Jump Ahead:
Day 1 – Fly to Kobe, Train to Himeji, Himeji Castle, Train to Wadayama
Day 2 – Train to Takeda, Takeda Castle Ruins, Train to Himeji, Train to Kobe, Kobe
Final Day 3 – Kobe, Fly to Tokyo
Day 1 - Himeji Castle
Left Haneda 0910, landed Kobe 1030 exactly. 1050, port liner train to Sannomiya, then transferred to JR line. 1122 JR Rapid from Sannomiya to Himeji, ¥970, arrived Himeji @ 1002. 1205, coin lockers at Himeji Station were full so jumped on the Himeji Castle Loop Bus (¥100) and rode it up to Himeji Castle.
Found small, very local ramen restaurant (Haikei <https://tabelog.com/en/hyogo/A2805/A280501/28006277/>) near the park there… about ¥550 for ramen, ¥300 for plate of gyoza. Only one style ramen option here and didn’t seem like a touristy place at all. In fact it’s hard to tell it’s even open from the outside and while we were in there the people were looking at us funny, almost as if it was a locals only spot.. the one guy running the place seemed to like marathons. Food was very satisfying… simple, cheap, clean, good.
After lunch, went into Himeji Castle grounds. Admission was ¥1000 per person… bit on the pricey side but guess they have to pay for those recent renovations somehow. Finally got to check this one off the list though as it was a bit of unfinished business from my last trip here three years ago (was closed for New Year holiday). Very grand, historic castle. Nice stonework, woodwork, tilework, etc. Whole place is huge and it’s only what’s left of the original castle grounds from before. Have to take shoes off in the long corridor and also the main castle tower… not a big fan of carrying shoes throughout and smelling all the stink feet :/. Still a good experience… only the very top floor was uncomfortably crowded and they regulate how many people can go up at a time… our own wait was less than 10 minutes. Finished and left the castle grounds around 1500.. .a good two hours spent there. If I had to compare, I think up to this point I still liked Matsuyama Castle (Ehime Prefecture) better than Himeji Castle…. comparison I thought was Himeji is like Hakuba and Matsuyama is more like Nozawa… or Himeji is like filet mignon but Matsuyama is the ribeye hahaha make sense?
1520, ate ice cream from one of the cafes just outside the castle ground entrance. Played with some funny doodoo toys and then made out way back on foot to Himeji station. Jumped on the 1631 train from Himeji (Bantan Line), transferring at Teramae before finally ending up in Wadayama (arriving 1812). We had to scan our IC card twice at Himeji but by the time we got to Wadayama, there was no working IC card reader at the gate. Luckily there was a station attendant who could cancel our IC card and take cash for the train fare. So good tip, don’t even bother using your IC card on the Bantan line. The ride up was very country, local people and school kids for the most part, and only three train cars long. Nice big country homes but really nothing else out there… not even street lights. Wadayama was a little bigger town at least but still nothing really there at all… not even a conbini near the stations.
We had a hard time finding restaurants on Google maps and there was hardly anything on the walk to our hotel west of the station. The one restaurant that stood out looked good and we didn’t have much hope of finding anything else so we took a chance and went in. By the way, if travelling here at night, bring a flashlight (good thing I did). There are hardly any street lights and even most of the homes were dark… not sure where everyone is but it’s a really empty, dark town. The dinner itself ended up being a very nice surprise. We had to sit at the bar counter section because the rest of the restaurant was reserved (I guess it’s good to be the only restaurant in the area)… had to order a beer but wanted one anyway. The shelf behind the bar was full of bottles belonging to regulars and everyone there seemed to know each other. Even the server was drinking behind the bar and the customers next to us were just trading foods, drinking, chatting, having a good time. The food itself was the best surprise because I couldn’t believe what we were getting for the price we paid. The hot pot with udon was only ¥1000 each, and total cost for two of those, the beer, the grilled fish (also tasty), and (complimentary) mixed tempura was only ¥3900! Definitely wasn’t expecting to find a restaurant like that in a place like that…. was soooo satisfied.
Finished eating at 1925 and then made our way in the dark to our hotel. Good thing about the dark is all the stars are out to see. Also, I think this is the first time in Japan I’ve seen duplex style homes… many large, very nice homes… just nothing else there. Got to the hotel just after 1930… from the outside it looked more like an old love hotel with all the neon lights, yellow siren, and tacky lanterns on the outside. On the inside it was a little better.. more cozy, family run business… old grandpa sitting in the lobby watching TV and young daughter looking for the mom to check us in. The place was old but had lots of rooms and at least it was clean. ¥8100 for the night. For a family run hotel, the TV wasn’t so family friendly haha… as soon as we turned on the TV we were on a scrambled adult channel, probably from the person who stayed in the room before us.
https://travel.rakuten.co.jp/HOTEL/80653/80653.html?scid=mi_trv_conf_dhbook_002
Day 2 - Takeda Castle (Laputa's Castle in the Sky)
Woke up early, dropped off the key on our way out and walked to the train station (again, bring flashlight with you). Seemed to be a few other people with the same plan as us already checked out… weren’t too many affordable accommodations in Takeda itself, although that would’ve been much more convenient. 0521 in the morning, got on the first train from Wadayama back to Takeda. 6 minute ride for ¥190. Was a pretty cold morning, ranging from 8degC at night to 15degC in the morning… seemed like hopeful weather for fog though. Arrived at Takeda station before 0530… good timing and fortunate to get a locker at the station (didn’t want to hike up the hill with extra weight). Not many lockers available but then again it wasn’t so crowded this early. ¥300 for the smaller ones and ¥500 for the large ones.
After we put our stuff in the smaller locker, we headed out of the station southbound until we found the rail crossing. Cross the rails and then head back up the street (towards the station), past a row of temples until you come across the trailhead road (it’s pretty obvious). Started from there at about 0540 and took several breaks on the way up so I wouldn’t sweat as much (still did). More than a few other people doing the hike too. For those who prefer not to hike, there is a shuttle bus from the station that takes you up to the parking lot at which point you’ll have a relatively flat 20 minute walk to the ticket office… or you can take a taxi too. All options take about the same amount of time in the end. If hiking at this time, a flashlight will be mandatory because the trail has no lights at all and it’s no paved. Reached the ticket office at 0617 so all-in-all, less than 40 minutes of non-stop uphill walking even with the breaks… not too bad. Ticket admission was ¥500/person and then from there less than 5 minutes to the actual castle ruins.
Once we got to the ruins, the view really opened up and lucky for us, the weather was perfect! Super clear sky, and the fog we wanted was at least about 80% so it made for a really really nice scene. Really felt like we were able to capture that castle in the sky (from Ghibli’s Laputa) moment that we wanted. Another bonus of going early was the sunrise (@0652) we got to see coming up over the mountains with the river of fog running over the city and into the valley. We went to the highest point where most of the people were gathering and were able to get a front row position for the sunrise. There were more people at the ruins than on the hiking trail but it wasn’t overly crazy or anything… some nice dogs too. Definitely my new favorite castle (even though only ruins) in Japan simply based on the fact that I didn’t want to leave… it was definitely worth the trip and I can see why they call it the Machu Picchu of Japan.
They say the best months to get the foggy view is from October-November early in the morning before the sun burns off the fog… and even then only about 7-10 days out of those months does the fog really set in to get that castle in the sky effect so I feel we were very very fortunate. The other view that is seen on most brochures is actually on the other side of the valley looking back at the castle but you pretty much have to choose to see either that view or the view from the castle itself. I would recommend going to the castle itself first and if you have a second morning in Takeda, then go to Ritsuunkyo’s side for the far away view… you’d have to get really lucky with the weather though.
The walking path through the ruins is designed to be one way, but you can walk back and forth as much as you want before heading back down towards the ticket office/road. The exit will take you back down to the road where you can take a right to go to the parking lot area or left (slight uphill 200m) back to the ticket office. We chose to go back the way we came so we went back towards the ticket office (@0747) and back down the 900m trail to the train station again. Got back to the tracks by 0815 to wrap up a pretty perfect morning. Aside from the temples along the tracks, there’s not much else to do in Takeda. Had a good amount of time until the next train back to Himeji so we killed time by walking around the town. Very small, clean, old town where everyone probably knows everyone. Not many shops were open yet until 0900. Stumbled across a little courtyard area near where we crossed the tracks earlier in the morning… in there they had a couple small shops, a little history museum, a cafe and restrooms. Bought a little magnet (¥350) and tenugui (¥600) for souvenirs. 0917, headed back to the train station to get our stuff out of the locker, eat vending machine ice cream (Kansai seems to like their ice cream vending machines), and buy our train ticket. Got on the 0937 (¥1140) single-car train back to Himeji (with transfer again at Teramae). Nice to see the countryside along the tracks on the way back now that the sun was out. Made it back to Himeji station at 1108 (pretty long ride, fell asleep for some of it)…. got more and more crowded the closer we got to Himeji.
Tips for Bantan line, always stick to using/buying paper tickets. Don’t try to use IC cards. If there’s no ticket machine to buy a ticket, buy it from the station attendant. If the station attendant doesn’t stamp/check your ticket then most likely a train attendant will after you get on. When you get off the train, and there’s no station attendant, just put your ticket into the box where the gate would usually be… if there is a station attendant, give it to him/her. Not the first time these very country trains have confused me but as long as you have a paper ticket then should be no problems.
Back in Himeji, walked around a bit looking for someplace to have lunch. Ended up eating at Ton Ichi, just outside the station… very good pork there and not too expensive either.
Caught the 1242 train back to Kobe station, arriving at 1318 (¥970). Headed to the Harborland area. 1432 at Sanrio Rilakkuma store at Harborland… must’ve spent over an hour in there for Marie. 1555, walked over to Kobe Tower and Meriken Park. Meriken Park had a brand new Starbucks that wasn’t there last time I visited and also a car show going on… could ride along in the Subaru and then do a little survey for a model car but we didn’t have time for it. Other end of the park is the Kobe Earthquake memorial where you can see the original damaged pier still in the water. From Meriken park we headed towards Chinatown and Motomachi Shopping street, then to our hotel. Not much changed in those areas from the last time I visited… everything is still like a little Yokohama… in some cases more obvious than others because they play on a lot of similar Yokohama store names. 1714, got to our hotel room. Pretty good hotel and good size room… first time staying at this chain (123 Hotel). They had an electric stove kettle, sanitary inserts for the in-room slippers, and very strong water pressure hehe. Only ¥6700 breakfast included and free coffee hours. Less than 15 minute walk southeast of Sannomiya station area. Was pretty tired already from the early start and long day so we rested in the hotel for a little while before going out to find dinner. Left the room at 1830 to go find a Kobe Beef Ramen restaurant, Yuzawa. Got there 1845, sat down inside and then the guy kind of chased us out because he was working alone and wanted us to wait outside. I guess he couldn’t keep up even though the place wasn’t full. Sounded grouchy but maybe that’s normal for him. Sat back down at 1856… got our food pretty fast at least and it was pretty good. Two ramen (Kobe beef bone broth) with meat side dishes, 5pc gyoza, beef rice bowl, all Kobe beef, ¥2400… I would recommend despite the earlier service. After we ate, we just walked back to through the arcade area to the hotel to call it a night… we were pooped.
Final Day 3 - Kobe
Went down for breakfast at 0815… not bad, just standard things. Individually wrapped bread was strange and seemed wasteful. Finished eating by 0900, and checked out of the room by 1000. From hotel, walked to Higashi Yuenchi Park where they have another memorial for the earthquake victims… got pretty depressing thinking about the events of that morning and just how many people didn’t wake up that day. No sense of closure or being able to say goodbye.
Walked to the Sannomiya Port Liner station to put some things in a locker again since we’d be walking all day shopping. Got there at 1030 and were able to take the last locker upstairs near the gates (found more downstairs too though). ¥300 again, well worth the convenience.
Ended up walking all the way up and down Motomachi Shopping street, 1-5 (no number 2). Made our way back to eat lunch near Sannomiya area. Center Plaza, basement floor (B-1) had a small, more local food alley where we found another certified Kobe beef restaurant (Kobe Beef 29). I had the lunch set and Marie ate their award winning hamburger steak. ¥3140 for our lunch… not the expensive A5 prime cuts obviously but still good and still certified Kobe beef. Even in Kobe you have to make sure the restaurant is registered/certified to serve real Kobe beef. Finished eating at 1415.
From lunch, we walked back towards our hotel area to eat at one of the popular cheesecake cafes, Keshi Pearl. Had to wait for about 15 minutes as the place was not too big. Lot of rules that aren’t immediately obvious for tourists like us… for example, can’t take pictures inside other than what’s on your table… can’t make too much noise… and mandatory coffee orders with cheesecake, all of which we weren’t aware of. Looking at a minimum of ¥1000 per person here, pretty expensive but Marie was treating me this time. They seemed to be going for a old, comfy feel but with all the rules it wasn’t so comfy… maybe if we knew what to expect before going it wouldn’t have been such a big deal. Left Keshi Pearl at 1535 and still had about another hour half before having to catch train back to the airport. Walked back to the train station area, stopped in SOGO and found some akafuku mochi (best ever by the way, better than shingen I think, no shave ice this time though). Ended up catching an earlier train to the airport at 1620, ¥330… think we were tired already and did enough walking around shops.
Arrived back at Kobe airport 1638, super convenient train, just walk off and already at departure hall. There’s some shops and restaurants so you can get some last minute shopping in if you need to. We still had time to kill so we bought some omiyage and then ate udon upstairs before boarding to go home. What a nice, long weekend!
Overall, glad we got to make this trip and finally visit Laputa! I feel like we got really lucky with the weather and everything else working out. It was definitely worth it all and I would easily recommend it if you have the time. Till then!