Osaka n Kyoto Itnerary

[Bishio]

Trying to maximize time and routes and not incur too much expenses on transport!

Hi everyone I have a rough itinerary plan up. A short trip with my mom and brother.

Day 1: Kansai Airport - Kyoto
Reach kansai airport at 6.30am sg time
take train to Kyoto
put bags at lodging if possible or train station
Lunch
Kinkakuji
Nijo Castle
Check in at 3pm
FUshimi Inari Shrine
Dinner

Day 2: Kyoto

Kiyomizudera Temple
Higashiyama Historic District
Yasaka Shrine
Chionin Temple(Sanmon Gate Entrance)
Heian Shrine (Maybe)
Philosopher 's Path
Ginkakuji Temple(Silver Pavilion)
Geisha Spotting at Gion, Nighttime
Dinner at Izuju at Gion, Kyoto Style Sushi

Day 3: Kyoto/Osaka
Check out at 11am
Arashiyama
Take JR train to Saga-Arashiyama Station
Tenryuji Temple
Bamboo Groves
Togetsukyo Bridge
Or
Sanjusangendo 600 yen 8am-5pm
20-30min walk from kyoto station
Nishiki Market
Lunch
Afternoon
Take JR train to Osaka, Stop at Shinimamiya Station
Check In
Dotonbori & shinsaibashi
Dinner Ichiran Ramen at Dotonbori

Day 4: Osaka
Osaka castle, Umeda, Tokyu Hands store

Lunch Endo Sushi
Dinner Tacopachi, okonomiyaki, kushikatsu

Day 5: Osaka
Day trip to Nara

Lunch at Nara
Dinner at Osaka
Maybe izakaya to see what is all about, observing the japs and drinking sake and eating

Day 6: Kansai Airport
10.30am flight

Planning to get Haruka+Iococa card for tourist package.

Please kindly help and refine my itinerary, all opinions and advices are welcome!

Is getting a sim card for internet usuage good just for the trip? Because its very expensive.

Internet on the move
http://www.bmobile.ne.jp/english/1gb.html
Downlink:14Mbps / Uplink:5.7Mbps (Best effort)
3,980YEN
a micro-SIM card to fit our iphone that gives 1GB data for 14 days from bmobile

 

[snap99]

suggest 2 full days at kyoto.

You need to group your kyoto sightseeing together ... to minimise the time spent on transport.

 

[win_man]

i used this site to plan the places for my previous trip... your itinerary is exactly like my next trip in June.. you may want to include Nara, very nice quiet and relaxing place

Osaka: Osaka Travel Guide
Kyoto: Kyoto Travel Guide
Nara: Nara Travel Guide

and use Streetview to recce the streets first also can

For the SIM, i also used B-Mobile. but dun use the 14 days one.. it caps the speed horribly after 200MB of usage.

 

[evilerniex]

for day 3, maybe spend the whole day in kyoto instead, and visit arashiyama?

dotonbori and shinsaibashi is around the same area. and i dun think u need a whole day there. can consider visiting the osaka aquarium in the morning, since shops dun open so early anyway. the aquarium in osaka is one of the best i have been to. RWS one totally no fight compared to osaka one

for day 5, u dun need the whole day for osaka castle. half a day at most. can go umeda for more shopping and some sightseeing atop the umeda sky building observatory and Hep 5 ferries wheel

 

[Bishio]

suggest 2 full days at kyoto.

You need to group your kyoto sightseeing together ... to minimise the time spent on transport.

thxs any suggestions wat grp of places I shld visit tgt in a day?

I allocate day 1,2 and half day 3 for Kyoto shld be enough?

 

[Bishio]

i used this site to plan the places for my previous trip... your itinerary is exactly like my next trip in June.. you may want to include Nara, very nice quiet and relaxing place

Osaka: Osaka Travel Guide
Kyoto: Kyoto Travel Guide
Nara: Nara Travel Guide

and use Streetview to recce the streets first also can

For the SIM, i also used B-Mobile. but dun use the 14 days one.. it caps the speed horribly after 200MB of usage.

how much does it costs for the b-mobile? im not sure of nara. scared not enough time to fully enjoy what nara has to offer.

time is really tight.

 

[Bishio]

for day 3, maybe spend the whole day in kyoto instead, and visit arashiyama?

dotonbori and shinsaibashi is around the same area. and i dun think u need a whole day there. can consider visiting the osaka aquarium in the morning, since shops dun open so early anyway. the aquarium in osaka is one of the best i have been to. RWS one totally no fight compared to osaka one

for day 5, u dun need the whole day for osaka castle. half a day at most. can go umeda for more shopping and some sightseeing atop the umeda sky building observatory and Hep 5 ferries wheel

thxs for suggestion will visit umeda then.

 

[angcsbenny]

advise you to get the 2 day osaka unlimited pass. free admission to quite a number of attractions which makes it worth the money

Usage Guide?Osaka Unlimited Pass 2012

 

[samtcy]

Hi everyone I have a rough itinerary plan up. A short trip with my mom and brother.

Day 1: Kyoto
Reach kansai airport at 6.30am sg time
take train to Kyoto
put bags at lodging
proceed to sightsee,lunch,sightsee,dinner
nishiki market - morning/afternoon or night better to visit?
geisha spotting at gion

Day 2: Kyoto
breakfast, sightsee, lunch, sightsee dinner
kiyomizudera, kinkakuji, fushimi inari - doable in 1 day?
Fushimi Inari is easily accessible and won't take too long to visit, unless you plan to walk the entire course to the top. As for Kiyomizudera area, there's actually quite abit to see there, other than Kiyomizudera itself.

There are shops and a few other shrines along the way too. It's quite a long slope leading up to Kiyomizudera, so I foresee you might spend some time here.
Might I suggest you go Fushimi Inari + Kiyomizudera + Gion on this day?
And Nishiki + Kinkakuji on the previous day?

Day 3: Osaka
maybe half day Kyoto (imperial residence, castle)
half day Osaka
Not sure please kindly advise
Unless you are going during winter where the scenic train stops operation, otherwise I would recommend a trip to Arashiyama area (bamboo grove, scenic train, shops near the riverside, and monkeypark with nice overview if you have the time but be prepared to spend about 30mins climbing up to the top of the monkey park). Arashiyama is just a short 30mins train ride from Kyoto station to JR Saga-Arashiyama station. Remember to press the traindoor button to open the door when you want to alight at JR Saga-Arashiyama station.

Go Osaka in the late afternoon, and explore Dotonbori to Shinsaibashi in the evening.

Day 4: Osaka
breakfast, sightsee, lunch, sightsee dinner
dotonbori, shinsaibashi
Go Osaka Castle + Umeda today. Or you can also consider going to Nissin Cup Noodle museum to customize your own cup noodle if you are keen to.
Don't forget to also visit Tokyu Hands store near Osaka station if you are at Umeda area. It's my fav shopping store whenever I go Japan.

Day 5: Osaka
breakfast, sightsee, lunch, sightsee dinner
Osaka castle, umeda
Visit Nara on this day.
Interesting to see deers roaming about freely plus a visit to Todai-ji. More shopping in the evening at Osaka.

Day 6: Kansai Airport
10.30am flight

I am not sure what tourist train tixs/ package train tixs to buy and take.
As it will be the first time im going to japan. I have no idea about must-see attractions and food to eat!
Kyoto and Osaka are a confusing mixture of train lines run by JR and non-JR train companies. So unless you did your research and know which train lines you will be taking most of the time, otherwise I'd just recommend you to just use the Suica/Pasmo card (like our EZ link card) and just tap in and out of stations.

Even if you buy rail pass and there are savings, to me, it won't really be substantial enough for me to wreck my brains over whether I have to only take JR lines or non-JR lines...depending on whichever company I decided to get my rail pass from.

Plus, it's usually more convenient to take buses when you are at Kyoto instead of train (with the exception of Fushimi Inari and Arashiyama).

Get the JR Kansai West Kansai Area 1 day Pass (2000yen) for your day 1 because you will need to take Haruka Express train from Kansai Airport to Kyoto, and this pass lets you ride the train on an unreserved seat whereas if you get the same train ticket on its own, it costs 2980yen. So even if you only use your rail pass for just this train journey, you would have already saved 980yen.


Please kindly help and refine my itinerary, all opinions and advices are welcome!

Is getting a sim card for internet usuage good just for the trip? Because its very expensive.
Do you really need internet? Because since your trip is not too long, so it's not really worthwhile for you to get it. I usually will get it if my trip is more than 10days.

Internet on the move
b-mobile VISITOR SIM 1GB Prepaid | b-mobile wireless internet
Downlink:14Mbps / Uplink:5.7Mbps (Best effort)
3,980YEN
a micro-SIM card to fit our iphone that gives 1GB data for 14 days from bmobile

btw thinking of getting an ONI mask for souvenir? is it expensive?

My response in blue

 

[Bishio]

advise you to get the 2 day osaka unlimited pass. free admission to quite a number of attractions which makes it worth the money

Usage Guide?Osaka Unlimited Pass 2012

this seems pretty useful! thxs!

guess have to wait for apr for sales to begin

 

[Bishio]

My response in blue

I dun thnk I really need internet. maybe just for google maps.

thxs for ur blue responses! very meaningful! will update my itnenary!

any difference between kobe/nara?

as angcsbenny recommended to get the Osaka unlimited pass, it seems gd, what do u think?

btw u said take the buses. r they easy to use?

 

[samtcy]

I dun thnk I really need internet. maybe just for google maps.

thxs for ur blue responses! very meaningful! will update my itnenary!

any difference between kobe/nara?

as angcsbenny recommended to get the Osaka unlimited pass, it seems gd, what do u think?

btw u said take the buses. r they easy to use?

You will have to calculate your cost savings to see whether the Pass is feasible for you to get for your trip.

Kobe is more city like (like smaller scale of Osaka), Nara is more old town (like Kyoto).

For buses in Kyoto, you board the bus from the back door, collect a bus ticket from the dispenser next to the back door. Press bell when you want to alight, and go to the front door to drop your bus ticket + pay fares + alight.

For directions on how to go to the shrines (like Kinkakuji), you can check out japan-guide.com for more info.

 

[James Tang]

Just some suggestions:

1. We didn't see many Geishas in Gion. But saw a few (both Maikos and Geishas) around the streets below Kiyomizudera. Just keep a lookout. If you see suddenly one whole group of people (especially tourists) rushing for something, just follow, chances is that they are rushing towards them to take photos. This is what we did haha...

2. If you like to eat soba, you can try Honke Owariya, a 500 year old soba place. I think they have more than 1 branch now.

HONKE OWARIYA

I had the: 八寸付き宝来そば
Hourai Soba with Kyoto style Hors d'oeuvre.

Just take note that the map is not drawn to scale. Took us a while and asking the locals to find it, luckily we speak a bit of Jap

 

[Bishio]

I dun speak jap so will be abit tough I guess.

but it will not stop me from experiencing japan. haha

 

[Bishio]

btw im thinking of collecting temple charms.

is it exp? the ones at the temple grounds.

and do all temples have the charms?

 

[James Tang]

Yes. They have a lot of charms, for different purposes. In Kyoto, every temple we went have at least 10 types of different charms. Each with different pricing ranging from say 100yen to a few hundred yens. Some smaller temples have fewer types.

I remember buying 大黑 from Mizukiyodera for 450yen for my brother and a few other different ones for collection sake. Just simply can't buy them all....

 

[Bishio]

Yes. They have a lot of charms, for different purposes. In Kyoto, every temple we went have at least 10 types of different charms. Each with different pricing ranging from say 100yen to a few hundred yens. Some smaller temples have fewer types.

I remember buying 大黑 from Mizukiyodera for 450yen for my brother and a few other different ones for collection sake. Just simply can't buy them all....

thxs I will see which one I fancy then buy them hope its not the expensive ones I choose!

I would want the wooden plaques too!

 

[Bishio]

hi guys I have refined my itinerary.

is it ok?

 

[Bishio]

Up for opinions

 

[patryn33]

No onsen????