This post is the epitome of WHY we chose to road trip through Japan. There is so much to see in between the main cities and attractions. Today’s post covers our stops in Osaka and Kobe on our leg from Kyoto to Hiroshima during our 21 day road trip.

This drive took a solid day on the road; but we stopped at four places + had reservations at a Kobe beef restaurant in Kobe. Note that you could 100% stay in Kobe or Osaka. We chose to skip staying in these cities due to time restrictions. And other cities sounded more interesting to us.

• Stop at Osaka Castle
• Pablo Cheesecake & Rikuro’s Cheesecake
• Kobe beef in Kobe at Ishida
• Stop at Himeji Castle

The first stop was Osaka Castle

Honestly, we’d go back and stay in Osaka. It was a beautiful for a decently large city. Not surprising in Japan. Because of our tight time schedule, we walked straight to the castle but there was tons to see in the surrounding area. As you can see in the photos, the cherry blossoms were pretty close to full bloom during our little visit.

After Osaka Castle, we hauled balls to pick up two cheesecakes. One from Pablo Cheesecake and the other from Rikuro’s Cheesecake. Both are famous, for good reason. The cheesecakes acted as our appetizer for another famous Japanese cuisine…Kobe Beef…which we definitely ate, in Kobe.

We had a early dinner reservation that we had to make at Ishida in Kobe for a private Kobe Beef dining experience. IT. WAS. AWESOME. I took a bunch of video, but don’t have many photos (regrettably so).

After finishing dinner, we booked it to Himeji Castle where we barely made the cut-off for entering. Maybe it was the time of day, maybe it was the ‘rona. Either way, we nearly had the castle to ourselves, and it was a majestic end to our long drive from Kyoto to Hiroshima.

Though we didn’t stay in Kobe or Osaka, we debated staying in both of these locations during our planning phase for Japan. Both seemed like awesome cities, and we’d definitely consider returning for longer stays.

I could see 500 Japanese temples or castles and never not be impressed. The craftsmanship and thought that goes into the surrounding grounds is like nothing else. Also hello Kobe beef – worth the hype.

Don’t sleep on Osaka or Kobe if you’re ever in Japan…and don’t forget to pin this post for later!

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