I enjoyed Kobe city but it was a bit like watching women’s basketball, a little bit boring.  That’s bound to ruffle some feathers so send me a nasty message if you think that’s a bit on the nose!  Although the hotel we stayed at was excellent, in fact it was probably the best things about Kobe, I don’t think I’d want to come back to Kobe city in a hurry.  It’s a nice small Japanese city but not much exciting to do and doesn’t have the character or charm of some other Japanese cities.

I’d recommend visiting Kobe city on a day trip from Osaka, it’s only about 30km and you can get the train (more information on that here) although if you’ve read any of my Japan posts you’ll know that hiring a car is the best way to go.  You could do pretty much everything there is to do in Kobe city in one full day and not really miss out on too much. Probably the only reason I’d go back here is to stay at the Hotel La Suite Kobe Harborland.

Kobe is famous for it’s beef but despite the fact we’re massive Japanese BBQ lovers, we didn’t really find a decent Kobe beef place in Kobe city, probably because we hung around the harbour area and didn’t venture too far.

Not so fun fact, Kobe city is actually Japan’s sixth largest city (somebody’s been doing some googling because he’s struggling with things to say about Kobe city) and the Ikuta Shrine is one of Japan’s oldest shinto shrines that dates back to the 3rd century.  It’s population is about 1.5 million, so not really the small city that I’ve described it as, but as far as Japan goes, that’s pretty small.

Check out our Osaka Destination guide as I think it’s worth staying there over Kobe.