1 week osaka/ kyoto itinerary

Hi all,

will be going to osaka in october with my wife for the first time and still in planning stage so need some help/ advice on itinerary. There are many attraction but definitely not all is worth to go right? Hope expert can help me out.

1. Will be arriving at kansai airport at 930pm on a sunday night. Plan to stay at airport hotel for a night and proceed to osaka the next day so as not so rush. Is this choice feasible?

2 Was planning to stay in osaka for the whole week and do a day trip to kyoto for 2 days perhaps. Will kansai thru pass works better in this case? Hotel have not booked yet so still subject to changes.

Thanks in advance for all replies

Xen

1. yes good idea

2. Osaka to Kyoto and return, no Kansai Thru Pass will be overpriced. A Kansai Thru Pass work out at 1733 or 2000 yen per day for the 3 and 2 day options.

The subway in Osaka is 140 yen per trip, and traveling Umeda to Arashiyama is 400 yen, or Yodoyabashi to Fushimi Inari is 400 yen. So you'll only spend around 1000 yen a day. Not 1733/2000.

Kansai Thru Pass is only good for longer ditances like Himeji, Nara and Koyasan etc.

1. Your plan is feasible, but 9:30pm arrival still allows enough time to reach a more central hotel by train or bus. If you check into a hotel near airport, you will need to check out by 10:00am next day and not able to check in until 3:00 or 4:00pm. For a 1-week vacation, I personally would try to go directly to the main hotel.

2. Kyoto can be visited as a day trip from Osaka. But there are so much to see in Kyoto that I recommend staying in Kyoto for at least a few days. There is a direct train from Kyoto to Kansai airport, so the transportation back to the airport is easy.

Thanks for your replies.

I am looking at hotel Nikko at kansai airport. chkout is till 12pm so should be ok.

1. If i take the suggestion to stay a few days at kyoto, maybe i can proceed to kyoto for the first 3 days and back to osaka for rest of the days till sun?

2. What are the attractions in kyoto and osaka that is a must go? There are many attraction but i believe some can skip.

3. If staying at kyoto, is it better to buy a sightseeing pass or bus pass or whatever pass? for osaka is it the same to purchase any pass?


Thanks
Xen

1. With the 9:30pm arrival at KIX, I am not sure if you can make the last express train Haruka to Kyoto, which leaves around 10:16pm. There are other ways to get to Kyoto (non-express trains which require transfers, or express bus), but if you arrive too late to Kyoto station there may not be local trains/buses running.

2. See travel guides from this site.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2157.html
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2158.html

3. It depends on what you want to see and where you want to go in Osaka/Kyoto.