Visiting Kansai
Nara was Japan's capital before Kyoto, which held the title for more than a thousand years. The two are less than an hour apart by train. Between them, Osaka never ruled and makes a point of it: street food, blunt dialect, garish signs along the Dotonbori canal.
That is what sets Kansai apart from the rest of Japan. Three cities with opposite temperaments, linked by trains every ten minutes, and they fit into one trip without changing hotel. The Japan people come looking for, wooden temples and lantern-lit lanes, is here, and it asks for no long journeys.
You'll love it if
- You want temples and cities without spending your days in transit
- You travel to eat as much as you travel to walk
- You're willing to aim for April or November, and to book far ahead
Give it a miss if
- You're coming in July or August without knowing what heat does in a basin
- You're after beaches or wide open space
- Crowds in front of a listed site ruin the visit for you
The must-sees
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1 Kyoto +303 recs
Capital of Japan from 794 to 1868, spared by the 1945 bombings. Seventeen of its monuments are World Heritage listed. The Golden Pavilion takes an hour, the Gion district is best walked at dusk.
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2 Fushimi Inari-taisha +17 recs
Thousands of vermilion gates climb the flank of Mount Inari, donated by companies whose names are carved on the back. The path runs four kilometres to the summit. The first two hundred metres are packed, the rest almost empty.
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3 Dotonbori +17 recs
Osaka's canal and its animated signs, including the Glico runner, lit since 1935. You eat standing up: takoyaki, okonomiyaki, kushikatsu. This is the city most willing to laugh at itself in Japan.
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4 The maples November
The red of the momiji lasts about two weeks, from mid-November to early December depending on the garden. Kyoto's temples open after dark for the occasion. It is the season the Japanese themselves aim for, and the prices say so.
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5 Nara +125 recs
The country's first permanent capital, from 710 to 784. Sika deer roam freely in the park, where the Todai-ji shelters a fifteen-metre bronze Buddha. Half a day from Kyoto or Osaka is enough.
Our itineraries in Kansai
| Length | Route | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| Long weekend (4 days) | Kyoto › Nara | Temples and deer |
| 1 week | Kyoto › Nara › Osaka › Kobe | Three temperaments, one cuisine |
| 10 days | Kyoto › Uji › Nara › Osaka › Himeji › Miyazu | Tea, castle, coastline |
One base and day trips by train is the simplest way to move around here. Kyoto or Osaka work equally well: they are fifteen minutes apart by Shinkansen, and each reaches Nara, Kobe and Himeji in under an hour.
Count half a day per city, not a full one: temples close early, often at 5 pm, and the ride back happens in the dark with nothing to see.
When to visit Kansai
| Rating | Season | Weather | Crowds and prices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late March to mid-April | 12 to 20 °C, dry | Peak, book months ahead | |
| Mid-November to early December | 8 to 17 °C, dry | Very heavy, high prices | |
| May and October | 15 to 25 °C, pleasant | Steady, mid-range prices | |
| June to September | 25 to 35 °C, very humid | Light in August, low prices |
Our advice
Aim for the second half of November rather than April: the maples last longer than the cherry blossom, and the temple night openings only exist in that season. Avoid the first week of May, the whole country is on holiday.
Getting to Kansai
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1 By plane Fastest
Kansai International, built on an artificial island in Osaka Bay, linked to Kyoto and Osaka by direct train. It is the region's gateway.
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2 By Shinkansen Simplest
Shin-Osaka station and Kyoto station both sit on the Tokaido line, which runs from Tokyo. The train arrives in the centre, the plane does not.
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3 By local train Simplest
three networks serve the region, JR and two private companies, often competing on the same route. The cheapest is almost never JR.
For a trip that starts here, fly into Kansai International. For a trip that continues to Tokyo, take the Shinkansen without hesitating: it drops you in the centre of Kyoto and saves two airport transfers.
Getting around Kansai
A car is no use here, and parking costs a fortune. Everything runs on trains, metro and buses, with a rechargeable card you tap at the gate.
Worth knowing
The nationwide unlimited pass almost never pays off for a trip that stays within Kansai: the journeys are short. Compare it with the regional passes before buying.
What to eat in Kansai
- Takoyaki: batter balls with octopus, cooked in half-sphere moulds and served scalding. Osaka's speciality, eaten standing on the pavement.
- Okonomiyaki: a thick cabbage and batter pancake, cooked on the griddle in front of you. The Osaka version mixes everything before cooking, the Hiroshima one stacks the layers.
- Kushikatsu: breaded, deep-fried skewers and a shared sauce you dip into once only. The rule is posted in every place that serves them.
- Kaiseki: Kyoto's sequenced meal, born of the tea ceremony. A short lunch version costs a fraction of dinner and is enough to understand it.
- Uji matcha: the town has produced the country's most respected green tea since the twelfth century. You drink it there, and eat it too, as ice cream and pastry.
- Kobe beef: a strict appellation, a few thousand certified animals a year. The steak is beyond expensive, the lunchtime sandwich far less so.
- Sake: two of Japan's great brewing districts are here, Nada in Kobe and Fushimi in Kyoto. The cellars run visits and tastings.
Kitchens close early, often at 9 pm outside the nightlife districts, and many places stop serving lunch after 2 pm. Eat on Japanese hours or you'll find the doors shut.
Where to stay in Kansai
| Area | Good for | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Kyoto, around the station | Day trips by train, temples in the morning | The most practical, the least charming |
| Kyoto, Gion and Higashiyama | Walking the lanes in the evening | Expensive, and full months ahead |
| Osaka, Namba or Umeda | Eating late, going out | Bigger rooms, lower prices |
| Nara | Seeing the park before the coaches | Very quiet at night, little choice |
| Kobe | Port, sake, beef | One night is enough, doable from Osaka |
How much does a trip in Kansai cost?
| Style | Length | Budget per person |
|---|---|---|
| Budget (hostel, street food, local transport) | 7 days | €600 to €850 |
| Comfortable (chain hotel, restaurants, a few sights) | 7 days | €1,200 to €1,700 |
| High-end (ryokan, kaiseki, taxis) | 7 days | €2,800 to €4,000 |
- The season: in April and November a room costs double what it does in June, and books up six months ahead.
- Lunch: the midday set at a good restaurant costs three to four times less than its evening menu, for the same cooking.
- Transport: journeys are short and frequent, count them into the budget, they add up fast without the right regional pass.
- Temples: each one charges entry, a few euros every time. A day of five temples is not a free day.
- The ryokan: one night with dinner and breakfast often costs what three hotel nights do. It is an experience, not accommodation.
Traditions and way of life in Kansai
The Japanese spoken here is not the textbook one. Kansai-ben has its own intonation, its own words, its own negative, and the people who speak it do not switch for a visitor. In Osaka, talking to a shopkeeper is more direct than anywhere else in Japan, and the comeback is part of the trade: the city gave the country its comic theatre.
Kyoto works the other way round, through set phrases and implication, and its codes are tighter. The two cities have mocked each other for centuries, with a consistency that looks a lot like affection. In Gion, the trainee geiko you pass in the late afternoon are going to work: they are professionals on their way somewhere, not a show.
Two habits are worth picking up fast. You don't photograph a geiko close up without asking, and in several Gion lanes it is banned and fined. And you don't eat while walking: step aside, finish, move on.
