We will be arriving at Kansai Airport en route to Kyoto at 8 pm on 20 January (Lunar New Year weekend). Any advise on how to get to Kyoto (we will be staying at a hotel close to Museum of Kyoto)? Are there tourist passes that we (wife, 13-year old daughter and myself) should be taking advantage of? Cheers.

The Haruka train is almost always the best option from Kansai airport (KIX) to Kyoto, and this would be no exception. The train (called Haruka) leaves from KIX every half-hour, and it takes 75 minutes to get to Kyoto station. From there, you can take a taxi onward to your hotel.

Thanks rezzuto. One more question: We will be departing from KIX also, will it be better to buy return tickets? Do you know how much the fares are?
Regards.

Yes, it is. Return ticket costs exactly double, but you may want to reserve a seat for the return journey to KIX. Just go to any Midorino Madoguchi, recognised by a green sign of a reclining seat, to book. It costs 3,490 yen with seat reservation (510 yen less without) for a single journey. Aim to catch a train leaving at least 3.5 hours before departure time.

We just took the Haruku train. It's the best and fastest way to get to Kyoto from Kansai, about $35US. You can buy tickets from the automated ticket machines but it's all in Japanese. You can also buy them from the JR office. You might look at getting a JR pass, but compare that cost with individual fares. We ended up saving a lot of money buy getting individual fares.