Alphatmldr

I will also be on this flight on a Monday in a few months and I am looking for trip ideas. My wife and I have never been to Japan and this may be our only chance. We are more interested in seeing historical and cultural sites than cities such as Osaka. What would be the best place to go for our only Japan experience?

jib71

Kyoto - Take the Haruka express train (e.g. at 7:55am) and arrive in Kyoto 90 minutes later. You had better select just one part of the city to explore. Several threads in this forum discuss sight seeing itineraries. Get a Kansai area pass to cover your Haruka train fares.

invisible

My wife has 8.5 hours connection in Osaka in upcoming travel - incoming flight lands at 2:30PM and outgoing leaves at 11PM.

I would be grateful for recommendations how to most productively spend connection time in the city. My wife has been in Japan before, but not in Osaka. Unfortunately she does not speak Japanese at all.

P.S. Moderator, thanks for joining the thread, but the first pages are several years old, I do not know if recommendations sounded there are still valid. Because my wife arrives after 12h flight it would be nice to go and see something nearby, directly accessible by train from the terminal. Better would be a site of historical/cultural value then something modern - we've been in Tokyo already.

abmj-jr

Ok, with that added information -

KIX isn't really IN Osaka. It is on an island in the bay and requires a 30 to 60 minute train ride to get into Osaka, depending on which station you select. The main Osaka or Shin-Osaka stations are not the most interesting.

For "cultural/historical" rather than modern, I'd suggest Kyoto. It is only 75 minutes by the airport express train (the "Haruka") and you arrive at the main Kyoto Station. Kyoto is perhaps a bit easier for first-timer visitors and has several places to see quite near the station. You can also get a decent meal near or in the station building, which also houses a large, up-scale department store and underground mall if she is interested.

The one draw-back I see is the late hour. Many of the tourist sights close at or around 5:00 pm, so she won't have time for more than 1 or 2. She might want to splurge on cabs and cherry-pick a couple of places close to the station to get there before closing.

In case she ends up spending a few hours at KIX, all is not lost. There are a number of shops and restaurants upstairs in the main building before security. She might enjoy getting a meal there and exploring a bit.

joejones

Namba (which is only ~30 minutes away by the "rapit" limited express train) is a somewhat interesting area and is very much "central Osaka." That said it mainly offers shopping and eating and not much else -- though the shopping arcades are pretty interesting in themselves, and if you go in the evening you can see the famous sea of neon signs on both sides of the Dotonbori canal.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4001.html

Alternatively you could take JR to Tennoji and explore that area, in roughly a similar amount of travel time.

http://www.osaka-info.jp/en/area/tennoji.html

Alphatmldr

In terms of getting back to the airport, would taking the 1:46pm arriving at 3:00pm leave us with sufficient time for a 5pm flight?

jib71

Basically, I'd be happy to arrive at the airport 2 hours before departure, but I don't see that train in the Haruka timetable. 1:46pm departure from where?

Alphatmldr

I meant 1:48 pm

jib71

I don't see it.

Alphatmldr

Sorry, so it's 1:15 or 2:15pm. Taking the 0755 and getting to Kyoto at 0930 would give us a little under 4 hours if we took the 0115 back to KIX. I was thinking of seeing Kiyomizu temple and/or Sanjusangendo. Given our time constraint, would it be best to take a taxi from the station to these sites?

abmj-jr

Most likely yes. Kyoto taxis are not particularly cheap but are very clean, honest and no tipping is necessary. For major attractions like the ones you mention, every driver will know it cold. Kiyumizu and Sanjusangendo are actually rather close in proximity so you might even be able to see both with limited travel time between them and both are not too far from Kyoto Station so the return will be pretty quick as well. If you choose one, I'd say Kiyumizu and if there is an hour or so left after, stop by Sanjusangendo on the way back to the Station.

There is a tourist bus that will get you there but departures are limited and your timing would be finicky. For such a short time in the city, I'd use cabs every time. Just be sure to get a few thousand yen from the airport ATM to cover cabs, entrance fees and perhaps a nice Japanese meal.

mosburger

I'd limit that visit to Kyomizyu only. There are rather interesting shops with local artisans products when going uphill, you might be tempted to spend some time looking at those.

Alphatmldr

Thanks. I was thinking about that and I'm glad you confirmed this.

exkingjohn

In June and July at KIX I have to exit through C&I then re-enter to checkin for two connections between JQ and EK flights.

One is 3hr15m the other 4hr30m.

From comments here it seems that will be enough time. Does anyone think I will have a problem?

invisible

After discussing the situation it seems that the best would be to go to a local onsen around (no more than 15min train ride) KIX.

Any recommendations?