hōfu. This is the straightforward option.
- Walk plus train: the more intrepid traveller can walk about 10 minutes from the airport to Kusae station and board a train there to Shin-Yamaguchi, which takes roughly 40 minutes and saves money compared with the bus. From Shin-Yamaguchi you continue to Hōfu on the San'yō Main Line.
Whichever route you choose, the connection point is Shin-Yamaguchi, which is also where you would arrive if you were coming in by Shinkansen — so the airport and bullet-train journeys into Hōfu share the same final leg.