thesoutherndandy

I booked a hotel right next to Kitahama station and am having second thoughts about it for convenience. How much of a pain will it be to train to main areas from there?

I'm in Osaka for the first time for 10 days and probably doing to a day trip to Kobe and Kyoto. Also mapping my stuff out a lot of stuff seems to be around Umeda.

Mainly we're foodie type travellers and looking to eat our way through the three cities.

Any helps/tips will be appreciated! Thanks in advance

djibouti

Perhaps not the best but very easy subway access. I wouldn't fret too much. Foodie area such as it is, is closer to Namba station if memory serves. I only visited once though so I'm not an expert. In Kyoto check out the main temple before eating. We were hungry so ate first then kicked ourselves when we realized the temple had food vendors.

AlwaysAisle

Quick answer is that Kitahama station is not inconvenient location.

Kitahama station is not located right at one of the major tourist attraction of Osaka. But Kitahama station is located at central area of Osaka. Even if you stay at other parts of Osaka, you will end up doing as much getting around using public transportation as staying at Kitahama station area.

If you want the major tourist attractions and night life right at the door step of your hotel, then Kitahama station area is not the case. However, Kitahama station is in central Osaka area, you will spend same amount of time getting around to places as you will staying at other part of Osaka.

Osaka is a large city. Even when deciding on restaurants it will not be once specific location in Osaka you will be looking at. You will have few different areas of Osaka to choose from when deciding on dinner. So you will end up doing same amount of traveling even if you stay at other part of Osaka. Even if you stay at Umeda area, for sure you will be heading to Namba, Shinsaibashi, Dootonbori, Tennouji, etc. for dinner choices. Traveling time from Kitahama to these places will be not much different than traveling time from Umeda.

abmj-jr

"The main temple?" What, pray tell, is "the main temple" in Kyoto?

AlwaysAisle

Also, why checking out the temple before eating? Why not eating before visiting temples? @:-) We are allowed to have breakfast before heading out for a day trip to Kyoto, aren’t we? Or is this some kind of weird Kansai ritual I don’t know about?

djibouti

Sorry, I was posting on my phone in bed and wasn't able to look it up. I guess "main" is the wrong word, it's just a very large, hard-to-miss one. Specifically the Yasaka Shrine.

I think the rest of my post explained quite clearly what I meant by this. You are obviously reading things into what I said that aren't there.

abmj-jr

Ok. But Yasaka-jinja is a rather insignificant, off the beaten track facility that many visitors don't even bother with. It IS the main neighborhood shrine for the historic Gion neighborhood but that is about it. There are at least a half-dozen temples and shrines around town that could be considered a significant temple but that is not one of them.

A few temples have restaurant facilities but the food vendors you may have seen at Yasaka-jinja were in all likelihood there because of a local festival or celebration. Festival food booths can be a great way to try some local treats and I always seek them out. It is rather like "fair food" at county fairs in the states. Not particularly healthy but hard to resist. I just wouldn't counsel avoiding breakfast prior to a visit unless one knows that the booths will be present. The last time I was in Gion, there was nothing going on and no food at all at Yasaka-jinja.

Ones that almost always have food booths are Senso-ji in Tokyo and Todai-ji in Nara (which definitely IS a "main temple.") It would be easy to plan around eating at one of them but that is a different story.

djibouti

I already apologized for the poor choice of words and explained why I had used it. You need to relax.

lobsterdog

Um, no, I'm glad he didn't "relax" - his explanation that there are usually no food vendors at Yasaka-jinja is actually pretty valuable information for anyone who may have read your misinformative post, followed your advice, and gone there hungry.

Also in general food vendors at a shrine or temple are nothing to write home about, and nothing to kick yourself over missing out on. Eat beforehand if you're hungry.

djibouti

Ah, right. I missed that after it looked like he was harping on about it not being "main". Sorry.

acregal

There usually isn't food at Yasaka Jinja, but there is a Lawson right across the street from it.

For going to Kyoto, Kitahama is in a really good spot - the Keihan line is there, which is convenient for a lot of the sights, and it is easy to change to the Hankyu line going to Kyoto (not so much for going to Kobe though). Umeda is close (less than 10 minutes on the train) as well. If you like walking, it might be worth it to simply walk to Umeda (15 minute walk to the close areas, 30 minutes or so to Hankyu Umeda station, for example)

There is one supermarket right near the station and another about a 5 or 10 minute walk away. There are tons of restaurants, but it is primarily a business district (it'll be much busier in the day than at night and on the weekend).

thesoutherndandy

Thanks for all the advice everyone! I'm less worried about the hotel location now. I'm still able to cancel up to 72 hours before the day of but I think I'll be keeping it.

The actual hotel I'll be staying at is Daiwa Roynet Hotel Osaka Kitahama and apparently its connected to Kitahama station. As an aside has anyone on flyertalk stayed with this chain? It reviews favorably on tripadvisor.

Also for transit tips I think for sure I'm going to plan to go to osaka castle and umeda sky building over a 2 day span for 3000 yen and will take advantage of the osaka amazing pass: https://www.osaka-info.jp/osp/en/facility/free.php

From what I read this pass is good for all local Osaka lines but NOT JR line. I'm assuming I can still get to the places I want to go without the JR line?

Along the same line of questions for transportation for the majority of days that I'll be hopping around and not in kyoto or kobe I plan on getting the "ecopass" for 800 yen for unlimited travel: http://www.osaka-info.jp/en/plan/pra..._eco_card.html

From what I gather from information that gives me access to non JR trains just like the amazing pass correct?

Thanks in advanced for info, there are lots of knowledgable posters on this board!

ksandness

For foodies, some of the temples in Kyoto (I don't remember which one--look it up in a city guidebook) serve Buddhist vegan meals with advance notice.

And if you go to the Koyasan temples (a train ride from Osaka-Namba) and spend the night in one of them (your guidebook will tell you how to make reservations), you will get two vegan meals.

exerda

Are you in Osaka for work or leisure? If the latter, I'd give Kyoto more than just a day trip, personally.

acregal

I know the hotel and while I've never been there, it appears to be quite nice and modern from the outside and what I can see of the entrance.

The pass is only good for Osaka city buses and the subway - it isn't good on JR, nor is it good on other railway lines (Keihan or Hankyu, for example).