Day Tripping by rail from Osaka

Can someone please tell me if I stay in Osaka can I just do day trips to Hiroshima, Kyoto and Himeji by rail to save changing hotels each day? I am staying for 6 days.

Kyoto and Himeji are easily done as daytrips. Hiroshima is not impossible but I recommend to stay there overnight.

Kobe, Kyoto, Nara and even Himeji are within distance of regular trains, and are not too expensive to travel to. Hiroshima is further distance and is possible if you leave early and pay more to ride the Shinkansen (bullet train).

Thank you both for your help and advice. I appreciate the response. Cheers Jayne

Based out of Osaka, we are planning on hitting Hemeji Castle in the morning, and Nara in the afternoon/evening. Is this doable? Thanks!

Yes its doable, depends on your travel preferences, Osaka-Himeji is 2hrs (roundtrip by regular trains) and Osaka to Nara is about 1hr round trip, not including the time taken to see each place and walking around. So it is possible.

Osaka-Himeji-Osaka-Nara-Osaka in a day? It's doable, but not advisable. You wouldn't have enough time in Nara. Keep in mind that the major attractions in Nara such as the Great Buddha and Kasuga Shrine close at 4:30 (4 pm in winter.)

But, using the shinkansen to get to Himeji and back, you would be able to arrive at Nara about 1pm. Wouldn't that give you enough time to see the main sights?

I did the opposite, I stayed in Kyoto for 7 days and took day trips to Osaka, Nara and Hiroshima. You can do it!
Just get up early! Have a great time, I did!

Is it possible to get from Osaka to Nagano (not for a day trip) without having to go all the way back to Tokyo and then back across to Nagano (about a 4.5hr train journey)?

Yes, go to Nagoya then connect to a Limited Express train to Nagano.

The travel time is is about 35 minutes faster. So you are still traveling 4+hrs.

Check www.hyperdia.com

Thanks John, I checked it out on Hyperdia and it saves me 345KM of travel! and is a whopping 20mins quicker! just shows you how fast the bullet trains travel. Due you know if its possible to fly from Nagano to Osaka? we're a bit tight on time so saving a few hours by flying could be an option.

JAL/JAC flies from Itami (Osaka) to Shinshu-Matsumoto Airport in Matsumoto. The flight is about one hour. Matsumoto is in Nagano Prefecture but to get to Nagano City requires another 70+ minutes of travel by bus.

In the end you if you include the time getting to Itami Airport, and checking in to the flight, security and all the airport stuff, your travel time is reduced to about 3 or so hours of travel.

Thanks again John, very usefull info, I will look into the cost of these flights, but I suspect as you say with the additional check in time etc the gain will be marginal and probably not worth the cost.