Daydreaming Diaries

Kobe

I already told you a little bit something about Kobe when I posted a travel overview of Kansai area which Kobe belongs to. But this time I will write only about Kobe-city, its sightseeing places, shopping malls, etc. because I've spent most time of my Japan stay in this city.

Kobe is a big city located in the Kansai area, Hyogo prefecture, closed to other popular tourism spots like places and temples in Nara, Kyoto and Osaka.

Regarding prices, fees and costs Kobe is not that expensive compared to the two most visited tourism cities Kyoto and Tokyo, but not that cheap as other cities like Fukuoka or Kumamoto, which I've just visited at New Year's time.

I've been to a lot of places, I've been eating out in a lot of different cities and I heard a lot of things about Japanese food from other people, like friends and my boyfriend.
Food in Kobe is expensive not only because it's a good-visited big city, but also because of the Kobe Beef most people should have heard about. Kobe Beef is a special version of beef offered in a lot of restaurants in Kobe area in many different versions, like a usual steak house, just buying it in a super market or a Korean-styled yaki-niku restaurant for high prices compared to normal meat or beef in Kobe area.

Regarding food and dining out in Kobe, you definitely should try to eat Taiyaki [to be honest, I don't like it that much], Takoyaki, Okonomiyaki [which are actually Osaka typical food - but offered at a lot of places in Kobe as well and very delicious], Tonkatsu, Udon [nothing special, but somehow they taste much better in Kobe area compared to Kyushu's Udon] and Shabu-Shabu [may it's famous in Kobe because of the Kobe Beef - but I'm not sure]. But you should be careful regarding food because Kobe is a big city there are also a lot of restaurants which' food is not recommendable at all - like in all other big cities as well.
Other things regarding food, which are also offered a lot in Kobe, especially at the airport or stations are sweets, like the Kobe cheesecake [didn't try it yet] or Kobe pudding [didn't try it as well since I'm not a huge fan of pudding].

Food I don't recommend in Kobe are Ramen and Sukiyaki because I was able to try them on Kyushu and they were much more delicious there compared to Kobe.

As I already told you in my short post about the Kansai area, there are a lot of sight seeing possibilities in Kobe as well. May not the same like sightseeing in Kyoto or Nara because of their huge numbers of temples and shrines, but there are things you should not miss to see when you go to Kobe.
The first thing to mention is regarding sightseeing spots in Kobe is its Port Tower located in Harborland.

I prefer the night-view of the tower because of it's changing colors in the evening, but you're able to go up to the top of the tower at day time and it's quite interesting to have a look over the port and a part of the city.

Besides the Port Tower Kobe also runs an Aqua Life Park, where I went with my boyfriend this summer because I haven't been to an Aquarium until this day and I loved it.
Suma Aqualife Park is a huge Aquarium offering a park for children to play with water, huge number of fishes, crabs, etc to look at, dolphin shows, etc.
So for people, who'd like to go to an Aquarium or watch a dolphin show during their stay in Japan you should go to Suma.
Another thing to mention while talking about an Aquarium and fishes in Kobe is the Oji-zoo located closed to Rokko-Isaland in Kobe. I's a usual zoo offering a huge number of animals and it's famous for its Pandas.

When talking about Kobe and sightseeing in Kobe you also should know that there are a lot of events hold in Kobe like summer festivals with fireworks in August, fashion weeks four times a year, concerts, soccer games, luminaries in December at Christmas time and to be honest, almost every weekend there was a festival somewhere in Sannomiya, Harborland, etc I passed by while going somewhere with my boyfriend during my stay in Kobe.



People, who are looking for entertainment while traveling in Kobe you should go to Sannomiya, Harborland and Mosaic located in the center of Kobe- city offering a huge number of shopping malls, game centers, cinemas, festivals, karaoke bars and other things of modern Japan.

People, who'd like to go shopping in Kobe actually don't have to worry because there are a huge numbers of shops, stores, department stores and shopping malls located in Kobe-city and located in the building of the JR stations like Kobe and Sannomiya.
The most popular shopping areas in Kobe are the Motomachi shopping street located next to Sannomiya's Daimaru - a huge department store. Sannomiya in a whole is perfect for people, who love to shop and spend money on clothes, shoes, bags, make-up and other things. Beside Daimaru, Sannomiya also runs a lot of other department stores and shopping malls like Sogo, Oioi, Loft, etc. which are located closed to Sannomiya main station.
Harborland and its Mosaic also offers a lot of different shops and coffee shops perfect for shopping, dining out in the evening because of its lovely night-view and having a short break from spending money at a coffee shop.


Regarding transportations in Kobe, there are a lot of buses, like the Kobe city bus offering guided tours through Kobe for tourists. Beside the city bus, there are also highway buses to other major cities like Tokyo, Nagoya, Fukuoka, etc. offered starting from Sannomiya's bus terminal next to the JR station.
But traveling in Kobe does not only contain of buses. Like every major city in Japan Kobe also runs a lot of subway and train lines connected to other big cities in its surrounding like Osaka and Kyoto. But also runs an airport located in Port Island connected to Sannomiya station by the Port Liner.