dgruzew

Does anyone know if it is possible to see himeji castle in a morning and then head to nara in the afternoon?( we will be staying in kyoto) is this way to agressive? - I am trying to put together an itenerary - Thanks

mrwunrfl

It is agressive but doable. It's an hour to Himeji from Kyoto station. Figure an hour for getting to Nara from Kyoto (including some train transfer time). It ends up being 4 hours of travel. Add an hour to get to/from the three stations.

You can visit Himeji-jo in the morning but Nara deserves more than just an afternoon.

glorialf

Not a good way to do it. Himeji takes an hour to visit but another two hours to get there and back and Nara requires several hours -- actually a full day.

jaydreb5

Also, if you're visiting Nara ,you're going to want to visit Horyuji as well. I would recommend doing Himeji on another day.

dgruzew

heres the thing,

I arrive Kyoto on Friday at around 12 or 1
Then I am in Kyoto - Sat, Sun, Mon and tuesday until about 2pm

Himeji castle is a top priority for me to see, so I figure that will take a full morning. I am decideing whether to try to do both in one day, use another day to visit nara , or skip nara and just spend all the time in Kyoto

Any suggestions? - should I skip nara?

mrwunrfl

No, don't skip Nara. If you can visit Nara on a day different from Himeji, then visiting Horyuji is a good idea. Hate to say it but Horyuji is an optional add-on to the "non-optional" Nara.

A Hikari shinkansen will zip you from Kyoto eki at 7:44 to Himeji at 8:31. After a 15 minute walk from the station you will be at the entrance shortly before the castle opens at 9AM.

Spend 2 hours at the castle and then go back to the station and at 11:25 catch a Kodama shinkansen to Shin-Osaka change to a L'Ex to Tennoji and then a JR local line to Nara that arrives at 1:09 PM. I forget what time of year you are going (October?) but you will have at least 4 hours to spend in Nara in daylight.