there is , the station from Osaka Castle is "Osaka Business Park Station".

Take the Subway NagahoriTsurumi Line : Osaka Business Park Station -> Shinsaibashi

Aha! Good call, Samokan!

yeah but it will also depend which exit they go out to. if its in the Business park area, then the Nagohori is convenient but if its on the exit near NHK then its another subway ( forgot ) and walking towards the honmachi avenue would be faster and free :D

and if its on the other side, its just the JR Loop LIne there..

Thanks samokan, I appreciate the help!:)

When I lived in Japan I visited Osaka about once every 5 or 6 weeks, as it was the closest large city. My train went right into Namba station in the southern part of the city, and I would typically wander around the covered shopping area just outside Namba, and then head out to one or more of the following: American mura, Den Den town, Dotunburi, or take the subway to the shopping area around Osaka station in the north. Osaka castle really isn't one of the best castles Japan has to offer, but you could see that. The Osaka aquarium is nice if you like aquariums. For eating, there are tons of restaurants around Dotunburi, or you can go down to the basement level of Namba station which has a lot of restaurants. (My favorite place down there had huge tonkatsu for a very reasonable price... either pork or chicken. No idea if they are still there or not.)

I don't know what your full itinerary is like, but are you visiting many temples or traditional sites, or do you just prefer bigger cities? A trip to Nikko when you are in Tokyo might be a good idea, and in the Kansai area, Nara or Koya-san may be more interesting and memorable than Osaka, IMO.

Thanks samurai007 for your input, I appreciate it! The Namba Station looks to be a good starting point for wandering thru the streets of Ame-Mura, Den Den town etc. Okay, I'm also a fan of Tonkatsu dishes as well...thanks for the recommendation on that as well.

With respect to my itinerary, I will get in temples and traditional sites in Kyoto and Nara. I'll be seeing Hiroshima for the day as well as a visit to Miyajima Island.

You mentioned Koya-san, I never heard of this place. It looks interesting when I looked it up on google. Is it worth checking out? It looks pretty close to Nara. I think Nara would be a solid day trip from Kyoto, however If I could fit in Koyo san I would.

Cheers.

Koya-san is one of my favorite places in all of Japan. The cemetery is incredible, there's tons of temples, and you can stay overnight in a temple to experience temple life (eating the vegetarian cuisine the monks eat, etc) For this reason, if you are able to spend the night there to experience a temple stay, that's best. But even as a day trip it's nice.

You can get to it from either Nara or Osaka's Namba station. From Namba, take the Nankai-Koya line directly to Koya-san (which is the last stop on the train line, and the ticket price includes the tram ride to the top of the mountain.) From Nara, take the train line that heads for Wakayama and change trains in Hashimoto City, getting on the Nankai Koya line there. It's faster and easier to head out from Namba, but the scenery of the train ride is nicer from Nara. Note that the Nankai-Koya line is not a JR train, so you can't use your rail pass on it if you have one. However, the train from Nara to Hashimoto is a JR train, which will get you halfway there.

Here's some pictures I took of of Koyasan:








The bottom pictures are the temple I stayed at and a monk serving us dinner.

[quote=samurai007;822956]Koya-san is one of my favorite places in all of Japan. The cemetery is incredible, there's tons of temples, and you can stay overnight in a temple to experience temple life (eating the vegetarian cuisine the monks eat, etc) For this reason, if you are able to spend the night there to experience a temple stay, that's best. But even as a day trip it's nice.

You can get to it from either Nara or Osaka's Namba station. From Namba, take the Nankai-Koya line directly to Koya-san (which is the last stop on the train line, and the ticket price includes the tram ride to the top of the mountain.) From Nara, take the train line that heads for Wakayama and change trains in Hashimoto City, getting on the Nankai Koya line there. It's faster and easier to head out from Namba, but the scenery of the train ride is nicer from Nara. Note that the Nankai-Koya line is not a JR train, so you can't use your rail pass on it if you have one. However, the train from Nara to Hashimoto is a JR train, which will get you halfway there.

Here's some pictures I took of of Koyasan:


Thank you samurai007 for sharing your wonderful pictures of Koya-san, it really looks beautiful there!

Thanks for the info regarding the trains. I personally would like to visit Koyasan, however, I have to check with the rest of the family members if that would work for them. I wonder if seeing Koyasan is feasible in a day trip including Nara? I somehow think it wouldn't be enough time as we have to get back to Kyoto later in the evening, as we have rented out an apartment there.

[quote=atan64;822997]You might be able to do it if you really hurried, but IMO that's too much for 1 day. What you could do is see Nara, then travel on to Koya san, spend the night in a temple, look around town the next day, and head back to Kyoto that afternoon/evening. But that's a waste paying for both the place in Kyoto and temple lodgings.

You could spend 1 day seeing Nara, return to Kyoto, then next day travel to Koya san as a day trip and back to Kyoto that evening. That's a lot of extra time riding trains, though, so much so that it might not be worthwhile. I'd estimate Kyoto to Koya san is about 3 hours each way by train, perhaps a bit more because of the need to change trains.... so that's 6 hours of train travel in 1 day. That's a lot.

[quote=samurai007;823033]Yes I agree, I don't want to spend for extra lodging. Definitely would be better to make a separate day trip to Koya san. I still would love to go, it looks so awesome there!