MmeD

Hello,

We will be catching an international flight from KIX at 640pm on a weekday. Our hotel package comes in with an afternoon tea starting at 330pm. We really want to finish the tea before leaving for the airport. So we are thinking about taking the Nankai Railways Rapi:t which only takes 34 mins from Namba to KIX.

I've got a few questions for the experts and would appreciate your advice:

1. Our hotel is only 2 km from Namba station which we plan to taxi there, when is the latest we should leave the hotel factor in traffic at that time? Been to Osaka before but only had experience taking the Airport Limousine bus.

2. The seats on the Nankai Railways Rapi:t are reserved, what happens if we miss the train, would the tickets be forfeited?

3. We have a young child and a stroller, would you say getting on and off the train would be friendly enough? How easy is it to go to the train platform from the actual Namba Nankai Station taxi drop off area? (our previous N'ex Express experience to Tokyo was not so great. There were steps from the train and it was totally overwhelming to get out of Shinjuku station to the taxi stand. So I wonder if this Nankai Railways Rapi:t experience would be similar. Factor in going up and down the stairs in the station, would it takes as much time as the airport limousine eventually?

Thank you!

ksandness

Here is the Nankai Namba Station English-language information page.

http://www.nankai.co.jp/global/engli...mba/index.html

The PDF map indicates that there are elevators in the station. I've taken the Nankai Airport Express, and I reached the train platform by escalator, but the station boasts about all sorts of "barrier free" features.

Boarding the train is no problem. The floors of the trains are level with the floors of the station.

If you're staying in the Namba area, your hotel may have even more details to share.

nishimark

How long does the tea last? If it goes an hour, then maybe you could catch a 4:50 or so train. That would get you to the ticket counter about an hour before take-off. You'd have to hustle straight to your flight from there, assuming that there is no line to check in luggage. As soon as you arrive at the airport, inform someone at the airline about your soon departure and they could help you hurry through check in and security. Doable, especially if you're traveling solo. With a family? I wouldn't. The adrenaline rush of catching the flight would more than cancel the pleasure of the tea.

MmeD

Thank you Ksandness and Nishimark for your suggestions!

May be we will just have a quick 15 minute tea and head out to Namba before 4. How is traffic around that time in that area?

I am trying to read the Namba-KIX schedule and can anyone confirm with me that I am reading it right?


http://www.nankai.co.jp/traffic/jikoku/pdf/namba/n_01.pdf

Seems like there is a train to the airport (with the airplane icon) at 1600, 1610,1617, 1630, 1640, 1647. There are few other trains running in between. Are those not stopping at KIX at all or are those just slower train but will stop at KIX?

If the train is running that frequent, would it make more sense for us to buy tickets when we arrive at the station as supposed to purchasing them in advance?

Thanks and look forward to your tips!

ChrisLi

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B176 Safari/7534.48.3)

You should take trains with the "alpha" or "beta" next to it as it denotes the express train. It takes approximate 40 minutes to the airport

NewbieRunner

The first page is the weekday timetable, which may be slightly different from the weekend (Sat & Sun) timetable on the second page.

As ChrisLi already mentioned trains marked "alpha" or "beta" are the fast Rapi:t trains which take 37 mins from Namba to KIX. Those marked with the airplane icon only are slower and involve one or more changes.

jib71

The 16:00 Rapit, will get you to KIX at 16:37.
The 16:10 departure takes 10 minutes longer - reaching KIX at 16:57.
The 16:17 departure reaches the airport later than the 16:30 departure so fuggedaboudit

For more guidance on which trains to take, check the Hyperdia website, which will prioritize trains by their arrival times at KIX.

The railroad splits into two branches at Izumisano. Some trains follow the tracks to KIX (those with the plane icon), and others go to other places - such as Wakayama. If you find yourself on a fast train that's headed to Wakayama, get off at Izumisano. From Izumisano, it's a short distance to the airport.

With your tight schedule, I'd really try to have your tea earlier. I'd hope that a nice hotel would find a way to accommodate your request. And I'd reserve a ticket on a Rapit train. YMMV.

ksandness

There's an airport-bound train that literally stops everywhere, including various neighborhoods in Osaka. I know because I took it once. Fortunately, I had allowed plenty of time.

NewbieRunner

deleted.

MmeD

Thank you very much for all of your helpful suggestions. ^^^ I would otherwise not be able to figure out the schedule myself. The Hyperdia site is helpful too.

The tea is part of a package @ SR Osaka which I am hoping to treat Monsieur D for his hard work. I think we will have the tea as soon as they allow us at 330. We will shove the scones and jelly down and leave the hotel at 4 for the taxi to Namba for 430 train. That should give us enough time for our 640pm flight.

Thanks again for all your tips! Can't do it without the experts from Flyertalk! Will be thinking about you guys when I sip my tea. Cheers

acregal

That's the St. Regis, correct? If so, then getting from there to Nankai Nanba station shouldn't be too difficult. By and large it's just down one street the entire way (in bad traffic not more than 15 minutes or so). At the end things get a bit messy by the station though.

NewbieRunner

I checked St Regis Osaka's website out of curiosity.

The English language website has this:

• Afternoon Tea, a classic tradition at St Regis New York is recreated for your enjoyment at Rue D'Or every afternoon from 3.30pm until 5.30 pm. Enjoy the reinvented Afternoon Tea with classic scones and tea, sample our signature soufflé.

The Japanese language website says something slightly different:

High Tea 15:00-17:30 in the 12F St Regis Bar

If this is correct (and I tend to think the Japanese language website is more up to date), you and Monsieur D may have the time to consume more than just a scone or two.

Here's a blog post (in Japanese) with photos of High Tea for two.

The special price does sound very attractive.

MmeD

Thank you Acregal and NewbieRunner!

Didn't even know this wonderful package comes with an afternoon tea as well as a dessert buffet until after reading the blog. This package seems to have a lot of offer for a reasonable rate.

Perhaps we even have time to finish the tea and have some buffet before leaving. Looking forward to it

Arigato!

NewbieRunner

Here's an afternoon dessert buffet menu (in Japanese).

There are some inconsistencies between the English and Japanese websites, e.g. the English site says the afternoon tea is in Rue D'Or. I've also seen somewhere that the dessert buffet is only available at weekends but it looks like there are fewer options (20+) on weekdays than at weekends (35 desserts!). I don't think you will starve.

MmeD

Thanks for checking NewbieRunner!

Twenty+ items are pretty good. I think we will gain weight before retuning home Cheers!