Kansai

Kansai is the other half of a first trip to Japan, the one that balances Tokyo. Seven prefectures make it up: Hyogo, Kyoto, Mie, Nara, Osaka, Shiga and Wakayama, and it is the second most populated region in the country. The Osaka Plain sits at its core, with the Keihanshin metropolitan area tying Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto into one working whole. Kobe and Himeji run west along the Inland Sea, and Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan, lies to the east. Everything named here is reachable from a single base.

Kyoto was the capital from 794 to 1868, and 17 of its monuments carry a UNESCO listing between them. That density is the appeal and the problem: everyone wants the same shrines at blossom and at leaf-fall, so book early and start at dawn, which is when the famous places are still quiet. Getting around is the city's weak point, with crowded buses and only two subway lines, so plan in neighbourhoods rather than crossing town twice. Kaiseki, the long seasonal meal, is a Kyoto speciality, and reserving it well ahead is normal.

Osaka is the eating city, and it is the reason a lot of people come to Kansai at all. Takoyaki and okonomiyaki are its own dishes, Dotonbori is the street they are sold on, and the whole place runs louder and looser than Kyoto. Kobe sits half an hour west along the bay and gives its name to the beef, which is the thing most visitors go for. Between the two you get the region's range in a single day: a formal counter lunch in Kobe, a canal-side stall dinner in Osaka, and cash in your pocket for the small places that still prefer it.

Three more places fill out the region. Nara has the deer park and the Great Buddha, and it is the easiest half day from either Kyoto or Osaka. Himeji, west in Hyogo, has the castle, listed by UNESCO and the one everybody pictures when they picture a Japanese castle. Koyasan, up in the mountains of Wakayama, is the temple-lodging trip: you sleep in a working monastery, eat what the monks eat and join the morning service if you want to. It is the one that takes an overnight rather than a day, and the one people come back talking about.

Kansai International is 38 km south-west of Osaka Station, and the Haruka runs from it to Kyoto in about 1 hour 20 minutes. Kyoto and Osaka are fifteen minutes apart, which is why you can base yourself in either and still see both properly. From Tokyo, the shinkansen takes around two and a half hours to Kyoto. Blossom in late March and April and autumn colour from late October to early December are the two peaks, and Kyoto is where everyone wants them, so book early. Golden Week, Obon in mid-August and New Year fill the trains. Goodbars sells a Japan eSIM you install at home and switch on when you land; which network carries it, and how fast, we publish only once we have verified it ourselves.