It's been fun reliving my Japan 2019 travels, but like all good things... For the last installment, we're going to talk about Kobe!
Before going, I really didn't have any idea of what to expect, besides eating Kobe beef. Kobe beef is a type of wagyu ("Japanese beef") that is known for being incredibly flavorful and tender, and having a beautifully marbled texture. It's also very pricey. In Japan, there are strict standards for beef to be categorized as Kobe beef, but, since the US doesn't recognize the Kobe beef trademark, most beef categorized as Kobe is mislabelled.
So, while I heard many people just take a train to Kobe for a day (or even just a dinner), we decided to stay overnight near the Kobe station.
2 Chome-3-7 Aioicho, Chuo Ward, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, 650-0025
Comfy and roomy hotel, with great location. Steps away from the Kobe station! And it's walking distance from the Kobe City Loop Bus.
Let me start by saying that the Kobe City Loop Bus is the way to go if you're planning on spending a day here. Purchase a 1-Day Pass for 660 Yen (about $6) - you get your money's worth if you ride the bus at least 3 times. The City Loop consists of 17 bus stops, and the bus takes about 65 minutes to travel the entire loop. Here's what we did:
Harborland (MOSAIC) - We boarded the City Loop bus here. Check the tourist maps around, they'll indicate where the bus stops are - they are pretty unique, with a dark green color. You purchase your tickets from the bus drivers, and there is always an attendant who is very helpful. While we didn't spend much time exploring Harborland, we did walk into UMIE, a large shopping mall. And of course, we had to check out the food, so we went to the basement and found our favorite...Beard Papa's cream puffs!
Old Foreign Settlement (Kobe City Museum) - Unfortunately...the museum was closed on the day we went. We walked around a little, but didn't see much of interest, so back on the bus we went!
Sannomiya Station - One thing that is nice is you receive a map when you purchase your 1 day pass. We found a Kobe beef restaurant (Charcoal Broiled Steak Kitayama) near this stop on the map, so we got off to walk to grab lunch. They have very reasonable fried beef cutlet lunch sets if you don't want to spend money to eat the Kobe beef. Since the place was near stop 9, we went ahead and walked there to grab the next bus. You could keep walking to stop 10 if you have time - there looked to be many cute shops and places to eat along the way.
Kitano Ijinkan - At this stop you can see some mansions that were built for foreign residents. There's also a trick art museum there that seems to be pretty popular. My mom said that this place is probably more popular with Asian tourists since the foreign style homes are not very common. Since they all had stairs and admission costs, we just walked around outside to view them.
Nunobiki Herb Gardens and Ropeway - This. This was my favorite place to visit in Kobe by far. I love cable cars and I love flowers, so this was the perfect combination of the two. It costs 1500 Yen for a round way trip (about $14, which includes access to the gardens). There are two stops - I'd recommend going to the very top first and exploring the shop, cafe, and flowers up there.
You can then walk down through some more gardens to a greenhouse. We ended up going to the cafe there to try some strawberry desserts (they use seasonal ingredients).
You can continue to walk down to the second station, but since we were cutting it close to closing time, we walked back up to the top station, which was a bit closer, and rode the car down. We went on a weekday, and it closed at 5 PM; but if you go during the weekends, the summer or national holidays, closing time is at 8:30 PM.
Steak Land - We went to this Kobe beef restaurant on our first night after doing some research. They cooked the steak hibachi-style, which is pretty common. It was nice because they had a lot of different options there - so again, if you didn't want to pay a hefty price for your dinner, you could just get a regular steak that was delicious! I will say, my sister ordered one of the higher end Kobe steaks...and it was incomparable in terms of flavor. The fat marbling added so much - almost a garlicky - flavor to the meat, and it was so incredibly tender.
Overall, Kobe was really pleasant and enjoyable....and delicious. If you have a day to spare, I think it's definitely worth a visit...particularly since it's only a short train ride away from Osaka!
- HungryDeb
Check out my YouTube video here:
Comments