Planning a trip to Japan for next year and looking to hit Osaka -> Kyoto -> Tokyo.
While speaking to a family member who’s been to Japan before said instead of staying in Osaka for a three days then taking the train to Kyoto for another three days, why not stay in Osaka for the 6-7 days and make a side trip to Kyoto? We thought about this and this could work. This would save *some hassle* of lugging our luggage round. We would most likely take the early train to Kyoto, spend the full day and stay over night, then spend another half or full day the next day and then take the train back to Osaka.
Reddit, what is your thoughts on this? This would heavily depend on what we wanted to do in Kyoto, but some of the attractions we wanted to do was in between Osaka/Kyoto, such as Nara Park and Suntory Distillery (which we could go to from Osaka). While in Kyoto, we would go to Arashiyama Bamboo Forest and Fushimi Inari Shrine.
Also, any recommendations for luggage delivery services?
3 comments
You have to decide what is a hassle for you, changing hotel or spending more time in the train to reach your destination. Just use Google Maps to get the best route from your specific hotel to the specific attraction you want to see.
Not sure if other company do it, but most people likely use Kuroneko Yamato. Just ask your hotel and they should be able to help you.
Travelling between Osaka and Kyoto is pretty easy with the JR Kyoto line between Shin-Osaka and Kyoto Stations, but it’s almost an hour one-way. (Fushimi Inari is a 5 minute train ride from Kyoto Station, btw. Like it’s literally across the street from Inari Station)
I think it’ll boil down to if you want to spend another 2 hours commuting back and forth from Kyoto, plus whatever time you need on the Osaka Metro to get to Shin-Osaka station.
Did that route, you can have your luggage shipped so that you don’t have to carry it around. You’ll also enjoy being in Kyoto to start your day rather than hop a train to get there in the morning from Osaka, and especially if you intend to do things like fushimi inari which you’ll want to be there early for. You can get to nara equally easily from either city.
Have your hotel handle your luggage transfer for you, whichever company the recommend should be just fine. Luggage will take a day to arrive so arguably if you can pack three days worth of stuff you can just send your luggage on ahead to Tokyo if you have a small rolling bag to take to Kyoto.
I’ll add, while I was in Japan my time was far more valuable than the cost to ship my luggage. You’ll find the amount of time you have to do things to be your biggest obstacle so I’m heavily in favor of doing anything that can maximize the time I get to be actively exploring Japan. Having an extra two hours+ of travel time every day for three days is pretty significant.