Lost in all information about Kansai area

Nice information about the former war.
Yes i was aware of the fact that USA "spared"kyoto, nowadays we can be very happy with that.

yes we concentrate on Kyoto.
The first 6 days we will visit North, east, west south and central kyoto.
Then we want to travel to Hiroshima, Miyajima, Okayama, wakayama and nara.
Kumano we took of the list, to far away.

Sanjusangendo is a "re-build" building the original of which is build in 1164 and re-build in 1266...gives me a smile :-)
Frog1954, may i say thank you. You support a lot of foreigners with your help and information.
I presume that 1954 your birthyear is, so you are retired ?
You still live in Kyoto ?

Then we want to travel to Hiroshima, Miyajima, Okayama, wakayama and nara.

Will you stay the nights at these places? Or are you planning to do day trips from Kyoto?

I presume that 1954 your birthyear is, so you are retired ?

Yes, I was born in 1954. No, sadly I am not retired yet :).

You still live in Kyoto ?

No, I am living in Kagoshima prefecture. But I go to Kyoto occasionally.

we do day trips, because we stay in Kyoto we can can chooce Always for the same restaurant to dinner as i noticed that a lot of restaurants are pleased if you return.

icoca haruka pass, we will use this one instead Kansai thru.
now i will get my focus on internet as i found that google maps and the mentioned apps will be very usefull

still not retired…..then it will be soom i hope for you.

we do day trips, because we stay in Kyoto we can can chooce Always for the same restaurant to dinner as i noticed that a lot of restaurants are pleased if you return.

I see. It would be easy to do day trip to Nara from Saiin. Just hop on Hankyu to Karasuma and then subway Shijo to Kyoto and then transfer to Kintetsu or JR to Kintetsu Nara or JR Nara. But you should note that the JR-West Kansai Hiroshima Area Pass and Sanyo-San'in Pass do not allow you to use shinkansen from Kyoto to Shin-Osaka. Therefore if you want to take shinkansen beyond Himeji (Okayama and Hiroshima that is), you must take conventional train to Shin-Osaka and then transfer to Shinkansen. You will need more time to do the westbound Shinkansen trip if you stay in Kyoto than west of Osaka (Shin-Osaka, Shin-Kobe etc). As compared to Shin-Kobe, Saiin will take 1-1.5 hr more for one way.

Therefore I recommend you to consider staying Shin-Kobe for your last 6 nights. This by itself is interesting place and you will save total of 10 hours if you do multiple west-bound day trips. This is one example, Crowne Plaza ANA Kobe hotel. This hotel is just on the Shin-Kobe station which is very convenient for the west-bound Shinkansen trip.

https://bit.ly/2yiP9vt

And yes I want to retire soon :).

Thanks again,

I think we stay in Kyoto and accept the few more hours traveling for the days we go to area Hiroshima.

If we dont want to travel we just can stay in Kyoto, so much to see :-)
My major goal outside Kyoto is Hiroshima, Himejii and Miyajima.
Then travel to Nara for one day.

i did have a look in the area you live. wow, nice nature....very different then Kyoto.

I think we stay in Kyoto and accept the few more hours traveling for the days we go to area Hiroshima.

OK, I see.

One problem with it is that if you take "commuter train" from Kyoto to Shin-Osaka in the morning, it would be very crowded. To avoid the congestion you might better take limited express train such as Super-Hakuto (Hakuto means white rabbit), Haruka (meaning "very far") or Thunderbird. They are slightly faster and less crowded. If you have Sanyo-San'in Area Pass, you can have reserved seats. With this pass you can also reserve Shinkansen train from Shin-Osaka. Mizuho and Sakura are JR-West/Kyushu trains which have better seats for reserved cars. The seats are somewhat wider (2+2 instead of usual 3+2) than the non-reserved seats and reserved seats of Nozomi, Hikari and Kodama. So if you stay in Kyoto throughout your Japan days I would recommend to buy Sanyo-San'in Area Pass. If you fit it in your last 7 days you can use reserved seats of Haruka to KIX by which you will have some peace of mind.

Normal route to JR Kyoto station from Hankyu Saiin station is to take Hankyu to Karasuma and then transfer to Subway Shijo and then to Kyoto (360 yen x 3=1080 yen). One alternative is to take taxi from Saiin to JR Nijo (610-720 yen but just hand 1000 yen and say "keep change" might be smarter) and then take JR train to Kyoto.

yes, Sanyo-San'in Area Pass will be best for us.
All replyers thanks a lot for all information, it cleared up a lot.
Frog 1954, many thanks

best regards, and looking forward to visit Japan again