Spouse & me going to Japan in Nov'16

We have booked directs into/from Tokyo. We intend to visit Osaka and Kyoto as well and will be spending about 12days in total. We understand that some people had advised to stay in Kyoto for visits to Osaka and Kyoto. Will be arriving in Haneda (Tokyo) in early hours like 5.30am. Pls advise on what transport to take to Osaka/Kyoto. Haven't book any hotels yet. Thank you for much needed advice.

You need to start booking hotels ASAP. November is peak season for the autumn leaves!

You can use Hyperdia (hyperdia.com/en) or Google Maps to look for trains.

It's hard to find reasonably priced hotels in kyoto these days, especially in High season like november. Therefore book your hotel ASAP. otherwise if you cant find a decent hotels in kyoto, doing it other way around (Make Osaka your base, and make kyoto a day trip) is not too too bad. Of course you dont want to spend $400 a night just so you can stay in kyoto. Shin-osaka to kyoto is only 30 mins by train and 15 mins by shinkansen. And there are plenty of decent hotels around shin-osaka station.

Osaka is generally cheaper than Kyoto for accommodation. With direct train access to some well know locations like Arashiyama, Fishimi Inari, Kiyomizudera/Higashiyama etc. It is great if attempt to penny pinch.

From Haneda, you can take Keikyu train to JR Shinagawa station, from where you can board JR Shinkansen train to Shin-osaka or to Kyoto. By the time you've cleared customs/immigration, there will be trains running.

I agree with others about booking accommodation.

You can get reasonable air bnb places in most cities

You can get reasonable air bnb places in most cities

Bad advice, more than 90% are illegal rentals. That is conservative. Generally AirBNB and its properties are illegal in Japan.

Thank you everyone for your prompt replies. Still not quite familiar with "shin osaka". Any hotels in "shin osaka" area and near train stations would be good?

Shin-Osaka is a train station.

Namba Station the right subway/line to be travelling around Osaka?

Namba is a good, central location in Osaka.

Ryuta 89, thanks for advice on mode of transport from Haneda to Osaka/Kyoto.

Have booked a hotel in Namba. Just wondering if 7 days to tour Osaka and Kyoto is sufficient. Places of interest in Osaka incl Museum of Housing & Living, Osaka Museum, Castle, Dontoburi, Namba and Gion and a couple of shrines (Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine, The temple of Silver Pavilion) in Kyoto? Hakata 14, are those other places of interest, worth a visit?

7 days in Osaka and Kyoto should be enough.
places i like to visit:
Osaka: Dotonbori, Osaka castle, Shinsekai, Universal studio, Umeda building
Kyoto: Kinkakuji, kiyomizudera, fushimi Inari, Arashiyama, (and many more you can check on this website).
Also since you will stay in Osaka, i would recommend day trip to Nara (Todaiji temple), as well as Himeji/Kobe area.

As how to go to those places google map will help a lot. Hyperdia is good a tool, but for a first timer it is indeed hard to use.

Hey thanks for your quick response. Let me check out those places u have mentioned.

Basically Ryuta89 has it covered. For a first-timer I would do Umeda Sky building after exhausting the endless commercial possibilities of Osaka Station City and Grand Front Osaka. Then, shifting to traditional Japan, i.e. Kyoto; Ryoanji, Kinkakuji, the now-uncomplicated Imperial Palace, stroll around Gion and pontocho, and you might like the Sanjusangendo Temple. As well as other sites mentioned in these excellent posts. You already booked hotel so you don't get the "avoid bnb's in Japan at all costs" lecture. Enjoy; I will have left just one week before your trip.

Johnnyman, thanks to you too. Having sorted out the hotel in Osaka, is there a reasonably good centrally located hotel in Tokyo that u would recommend? I still could not make out where and which train line to stay close by given that the places of interest seem to be all over the place?

Staying somewhere along the Yamanote Line is usually recommended.

Looks like you and I will be doing basically the exact same trip. I've also not yet booked accommodation, but have heard similar things about people suggesting that I stay in Kyoto rather than Osaka, however, I am a lover of food and have been sitting on the fence about it for a little while. I am looking to fly into tokyo, then train it straight to osaka, and stay there for 7 days before training it back to tokyo for just a little over a week there. I originally wanted to stay in Osaka to make trips to Hiroshima, Nara and Kobe (purely to have the beef) as well as trips to Kyoto and Nagoya.

Yes, seemingly so. Trust we will all enjoy this trip!!!

Regarding where you stay in Osaka, shin Osaka is very convenient for travelling to Kyoto and you will arrive in shin Osaka when coming from Tokyo. It has the mido-suji subway line through it that goes to Namba and goes through Umeda which is another tourist centre with a platform for the yametoze line (the orbital line which is run by JR so a JR pass can be used).
There isn't anything to see in shin Osaka however but it is quite a can vernier place to stay.
Regards, Rick