12 nights in Kansai, how to split time?
#16
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Central California
Programs: Former UA Premex, now dirt
Posts: 6,531
#19
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: EMA (how boring) but BHX is more convenient.
Posts: 2,373
I would stay in Kyoto and visit the others. Plenty to do in Kyoto, but it might get a bit repetitive. It's not the most central, but I think the most interesting of those cities.
Nara is an ancient capital too. Though, Japan has more ancient capitals than any other country I know of. (I should count the ancient capitals of Iran to compare.) That's not too far away, and I think worth a visit.
One of the places I found most interesting to visit was Tenri city, that was near there. It's the centre of a 'new religion', Tenri-kyo. This was founded not long ago. I found that I was staying in a hostel run by the religion, and they took me to worship. After sitting in seiza for quite some time, we got to stand up and do this really strange little worship dance. This was very interesting, as I got to see a new religion up close, e.g. being told what sort of things the founder did (even though she died in 1887).
If you don't get invited to worship the city isn't that interesting. But, I found the whole thing fascinating.
I lived in Japan for three and a half years. I do think it's a very interesting country to visit. One where even normal things become interesting because they're different. See if you can eat a tiny little burger from a vending machine. Admire the infeasible number of bicycles in front of a train station.
Can you head up into the mountains and spend a night in ryokan in the mountains? If you can, I'd recommend it.
I've just been to Berlin. While it was interesting and I visited some interesting places (e.g. the Stasi museum), the city as a whole looked very much like the UK except that everything was in German. While I think Berlin has a lot of interesting places to visit, and in parks, museums, historic monument might beat London (Brandenberg Gate versus Marble Arch?), it doesn't have the interest of Japan.
Nara is an ancient capital too. Though, Japan has more ancient capitals than any other country I know of. (I should count the ancient capitals of Iran to compare.) That's not too far away, and I think worth a visit.
One of the places I found most interesting to visit was Tenri city, that was near there. It's the centre of a 'new religion', Tenri-kyo. This was founded not long ago. I found that I was staying in a hostel run by the religion, and they took me to worship. After sitting in seiza for quite some time, we got to stand up and do this really strange little worship dance. This was very interesting, as I got to see a new religion up close, e.g. being told what sort of things the founder did (even though she died in 1887).
If you don't get invited to worship the city isn't that interesting. But, I found the whole thing fascinating.
I lived in Japan for three and a half years. I do think it's a very interesting country to visit. One where even normal things become interesting because they're different. See if you can eat a tiny little burger from a vending machine. Admire the infeasible number of bicycles in front of a train station.
Can you head up into the mountains and spend a night in ryokan in the mountains? If you can, I'd recommend it.
I've just been to Berlin. While it was interesting and I visited some interesting places (e.g. the Stasi museum), the city as a whole looked very much like the UK except that everything was in German. While I think Berlin has a lot of interesting places to visit, and in parks, museums, historic monument might beat London (Brandenberg Gate versus Marble Arch?), it doesn't have the interest of Japan.
Last edited by OccasionalFlyerPerson; Jun 23, 2017 at 11:49 am
#21
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota,USA
Programs: UA, NW
Posts: 3,752
The train ride is beautiful but if you didn't spend the night, you'd have a bit of the "is that all there is?" feeling, especially if you didn't know a lot about Buddhism. It's the holy place of Shingon Buddhism, as the founder, Kobo Daishi, is buried there, and well-known people down to the present day have paid to be have their graves near his. (Be sure to see the strange tombstones in the modern part of the cemetery.)
Staying at one of the dozens of temples consists of two vegan meals (dinner and breakfast) and attendance at the 6:00AM service (you don't have to do anything). In between, you're staying in a room that is very much like a mid-level ryokan.
There's a small town nearby whose purpose seems to be to supply the temples. The meal servers at "my" temple were high school boys who did it as an after-school job. They laughed when I asked them if they planned to become monks.
However, I did see a very young monk in distinctive garb making the rounds of very sites and offering prayers at each one.
Your guidebook will tell you how to make reservations.
Last edited by ksandness; Jun 23, 2017 at 8:54 pm
#23
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Omaha
Posts: 1,674
Several people have mentioned that it is a hassle to move to a different hotel/city. I don't quite understand, being that I've never been to Japan, but is there something unique about Japan that causes moving to be such a hassle?
#24
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Central California
Programs: Former UA Premex, now dirt
Posts: 6,531
I just feel that moving from hotel to hotel within a small area simply wastes time I could better use seeing new places and things.
#25
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Smyrna, GA, USA
Programs: DL FO 1MM
Posts: 1,761
For me, it's just a general preference - I find base moves to be the most significant contributing factor to overall trip fatigue. The elements that abmj-jr points out are true but are not (for me at least) dominant.
#26
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: YYZ
Programs: AMEX AC CX UA AA DL
Posts: 3,008
laundry.
Spending time/$ to drop off luggage at next hotel, more or less = time/$ wasted.
#27
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: NorCal
Posts: 658
I've done many different combinations of hotel arrangements in Kansai over the years, and there are some times of the year (busy tourist seasons) when it might make sense to stay in the Umeda area of Osaka and just take the train to Kyoto for day trips. Most attractions in Kyoto are daytime attractions, and Osaka is much more interesting than Kyoto at night.
Kobe is a charming city, and I'm always happy when I've arranged to stay there a few days rather than commuting from Osaka. There's plenty of nightlife, and it's nice to be able to enjoy a late drink in Kobe without worrying about catching a late-night train back to Osaka. Some highlights from my last Kobe trip were taking a self-guided sake-brewery and sake-museum tour in the Nada district and a visit to Kobe Animal Kingdom on Port Island.
Wherever you stay, it's worth looking into day trips to places like Nara and Himeji.
Kobe is a charming city, and I'm always happy when I've arranged to stay there a few days rather than commuting from Osaka. There's plenty of nightlife, and it's nice to be able to enjoy a late drink in Kobe without worrying about catching a late-night train back to Osaka. Some highlights from my last Kobe trip were taking a self-guided sake-brewery and sake-museum tour in the Nada district and a visit to Kobe Animal Kingdom on Port Island.
Wherever you stay, it's worth looking into day trips to places like Nara and Himeji.
I stayed at the Intercontinental in Osaka which is close to both Osaka and Umeda stations and took daytrips to Kyoto, Nara and Himeji whilst enjoying Osaka in the evenings
I was very happy with the decision and not having to move around hotels, and found the transport links between Osaka and various points in Kyoto were actually better than within Kyoto itself
12 days is too much IMO unless you are really interested in something in particular
I was very happy with the decision and not having to move around hotels, and found the transport links between Osaka and various points in Kyoto were actually better than within Kyoto itself
12 days is too much IMO unless you are really interested in something in particular
I'm going during a heavy tourist season (Sakura season) and so far, I'm finding the accommodations to be much easier/cheaper/better in Osaka. However, I'm not interested in much of Osaka during the day beyond about a day's worth. However, Osaka at night does seem much more interesting than Kyoto. I was originally going to do 2 nights in Osaka and 5ish in Kyoto, but now starting to rethink that.
I'm taking kids and have a large (for Japan) party of 5 so I'll probably do AirBnB. That means the luggage forwarding system isn't as great an option so I'd rather stay in as few locations as possible. Doing about a week in Tokyo after. Trying to figure out whether to spring for a JR Rail Pass has been a bit overwhelming.
#28
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Omaha
Posts: 1,674
For me personally, since I want to stay in each of the cities, the Hankyu trains and just paying for each ticket separately (no pass) seems to be best for me.
#29
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Omaha
Posts: 1,674
Flight would arrive to KIX at 4:30pm from the USA.
Take the train to Kyoto.
Stay 4 nights in Kyoto.
Stay 3 nights in Kobe.
Stay 5 nights in Osaka.
Fly out of KIX around 11am.
Thanks for your help everybody.
#30
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: SIN and wandering.
Posts: 1,549
I'm taking kids and have a large (for Japan) party of 5 so I'll probably do AirBnB. That means the luggage forwarding system isn't as great an option so I'd rather stay in as few locations as possible. Doing about a week in Tokyo after. Trying to figure out whether to spring for a JR Rail Pass has been a bit overwhelming.
However, within Kansai itself you may look at some Kansai passes such as the Kansai Wide Area JR passes or the Kansai JR Pass.
Use Hyperdia to find the costs of your journeys and compare it against the cost of the pass.
http://www.hyperdia.com/en/