関西
Kansai
20 destinations
Overview
The cultural heartland. Kyoto carries 1,200 years of imperial history across 17 UNESCO World Heritage sites. Osaka counters with unrelenting energy, street food obsession, and the warmest people in Japan. Nara has free-roaming deer and Japan's largest bronze Buddha. Kobe blends mountain and harbour. Himeji has the finest surviving feudal castle. The ancient pilgrimage mountains of Koya-san and Yoshino sit within reach. This region alone could fill two weeks.
Who it's for
Every Japan traveller. First-timers need Kyoto and Osaka as anchors. Repeat visitors dig deeper into Nara's forests, Kobe's back streets, or the temple mountains.
Destinations in Kansai
Where the destinations are
The map is for orientation - select a destination below to explore it.
Kyoto
京都
Kansai · Kyoto
Japan's ancient capital - 1,200 years of temples, gardens, geisha districts, and craft traditions in a city that still feels imperial.
CultureHistoryFood
See moreOsaka
大阪
Kansai · Osaka
Japan's food capital and most exuberant city - a working-class energy that takes eating very seriously.
FoodUrbanCulture
See moreNara
奈良
Kansai · Nara
Japan's first permanent capital - home to the world's largest wooden building, 1,200 free-roaming deer, and extraordinary ancient temples.
HistoryCultureNature
See moreHimeji
姫路
Kansai · Hyogo
Home to Japan's most magnificent castle - the White Heron Castle, the finest surviving feudal castle anywhere in the world.
HistoryCultureNature
See moreKobe
神戸
Kansai · Hyogo
Japan's most cosmopolitan port city, with an international architecture legacy, Kobe beef at every table, and a hillside foreign settlement.
UrbanFoodHistory
See moreKinosaki Onsen
城崎温泉
Kansai · Hyogo
Japan's finest soto-yu (external bath-hopping) resort - seven distinct bathhouses, a willow-lined canal, and the country's best matsuba crab.
ExperiencesCultureFood
See moreUji
宇治
Kansai · Kyoto
The world capital of matcha tea, with the UNESCO-listed Byodoin Phoenix Hall rising from a lotus pond.
CultureHistoryFood
See moreAmanohashidate
天橋立
Kansai · Kyoto
One of Japan's three scenic views - a 3.6km pine-tree sandbar crossing Miyazu Bay, best viewed through one's legs.
NatureHistoryCulture
See moreYoshino
吉野
Kansai · Nara
Japan's most revered cherry blossom town, with 30,000 trees blooming in successive waves from valley floor to mountaintop.
NatureHistoryCulture
See moreAwaji Island
淡路島
Kansai · Hyogo
A large island in the Seto Inland Sea linked to Kobe by the world's longest suspension bridge, with whirlpools, flower hills and creation-myth shrines.
NatureHistoryExperiences
See moreHikone
彦根
Kansai · Shiga
A beautifully preserved castle town on Lake Biwa, with one of Japan's original twelve surviving castle keeps.
HistoryNatureCulture
See moreYour JP Adventure
Plan a trip to Kansai
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Guides for Kansai
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