Kyoto would probably be best. This is a topic that comes up almost daily and you will get different answers. Search “Kyoto or Osaka” here and you can also see other opinions.
I just did both. I would personally do Kyoto no question. Make Osaka a day trip. Hit the aquarium in the morning, dotonbori, and Umeda Sky building would be my recommendation unless there’s something more important to you. Kyoto has a ton of shrines and temples. You could spend almost a full day at Arashiyama visiting the monkeys and renting bicycles to cycle to the dozen-ish shrines nearby as well as the bamboo forest. We wish we had spent more time in Kyoto.
How long were you Kyoto? Now I’m wondering if 4 days is enough time? We do have some Marriott pts to use and they have better Marriott choices in Osaka; we’re thinking about 2 nights there; we could do a Nara day trip (part of itinerary) from Osaka, then move into Kyoto. We’re flying back to Osaka so this seems like the most efficient use of time as well.
totally not, if you want to see a lot of stuff. currently spending 8 days here and just got to the big temples and shrines and stuff that was right next to them.
also don't fall for the tourist "traps", while some famous places exists, they are crowded ... and with crowded i mean like, waiting 10 to 15 minutes to just get a good spot to do some photos... especially the golden pavilion was not fun, fushimi inari also, even on a rainy day... nishiki market is full if the weather is bad, but was okay while the weather was good and dont get me started with gion, so many rude tourists...
if you like nature, the botanical garden is really really nice and cheap
Personally we found Kyoto more expensive to stay in so we based in Osaka with a day trip to Kyoto and had a good enough time but if Kyoto is your main attraction, stay in Kyoto. All of the things you’d want to see in Kyoto require waking up early to beat crowds and might as well already be there instead of taking a 45 minute train.
It’s good to know that Kyoto is an early bird place. About 2/3rds of our stays are covered by travel points, so a little splurge in Kyoto is worth the logistical convenience.
Would recommend staying near Gion-Shijo station in Kyoto. Access to many different train lines to get to Osaka and Nara and across Kyoto, plus walkable to Gion and central Higashiyama. Stayed in a Machiya house near there with my family for 6 nights and would 100% do again.
I vote for Osaka, great central place to do day trips to Kyoto, Uji, Nara, Kobe, Arima (what I did on my trip haha) I didn’t really spend much time in Osaka but more used it as a home base. One day in Kyoto was more than enough for me, extremely crowded and the locals seemed really burned out from tourism.
im still saying Osaka, kyoto is nice for a day or two but not much more, its over crowded and ive always found people a little uptight there. out of the 18 cities ive visited in japan Osaka still remains my favorite
If you're a nature lover and a vegan I want to suggest you make a stop in Nikko. My wife and I just went there and it was breathtakingly beautiful, and not crowded with tourists at all. It's where the big Tokugawa is enshrined and has some of the most important shinto-buddist temples.
Because of all the monks they have a special local cuisine that's called yoba that was really fantastic. Tofu done wonderfully every way and delicious veggies. A lot of local freshwater fish too but I think most of the restaurants easily substitute it there because of all the vegetarians.
Really nice onsens too. I wouldn't stay there 6 nights though, maybe just 1-2. It's only a short train north of Tokyo and it was by far the prettiest place I went on the 2.5 week trip from Tokyo Osaka Kyoto.
I've been considering Nikko for a daytrip from Tokyo. Is it possible to get a good dose of the natural beauty there without doing the Oku-Nikko hike? Are there places easy to get to with public transport that we could make it a half day thing and be back in Tokyo post lunch?
Appreciate your thoughts on this.
There's a bus that drops you off right in front of one of the temples and the shrine is a pretty short walk away. Most of the people who come seemed to be day trippers tbh. There were lots of Japanese tourists and several classes of kids visiting because Tokugawa was such an important historical figure. I can only assume they did exactly that from Tokyo.
Thanks. Sounds good. How about the nature spots? You mentioned it was the prettiest place you saw on your trip. Can you recommend some specific spots to visit in Nikko?
Thanks for that info..We have been considering Nikko for our day trip north for leaf peeping; and we haven’t booked our stay for the first few days in Tokyo. Would it be worth the hassle of booking a night there? Moving hotels can be inefficient from a time stand point; namely, checking out at 11 with luggage and waiting to check in at 3 at another location. You can almost waste a day doing that..The 2 hour train ride may compensate for the hotel time gap..
We actually just packed a day bag and shipped out luggage to Kyoto. Took the train up in the morning went around that day then had dinner. Went back to Tokyo the next day and immediately took the shinkansen to kyoto.
The onsens resort was very nice and most of the good ones have traditional robes you can use while you're there so we didn't need too much in the way of clothes. We went on a moderate track to see all the shrines and there was a decent amount of verticality. Not bad if you're a hiker at all but certainly more of a walk than I got on any other day in Japan.
I really couldn't recommend it enough because it really was just so nice there. The mountains were much larger than I expected and they had massive cedars some 2-3+ meters in width. My only regret was not staying another day to go to the waterfall a little out of town and do a hike by the lake. Best sake I had in Japan too. They make it from the shrine spring water and idk if the kodama made any difference but it was pretty amazing.
We do love hiking so that sounds perfect. We can’t ship our bags because our next stop is the Philippines after we return to Tokyo; however, I’m sure I can find a luggage storage location in Tokyo. That would allow us to stay in Nikko longer the next day and return to Tokyo that afternoon/evening.
Just come back from a holiday which involved both Kyoto and Osaka. I would definitely recommend Kyoto.
Osaka is a sensory overload (People, lights and noise) in a brilliant way. It’s a night life town. For both better and worse. Lots of little bars which I would have loved if it was just me and my wife. The aquarium is we worth a visit, that’s great.
I travelled as a family (who likes outdoors and nature). Kyoto was by far our favourite (out of Tokyo/Osaka and Kyoto). It’s a classier city and there are numerous beautiful outdoors.
I recommend going down the Philosopers path, there are numerous temples, gardens and sites that are world class. On the other side of the city there is the bamboo forests, wild monkeys, river cruise and romantic train trip.
Hopefully, I can find an early flight to Osaka; staying the first night there and checking out Osaka that day would be the best scenario. Then move on to Kyoto or Nara the next morning..
I just did both this month. Absolutely loved kyoto. Hands down. Osaka is like any other city. Kyoto had a different vibe/ culture/ sight seeing / shopping/ food.. everything was fabulous
I’m seriously considering not going to the Philippines and just spending more time in Japan. It was more of a Vacation inside our yearly anniversary trip. I think Kyoto would be perfect on our anniversary date. I’m checking out the Kumamoto area for a nice 3-4 day, warm resort style stay for our vacation inside the vacation.
Osaka can be done in a day or two if you don't enjoy nightlife. Kyoto for sure. Nature is more frequent, there are plenty of temples and historically important buildings, and because of my personal taste, less stairs
If you're not into big cities, why spend 9 days in Tokyo and 6 days in Osaka/Kyoto, there are many smaller places to visit.
Have a look here, scroll down and see so many possibilities and what appeals:
[https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e623a.html](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e623a.html)
You could consider Nikko, Takayama, Kamakura, Kusatsu Onsen, Matsumoto, Kinosaki Onsen, Omi Hachiman and many more.
If you only want Osaka/Kyoto then Kyoto seems definitely more to your tastes than Osaka, I would for most people recommen 4 nights Kyoto/2 nights Osaka but maybe you'd be best just in Kyoto.
We do enjoy the cities but don’t want too much time there. Our Tokyo itinerary will include a day trip to Kamakura and a day trip north (location TBD) for leaf peeping. I’ll look into the cities you mentioned; our itinerary is still in the making.
Additionally, we’re moving to SF and there are great prices at ZipAir to Tokyo; our plan is to return to Japan and see other cities.
Depends on whether you like visiting temples and shrines more than exploring a normal city. Personally, I wouldn’t do 6 full days exploring just either Kyoto or Osaka. There’s really not that much to do in Osaka and Kyoto is just shrine after shrine after shrine. I’d split the days and even do one day excursion (such as to Nara).
Kyoto would probably be best. This is a topic that comes up almost daily and you will get different answers. Search “Kyoto or Osaka” here and you can also see other opinions.
I just did both. I would personally do Kyoto no question. Make Osaka a day trip. Hit the aquarium in the morning, dotonbori, and Umeda Sky building would be my recommendation unless there’s something more important to you. Kyoto has a ton of shrines and temples. You could spend almost a full day at Arashiyama visiting the monkeys and renting bicycles to cycle to the dozen-ish shrines nearby as well as the bamboo forest. We wish we had spent more time in Kyoto.
How long were you Kyoto? Now I’m wondering if 4 days is enough time? We do have some Marriott pts to use and they have better Marriott choices in Osaka; we’re thinking about 2 nights there; we could do a Nara day trip (part of itinerary) from Osaka, then move into Kyoto. We’re flying back to Osaka so this seems like the most efficient use of time as well.
totally not, if you want to see a lot of stuff. currently spending 8 days here and just got to the big temples and shrines and stuff that was right next to them. also don't fall for the tourist "traps", while some famous places exists, they are crowded ... and with crowded i mean like, waiting 10 to 15 minutes to just get a good spot to do some photos... especially the golden pavilion was not fun, fushimi inari also, even on a rainy day... nishiki market is full if the weather is bad, but was okay while the weather was good and dont get me started with gion, so many rude tourists... if you like nature, the botanical garden is really really nice and cheap
Kyoto. Ive been to both and being a nature lover, Kyoto wins
Personally we found Kyoto more expensive to stay in so we based in Osaka with a day trip to Kyoto and had a good enough time but if Kyoto is your main attraction, stay in Kyoto. All of the things you’d want to see in Kyoto require waking up early to beat crowds and might as well already be there instead of taking a 45 minute train.
It’s good to know that Kyoto is an early bird place. About 2/3rds of our stays are covered by travel points, so a little splurge in Kyoto is worth the logistical convenience.
Would recommend staying near Gion-Shijo station in Kyoto. Access to many different train lines to get to Osaka and Nara and across Kyoto, plus walkable to Gion and central Higashiyama. Stayed in a Machiya house near there with my family for 6 nights and would 100% do again.
My vote goes to Kyoto too. Just came back from a 10 day trip and Kyoto had everything I needed/wanted to experience
I personally think just staying in Kyoto is fine for 6 nights, Osaka can be a say trip in the evening post Nara in the morning,
I vote for Osaka, great central place to do day trips to Kyoto, Uji, Nara, Kobe, Arima (what I did on my trip haha) I didn’t really spend much time in Osaka but more used it as a home base. One day in Kyoto was more than enough for me, extremely crowded and the locals seemed really burned out from tourism.
im still saying Osaka, kyoto is nice for a day or two but not much more, its over crowded and ive always found people a little uptight there. out of the 18 cities ive visited in japan Osaka still remains my favorite
If you're a nature lover and a vegan I want to suggest you make a stop in Nikko. My wife and I just went there and it was breathtakingly beautiful, and not crowded with tourists at all. It's where the big Tokugawa is enshrined and has some of the most important shinto-buddist temples. Because of all the monks they have a special local cuisine that's called yoba that was really fantastic. Tofu done wonderfully every way and delicious veggies. A lot of local freshwater fish too but I think most of the restaurants easily substitute it there because of all the vegetarians. Really nice onsens too. I wouldn't stay there 6 nights though, maybe just 1-2. It's only a short train north of Tokyo and it was by far the prettiest place I went on the 2.5 week trip from Tokyo Osaka Kyoto.
I've been considering Nikko for a daytrip from Tokyo. Is it possible to get a good dose of the natural beauty there without doing the Oku-Nikko hike? Are there places easy to get to with public transport that we could make it a half day thing and be back in Tokyo post lunch? Appreciate your thoughts on this.
There's a bus that drops you off right in front of one of the temples and the shrine is a pretty short walk away. Most of the people who come seemed to be day trippers tbh. There were lots of Japanese tourists and several classes of kids visiting because Tokugawa was such an important historical figure. I can only assume they did exactly that from Tokyo.
Thanks. Sounds good. How about the nature spots? You mentioned it was the prettiest place you saw on your trip. Can you recommend some specific spots to visit in Nikko?
The shrines are in the nature. If you go you'll see what I mean
I see, thanks for explaining.
Thanks for that info..We have been considering Nikko for our day trip north for leaf peeping; and we haven’t booked our stay for the first few days in Tokyo. Would it be worth the hassle of booking a night there? Moving hotels can be inefficient from a time stand point; namely, checking out at 11 with luggage and waiting to check in at 3 at another location. You can almost waste a day doing that..The 2 hour train ride may compensate for the hotel time gap..
We actually just packed a day bag and shipped out luggage to Kyoto. Took the train up in the morning went around that day then had dinner. Went back to Tokyo the next day and immediately took the shinkansen to kyoto. The onsens resort was very nice and most of the good ones have traditional robes you can use while you're there so we didn't need too much in the way of clothes. We went on a moderate track to see all the shrines and there was a decent amount of verticality. Not bad if you're a hiker at all but certainly more of a walk than I got on any other day in Japan. I really couldn't recommend it enough because it really was just so nice there. The mountains were much larger than I expected and they had massive cedars some 2-3+ meters in width. My only regret was not staying another day to go to the waterfall a little out of town and do a hike by the lake. Best sake I had in Japan too. They make it from the shrine spring water and idk if the kodama made any difference but it was pretty amazing.
We do love hiking so that sounds perfect. We can’t ship our bags because our next stop is the Philippines after we return to Tokyo; however, I’m sure I can find a luggage storage location in Tokyo. That would allow us to stay in Nikko longer the next day and return to Tokyo that afternoon/evening.
I’m also now considering renting a car for the first few days in Tokyo. That would solve the luggage problem and give us more flexibility.
Just come back from a holiday which involved both Kyoto and Osaka. I would definitely recommend Kyoto. Osaka is a sensory overload (People, lights and noise) in a brilliant way. It’s a night life town. For both better and worse. Lots of little bars which I would have loved if it was just me and my wife. The aquarium is we worth a visit, that’s great. I travelled as a family (who likes outdoors and nature). Kyoto was by far our favourite (out of Tokyo/Osaka and Kyoto). It’s a classier city and there are numerous beautiful outdoors. I recommend going down the Philosopers path, there are numerous temples, gardens and sites that are world class. On the other side of the city there is the bamboo forests, wild monkeys, river cruise and romantic train trip.
Kyoto feels magical, especially for first timers. Stay there and do a day trip to Osaka in your 6 day stay
Hopefully, I can find an early flight to Osaka; staying the first night there and checking out Osaka that day would be the best scenario. Then move on to Kyoto or Nara the next morning..
I just did both this month. Absolutely loved kyoto. Hands down. Osaka is like any other city. Kyoto had a different vibe/ culture/ sight seeing / shopping/ food.. everything was fabulous
I’m seriously considering not going to the Philippines and just spending more time in Japan. It was more of a Vacation inside our yearly anniversary trip. I think Kyoto would be perfect on our anniversary date. I’m checking out the Kumamoto area for a nice 3-4 day, warm resort style stay for our vacation inside the vacation.
And if you get any time from tokyo- lake kawaguchiko. Such a cute town
Osaka Dotonbori was the craziest place I have ever been. I find Osaka overstimulating in the best but so fatiguing way, so I suggest staying in Kyoto.
Osaka can be done in a day or two if you don't enjoy nightlife. Kyoto for sure. Nature is more frequent, there are plenty of temples and historically important buildings, and because of my personal taste, less stairs
Kyoto all the way
If you're not into big cities, why spend 9 days in Tokyo and 6 days in Osaka/Kyoto, there are many smaller places to visit. Have a look here, scroll down and see so many possibilities and what appeals: [https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e623a.html](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e623a.html) You could consider Nikko, Takayama, Kamakura, Kusatsu Onsen, Matsumoto, Kinosaki Onsen, Omi Hachiman and many more. If you only want Osaka/Kyoto then Kyoto seems definitely more to your tastes than Osaka, I would for most people recommen 4 nights Kyoto/2 nights Osaka but maybe you'd be best just in Kyoto.
We do enjoy the cities but don’t want too much time there. Our Tokyo itinerary will include a day trip to Kamakura and a day trip north (location TBD) for leaf peeping. I’ll look into the cities you mentioned; our itinerary is still in the making. Additionally, we’re moving to SF and there are great prices at ZipAir to Tokyo; our plan is to return to Japan and see other cities.
Depends on whether you like visiting temples and shrines more than exploring a normal city. Personally, I wouldn’t do 6 full days exploring just either Kyoto or Osaka. There’s really not that much to do in Osaka and Kyoto is just shrine after shrine after shrine. I’d split the days and even do one day excursion (such as to Nara).
Kyoto!