Does it make sense to go to Kyoto from Osaka by shinkansen?
Well, it depends...
If you never take shinkansen and are interested in shinkansen, you can go to Kyoto from Osaka by taking shinkansen.
Please be careful that shinkansen does not stop at JR Osaka Station. Shinkansen stops at Shin-Osaka Station, 4 minutes from Osaka Station by local train.
Therefore, if you are around JR Osaka Station (Umeda area), you have to take a local train from Osaka Station to Shin-Osaka Station. And then, you transfer to Shinkansen.
Here is an example of time schedule from Osaka to Kyoto by shinkansen.
- Departure Osaka Station at 8:01
- Take a train of JR Kyoto Line
- Arrival Shin-Osaka Station at 8:05
- Move to shinkansen platform
- Departure Shin-Osaka Station at 8:15
- Take JR Tokaido Shinkansen Nozomi No.92
- Arrival Kyoto Station at 8:29
The total time is 28 minutes, including 18 minutes in train/shinkansen.
(the total time depends on transfer timing. It may take less or more.)
For this plan, you can enjoy 14-minute ride of Shinkansen.
The total cost of this plan is 3070 yen (ordinary car reserved seat for Shinkansen).
If you are not interested in taking Shinkansen, you can simply take a local train to Kyoto. By taking the local train, you do not have to transfer.
Here is an example of time schedule from Osaka to Kyoto by local train.
- Departure Osaka Station at 8:00
- Take a limited express train of JR Kyoto Line
- Arrival Kyoto Station at 8:29
The total time is 29 minutes. And the total cost is 570 yen.
If you take a limited express train to Kyoto, the total time will be almost the same as the plan with Shinkansen. Therefore, if you want to save money, you don't want to choose the first plan with Shinkansen that costs more than 5 times.
If you want to experience to take Shinkansen, let's go for the first plan.
