Thanks for everyone’s advice and insight on my other questions so far! I’ve pulled the trigger and purchased flexible flights for my trip in late November/early December 2021 and will of course only be traveling if the situation allows it. The routing wasn’t my favorite but the price was way more affordable, so now I have questions about the arrival logistics.
The flight arrives KIX from Seoul at 8:55pm. I see that the last Haruka train leaves at 10:16pm from the airport. We’ll have checked luggage and I have a spouse who generally wants to poop immediately after deplaning from a long flight (hopefully this will be handled in Seoul but just in case). Can we reasonably expect to purchase a Haruka + ICOCA bundle and make that last train if our flight arrives on time? Is there any benefit in reserving that in advance? I think I’d rather wait in case we miss the train unless the benefit is massive in some way. The good news is that it looks like the ticket office is open until 11pm.
Alternatively, I see that there’s a limo bus to Kyoto from the airport that runs a little later, and it looks like we can buy tickets on the spot. Is this a reasonable back-up plan? I think the worst case scenario might involve a flight delay that would make us miss both, in which case we’d be looking at calling our Kyoto hotel and then staying near the airport overnight.
Finally, how’s the taxi availability at Kyoto station around this time? I assume it’s good 24/7 because major train station, but I’ve also read that Kyoto shuts down pretty early!
7 comments
Yes, you should be able to make the last Haruka.
No, I don’t think advanced reservation is required, especially late at night.
The 22.59 bus to Kyoto is the last reasonable way to go to Kyoto. It might actually be more comfortable than Haruka.
Taxi availability will be good — taxi is the standard mode of transportation for people who cannot make it in time for the last bus.
Frankly, nobody can give you estimate on how long it will take to get through immigration and customs, when Japan will open to non-essential travel – personally I think that getting through airport will take much longer as there is high degree of likelihood that veracity of COVID vaccinations/PCR tests will be verified during the procedure (and it’s also likely that rapid antigen test might become mandatory).
Yes, there will be cabs in Kyoto station until at least 0:30 (when last train from Osaka arrives), however, it would be much more prudent to stay the night either in Namba area of Osaka, or in the hotels in Rinku Town.
How did you get a covid flexible flight if you don’t mind? Just bought the insurance with it?
If the plane is not late, you have 1h20 to get in the train. I think it is possible (in normal circumstances).
Just to give an idea, when I flew in KIX, I had a layover of 1h40. My luggage did not follow me all the way to KIX, so had fill the paperwork to get me luggage forwarded to my hotel, stop by a konbini to buy a cable (I casually forgot mine in the wall in the previous airport) then get my boarding pass for my next flight, pass security and wait at the gate for my next flight.
For sure I would not personally book it in case I miss the train. Just try to find the layout of the airport to have a good idea of where you need to go, where the ticket office that sell the discount ticket is, etc. If you miss the train, do not bother to but anything, you can get the return icoca+haruka at Kyoto station too. And yes, make sure you know your options for bus if you end up too late for the train, that is absolutely a good plan.
Even if Kyoto was to shut down early, I’m pretty sure there will be taxi around the station, especially when there is still bus coming in.
You of course could alway book a night at the Hotel Nikko Kansai Airport which is walking distance from the terminal and not have to stress about getting to Kyoto that night
Not sure if this answers your question.
About a few years back my flight to KIX got delayed by several hours and I ended up missing the last limited express train. I ended up exchanging my ticket for a “standard” commuter train to Osaka. It was a bit slower, but at least it got me to where I needed to go. In the event you miss your train, what you can do is take the commuter train to Shin-Osaka/Osaka station and transfer to another train to Kyoto. Check out the Japan Guide on the topic: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2033.html
Kyoto is on my list of places I want to visit. Any suggestions on what to see/checkout while there?