Kyoto Travel Forum

Hi. We are planning to go to Himeji from Kyoto, stay a night there and go to Osaka the next day. How much is the travelling time and cost? Is buy 2-days Kansai Thru pass worth it?

Many thks in advannce

Kyoto to Himeji :
1) Take JR shin-kaisoku train directly from JR kyoto station to Himeji. 90mins. 2210yen
2) Take shinkansen from JR kyoto station to Himeji. 45mins on nozomi and 55mins on kodama or hikari. 4620yen non-reserved seats and 5400yen reserved seats
3) The non-JR route is really long, but if you are taking the kansai-thru pass this would be the route to take.
Take a Hankyu Ltd Express train to Hankyu Umeda from any Hankyu stations in Kyoto (http://rail.hankyu.co.jp/guide.pdf). Take a short walk to Hanshin Umeda Stn. transfer to a Ltd express train headed for Sanyo Himeji Stn. 1650yen. 145mins


Himeji to Osaka :
Cheapest way... From Sanyo Himeji Station take the ltd express train to Hanshin Umeda Station. 90mins. 1250yen
Cheaper JR way... Take the JR shin-kaisoku train from Himeji to Osaka stn. 60min. 1450yen
Fastest way... take the shinkansen to shin-osaka stn. 30mins. 3130yen non-reserved seats and 3700yen reserved.

can check out http://www.hyperdia.com (choose the english option) for more options.

The kansai thru pass is worth it if you take the slightly longer route of skipping JR trains (and shinkansen).
Or else you might want to consider the JR west pass. 1 day is 2000yen, 2 days is 4000yen. http://www.westjr.co.jp/english/travel/jrp/index.html

thks nexusangel! Ur info is v useful!

I think I will just use the JR west pass to Himeji. From Himeji to Osaka, I just buy the ticket on the sport. Kansai Thru pass seems to be not v useful since I am going only to Kyoto, Himeji and Osaka. From KIX to Kyoto, I will also be using JR west pass.

I used the JR west pass with 2 days availability and I found it of value.

From the airport, we took the JR limited Haruka to Kyoto. The next day, we took a JR rapid train from Kyoto to Himeji (which passes by osaka and Kobe as well) which took about 3hrs? I think. After himeji, we took JR train to Kobe, walked around, then up the line again to Osaka before heading back to Kyoto. All these were under the pass.