Advice for Day Trips to Osaka & Kyoto

I will be traveling to Osaka & Kyoto by Shinkansen and I'm wondering if I should plan to stay in Kyoto during my visits to both cities- I was hoping to do day trips for each, or should I plan 1 night in each city. Any advice would be appreciated!

I'd choose one or the other-they are close by each other and easy to get to.

Of the two I'd choose Kyoto because I think it is the more interesting place. Osaka is a big city, more a commercial centre than cultural or historical place, though there are some good things to see and do.

Have a wonderful time in Japan!

Day Trips to Osaka & Kyoto

Where will you travel from? From Tokyo? Day trip to Osaka or Kyoto from Tokyo is doable, but it will take long time, especially if you will go with Japan Rail Pass. Yes, you might better consider staying in Kyoto.

As a day trip from Tokyo, going to Kansai with a rail pass means about 6 hours of your day just sitting on trains, which is a ridiculous waste of time. Definitely do it as an overnight.
And it's up to your interests of course, but Osaka has less interest if you are already seeing Tokyo. But seeing Osaka at night can be a lot of fun.
You really should consider seeing Nara for at least half a day instead of Osaka. It has some of the country's best sights.
https://goo.gl/LfvWnL

Hi,

I live in Kyoto.
I understand you will have 3 days trip to Kansai.
If you�fre going to choose one city to stay at, you can decide on the fact that Kyoto is a more traditional city while Osaka is a bigger and more commercial city. Whichever you chose, you can have a day trip to the other city, taking only 30 minutes by JR Shinkaisoku rapid train.
Or you can have a stay in each city, which would be also nice.

Kyoto as a day trip from Tokyo involves about as much time as many other day trips recommended on this forum - it is only 2 1/2 hours from Tokyo Station, and as the shinkansen is a comfortable mode of transport it is quite do-able, especially with the frequency and times of the trains. It does, however, make for an expensive day-trip.
As for what to do once in Kyoto, as many of the popular places are quite spread out, it pays to focus on one area of the city, for example the eastern side would allow you to cover a range of sites without wasting too much extra time travelling between them.
Doing two trips to the Kansai region would be less practical, and staying in the area would make more sense from a use of time and cost perspective.