Originally Posted by
bhd87
...
Two nights in Osaka, with one being spent in the city and the other in Himeji/Okayama. To reach both Himeji and Okayama, I take the Sanyo shinkansen.
Any thoughts on only doing one of them and doing Kobe (Kobe shinkansen or Sanyo)?
While Osaka Castle has a lot of history, it is a concrete structure with an elevator today. Namba is interesting by day or by night and I like the restaurant supply street a lot just to the east of the Nankai Stn.
If you want to see Kobe after the trip out west, just get off the Shinkansen at JR Shin-Kobe Stn and take the subway south one stop to Sanomiya. From here there are three lines to get back to Osaka Umeda area, Hankyu, JR and Hanshin. But I agree with abmj-jr.