Reply To: Osaka-Kyoto stay
Hi Maria,
I lived nearly one year in Osaka and I went several times to Kyoto for one-day trips. With the JR Pass you can either take the Shinkansen from Shin-Osaka station (15 minutes to Kyoto station) or a fast JR train from either Umeda station (30 min) or Shin-Osaka. There are also slower trains that take around 45 minutes, but I think that they aren’t JR.
In Japan many touristic sites close quite early (some at 6pm), so going back to Osaka the same day shouldn’t be a problem. I would suggest waking up early to be in Kyoto when your desired sightseeing spots open, as there’ll be less tourists, and visit between 2 or 3 sites per day. That’s what I used to do and it worked pretty well.
Osaka is also a great base for one-day trips to Nara or Kobe, so I think that staying at the same hotel would work fine.
I hope that you enjoy your stay there!
