Travel to Kyoto on a Traditional Train

SoraNews24 Updated May 21, 2019

pixta.jp

Kyoto is well known for being a city of historic beauty, with an impressive number of ancient shrines and temples, pristine Japanese gardens and rows of beautifully preserved traditional townhouses known as machiya. You can experience these before you arrive at the old capital with a ticket to ride the Kyotrain Garaku.

This new train takes passengers from Osaka to Kyoto on the Hankyu Kyoto Line in less than 45 minutes. But you may wish the ride was even longer, given that the train looks like this:

乗ったら偶然雅楽だった！なんだかラッキー pic.twitter.com/iJNtQal983
— じゅん💜 (@jun02tb) April 13, 2019

The beautiful wrap on the outside of the train makes it look like all the carriages are covered in traditional lacquer, with golden embellishments giving it a sense of refined elegance, which was the design brief Hankyu Railways was aiming for.

京とれいんを見るなら大阪梅田駅よりも京都河原町駅の方がいいですね。時間にもよるけど、河原町の方が空いていて、車内もゆっくり見る事が出来ます。折り返し時間も梅田駅よりも長いしね。 pic.twitter.com/2PME3ZyT6K
— Mt.shuzo (@Mt_shuzo_822446) May 3, 2019

This elegance continues inside the train, where each carriage comes with its own seasonal theme to highlight the changing scenery of Kyoto throughout the year. Car 1 features maple-leaf motifs to represent autumn, while Car 2 is decorated in bamboo motifs as a nod to winter.

#京とれいん #雅洛 1号車の車内を梅田で降りしなにスナップ。

梅田に着くと、スゴイ人集り。
普段、電車の写真なんか絶対撮ってなそうな、大学生くらいの女の子グループやら、若いカップルやら、オッチャン・オバチャンまで、皆んな雅洛を撮ってて、ちょっとしたインスタ映えスポット化してました。 pic.twitter.com/sixOb8Si4m
— ＺＯＰ－Ｋ (@zop485) March 30, 2019

Car 3 salutes the sakura cherry blossoms of spring, Car 4 is adorned in geraniums for summer, while Cars 5 and 6 focus their attention on the early autumn pampas grass, and the plum blossoms seen in early spring.

家に帰るだけなのに
タイミングが合うとこんな電車に乗れます(*´∀`)#京とれいん pic.twitter.com/9YSmn5QV5b
— さんみー@ドラクエ10 (@sanmii_DQ) May 19, 2019

Cars 2 and 5 also have sections with seats facing the windows, so you can feel like you’re sitting on a viewing porch overlooking a regal landscape.

12:41河原町発の快速特急(京とれいん雅洛)にて大阪に移動👍
前回4号車だったんで今日は3号車。#阪急電車 #京とれいん #雅洛 pic.twitter.com/MavTJlSL4v
— Yassan-KYOTO (@yassan1966) May 4, 2019

Other interior touches you’ll be hard pressed to find on any other train are the noren curtains at the entrance to each carriage, tatami straw mat details, and tranquil Japanese gardens.

帰りも京とれいん🚃
真っ直ぐ帰らないけどね😊笑 pic.twitter.com/XGHXDQ7nfy
— いなちゅ (@inachupika) May 18, 2019

Round windows resemble those seen at temples and samurai villas.

阪急電車　京とれいん雅洛ついに乗れたぁ
GWでいっぱいかと思ったら
めっちゃ空いてるぅ#京とれいん #京とれいん雅洛 #素敵すぎる pic.twitter.com/AQHbx65YXU
— ミーチャ (@HKw1f) May 6, 2019

The walls are decorated with Japanese imagery and items like fans.

京とれいんの内装やばい、これ普通に乗れるとかもっとやばい pic.twitter.com/ErYFK2dd00
— 茜丸 (@akanemanmaru1) March 31, 2019

And there are bamboo blinds on the windows.

The Kyotrain Garaku is currently running between Kyoto’s Kawaramachi and Osaka’s Umeda Stations, with stops at Karasuma, Katsura, Awaji, and Juso. The train runs seven times a day (weekends and holidays only), with the first and last departures from Umeda being 9:32 a.m. and 3:32 p.m., and those from Kawaramachi being 10:41 a.m. and 4:41 p.m.

While Hankyu Railway isn’t covered by the all-inclusive JR rail pass that’s popular with foreign travellers to Japan, the Kyotrain Garaku fare from Umeda to Kawaramachi is just ¥400 (US$3.50), the same as any other Hankyu train traveling between those two stations. It’s an incredibly affordable way to experience one of the country’s most beautiful and unique trains, which means we can put aside some extra yen for a trip on some of the country’s other stunning trains.

Source: Twitter/京とれいん
Featured image: Twitter/@jun02tb

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- soranews24.com