Tri-City Road Trip: Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe

Everyone loves a good road trip and I was determined to make this a reality for my final academic spring break. What was originally intended to be a 2 week long 5 city road trip (Kobe, Osaka, Nara, Nagoya, Kobe) turned into a quad-city road-trip (Osaka, Nara, Nagoya, Kobe) then actually ended up being a Tri-city road trip (Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe), and you will see exactly why below in this post which will cover my intended itinerary, actual itinerary, and a detailed account of my expenses for the entire trip.

Lets talk cities!

When the average person think of vacationing to Japan, the first city they might think to visit is Tokyo, which is totally understandable. However, there is much more to Japan than just Tokyo. The more seasoned traveler would definitely have Kyoto in mind due to its extensive history and of course its popularity for Geisha's and Maiko's, hence the reason why it was included in my originally road trip plans. After living in Japan for a little over two years, you will come to know of the other popular nearby cities which is why I wanted to explore Nagoya, Nara, and Osaka. Kobe comes as no surprise as it's the prime place to try the renowned Kobe beef.

As time drew near and I began to chisel down my plans and itinerary, I realized that I wanted to give Kyoto it's own special time, not to mention the cost I would incur by doing all five cities at once. Because we have the luxury of living in Japan, there was no need to rush and do everything all in two weeks, which is why Kyoto was taken out the itinerary and moved to the following month of April where we can enjoy it during cherry blossom season...an added bonus! This leaves us with Osaka, Nara, Nagoya,  and Kobe. By default, Nara was also left off the itinerary as a last minute decision due to our budget restrains.

Above is map showing each of the cities circled in black and the red pin was my starting location. Now you may notice there are 6 black circles, but I mentioned I originally planned on 5 cities. The first black circle from the right is Hamamatsu. If we were good on time, I would have stopped there on the way back to go to the Hamamatsu Fruit Park which has Ichigo-gari (strawberry picking) and a bunch of other interesting fruit themed attractions which you may know from my other post  is one of my favorite things to do.

The number one reason why I decided to break the original 2 week road trip into two parts is because I wanted a chance to experience the Shinkansen. The Shinkansen is an experience all in its own, and it would be fun to travel to Kyoto there via bullet train. The second reason that I have  mentioned before is because the cost would be a lot to budget for an entire two week vacation.  Finally, I figured a road trip would be fun experience, and easier to catch each of the cities on the way if we had our own vehicle rather than hopping on and off the Shinkansen.

What about the distance between all the cities?

As you can see Kobe, Osaka, and Nara are all practically in a straight line. From Osaka, both Kobe and Nara are about 1/2 hour driving distance.

From Kanagawa to Nagoya its about a 4 hour drive

From Nagoya to Osaka its about a 2.5 hour drive

From Osaka to Kobe its about 1/2 hour drive

From Kobe all the way back to Kanagawa its about 6 hours

From Osaka up to Kobe its about a

Below are the details for our road trip.

*Remember details about certain cities, hotels, attraction can be found by clicking the links

Tri-city Road Trip 

From Kanagawa, Japan 

Below is a detailed account of our trip exactly how it happened. 

Day One:

Sunday, March 16

           

Time	Location	Activity/Transportation	Cost
Departed: 8:40am Arrived 12:45pm	Yamato to Nagoya (~4Hrs)	Driving - 336km with a quarter tank of gas remaining	-Started with full tank about 3000 -
12:45pm-1pm	Nagoya	Check into  Hotel Mystays Nagoya-Sakae (Arrived too early, so they made us wait to check-in)	1 Night- 4600
1:30pm-Arrived 2:00-3:30pm	Nagoya 4-1-35 Noritakeshinmachi, Nishi Ward, Nagoya, Aichi 451-0051, Japan	Drive to Toyota (~20mins) Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology 9:30am-5pm English Tour	1000 Free
4:00pm- 4:30pm	Nagoya	Drive to Nagoya Castle	1000
5:15pm	Nagoya	Arrived at the hotel to finally check-in
6:00pm-6:45pm	Nagoya	Walked to Yabaton from hotel to try a local special – Miso-Katsu
7:00pm	Nagoya	Started our walk back to the hotel where on the way: Took some photos of the city Stopped at McDonald’s to try their Sakura Soda Float and Desserts Picked up some food from the Convenient store for some snacks in the room
8:00pm	Nagoya	Arrive back at the hotel

Day Two:

Monday, March 17

8:00am	Nagoya	Woke up – Got dressed
8:30am	Nagoya	Hotel Breakfast 7:00am-9:30am	Included
10:15am	Nagoya	Checked out Hotel Mystays Nagoya-Sakae and began drive to Osaka
1:00pm	Osaka Hotel Agora Regency Sakai, 4-45-1 Ebisujimacho, Sakai Ward, Sakai, Osaka Prefecture 590-0985, Japan	Arrived at Hotel Agora Regency Sakai (Arrived too early, so they made us wait to check-in)	2 nights – 15,640
1:38pm	Osaka	Train to Namba Station from Sakai -Nipponbashi “Den Den Town” “Electric Town” Otaku/Furniture/Kitchenware Osaka Gundam Outlet	250/pp
3:45pm	Osaka	Train to Shinsaibashi “Dontonbori” – Glico Man	200/pp
4:45pm-5:45pm	Osaka 3-minute walk from Exit 16 1 Chome-6-10 Dōtonbori Chūō-ku, Ōsaka-shi, Ōsaka-fu Japan	Early dinner at Zuboraya Blowfish-Tessa-Pufferfish
5:45pm	Osaka	Walked around dontonbori Nike Store
7:00pm	Osaka	Grabbed some dessert at Baskin Robbins
7:30-9:00pm	Osaka	Made it to ShinsaibashiSuji St. Found a costume store called Body-Line Ended in Desigual
10:00pm	Osaka	Arrived at the hotel to finally check-in and call it a night. -A trip to the convenient store was in order-as the blowfish from earlier was not nearly as filling as we would have hoped

Day Three:

Tuesday, March 18

Time	Location/Directions	Activity/Transportation	Cost for both
12:00pm	Osaka	Walked through the hotel to see what it looked like in day time. Grabbed a couple pastries from the bakery on the first floor and ate them in the room
1:00pm	Osaka	Left hotel to head for Tenjimbashi St.
2:05pm	Osaka	Arrived at Tenjinbashisuij Rokuchome Station to Osaka/Umeda Station Got out the train station pretty much at one end of the street and began our walk
2:45pm-3:30pm	Osaka	Stopped for lunch at Hot Gin Syrari -Highly recommended!
4:30pm- 4:52pm	Umeda Sky Building, 1-1-８８ Oyodonaka, Kita Ward, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture 531-0076, Japan	Left tenjimbashi st. and heading for Osaka station (Closest station) Walked through the tunnel to get to the Umeda Sky tower
4:55pm	Osaka	Arrived at the Umeda Sky Tower Lovers Lock	1400 1000
7:30pm	Osaka	Left the Sky Tower and headed towards Osaka station
7:40pm	Osaka	Arrived at Grand Front Osaka
8:45pm-10:10pm	Osaka	Dinner on Umekita Floor of Grand Front Osaka BBQ33
11:00pm	Osaka	Arrived back at the hotel and packed everything into the car for easy check-out next morning

            Day Four:

Wednesday, March 19

**Predicted Thunderstorms**

**Switch Day 4 with Day 5 if weather is bad**

Time	Location/Directions	Activity/Transportation	Cost for both
7:30am	Osaka 1-1-１１１ Sakurajima Konohana Ward, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture 554-0031 Japan	Left Agora regency hotel for Universal Port hotel (Arrived too early, so they made us wait to check-in)	2 nights – 28,000
7:45am	Osaka	Arrived at Universal Port hotel (Arrived too early, so they made us wait to check-in)
8:55am	Osaka	5 minute walk to Universal Studios Osaka	12,400
9:05am-9:00pm	Osaka	Entered USJ
9:20pm-10:30pm	Osaka	Walked through the bottom floor of city walk and had dinner at TGIF
10:40pm	Osaka	Returned to hotel

Day Five:

Thursday, March 20

Time	Location/Directions	Activity/Transportation	Cost for both
12:45pm-2:30pm	Osaka	Lunch Buffet at Rico Rico Universal Port Hotel	3600
2:35pm	Osaka	Driving to Rinku Premium Outlets
4:15pm -7:45pm	Osaka	Arrived at Rinku Premium Outlets
7:45pm-8:50pm	Osaka	Driving from the outlets to Spa World
9:00pm	Osaka 556-0002 Osaka Prefecture, Osaka, Naniwa-ku, Ebisuhigashi, ３丁目4−２４	Arrived at Spa World	2000
12:45pm-1:50am	Osak	Arrived back at the hotel and stopped at the 24-our lawsons at city walk to pick-up some food and snacks

Day Six:

Friday, March 21

Time	Location/Directions	Activity/Transportation	Cost for both
11:00pm	Osaka	Checked out Universal Port Hotel	1 night- 8,760
11:15am-1:00pm	Osaka	Walked around City Walk Ate lunch at the Indian restaurant
1:15pm	Kobe	Driving to Kobe
3:00pm	Osaka to Kobe 4-1-4 Asahidori Chuo Ward, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture 651-0095 Japan	Arrived in Kobe Check In Hotel Villa Fontaine Kobe Sannomiya
3:30pm	Kobe	Drove to Arima Onsen
5:15pm	Kobe	Arrived at Arima Onsen- Bathed at Kin no Yu and Gin no Yu
7:30pm	Kobe	Left Arima Onsen and headed back to hotel to get ready for dinner
8:40pm	Kobe	Walked to Wakkoqu from hotel to have Kobe Beef Dinner
8:55pm-10:00pm	Kobe 1F Hillside Terrace1-22-13 Nakayamate-dori, Chuo, Kobe-city	Arrived 5 minutes before reservations at 9:00pm
10:15pm-10:35pm	Kobe	Went to a Jamaican restaurant around the corner from Wakkoqu
11:00pm	Kobe	Returned back to the hotel

Day Seven

Saturday, March 22

Time	Location/Directions	Activity/Transportation	Cost for both
8:30am		Breakfast at the hotel
9:30am		Checked out hotel and drove to the Kobe-Senda Prime Outlets
10:45am		Arrived at the Prime Outlets
2:00pm		Left the Prime Outlets and headed for home
9:38pm		Arrived home

My Travel Dates:

Sunday, March 16 2014 - Saturday, March 22 2014 

6nights/7days 

Budget:

Transportation: By personal vehicle (Nissan Cube, 2003) 40,000

   Tolls: 20,000

   Gas: 10,000

   Parking: 8500

   Train: 6000

Lodging: 57,000

Activities: 30,000

Souvenirs: 25,000

Food: 40,000

Total: 192,000

Total Budget for trip- 20,0000

Quick tips for budgeting: 

Decide on the most you want to spend on your entire trip. Essentially you should ask yourself...what is the most I can possibly spend on this trip...like the absolute most! For us, it was 200,000. 

For this trip, I tried a new method where I created envelopes for each item to budget for the trip. I wrote the amount on each envelope after carefully evaluating and estimating how much we would spend in each category. Months leading up to the trip, we saved and saved and kept filling each envelope until they reached the desired amount. This served as a great savings method and also a great way to keep track of our spending throughout the trip...although it can get a little cumbersome, especially with paper envelopes it worked out pretty well, as you will be able to see in this post. Each time I used money out of the envelopes I would write on the back of the envelope what it was for. At the end of the night I would balance the totals in each envelope, mainly to see where I was at throughout the trip. By doing this, I would be able to decide which envelopes or categories I need to watch carefully.