This page has moved. Our Kobe guide now lives at Kobe Travel Guide 2026: What It Costs, What Changed, and What Old Guides Get Wrong, where it is kept current.
The older version of this article carried several figures that are no longer correct. The most important of them:
- Himeji Castle now costs ¥2,500 for general adult admission, up from ¥1,000, since 1 March 2026. The lower ¥1,000 rate is based on residency in Himeji, not nationality.
- The Kansai Airport Bay Shuttle’s foreign-visitor discount ended on 30 June 2026. The adult fare is ¥1,880.
- Most Kobe tourist passes are now app-only, sold through the スルッとQRtto app rather than at station windows.
- The Nunobiki ropeway rose to ¥2,500 return and the Kitano two-house ticket to ¥800, both on 1 April 2026.
- Kobe Luminarie has moved out of December — the 2027 edition runs 29 January to 7 February.
Rather than leave those figures online, we have replaced this page with a pointer to the current guide.
Where to go instead
- Kobe Travel Guide 2026 — fares, admissions, climate data and the tax position, all checked in August 2026
- The Perfect 2-Day Kobe Itinerary — built around Kobe’s awkward closing days
- 14 Things Guides to Kobe Still Get Wrong in 2026 — every figure that changed, with the date it changed
- Kobe Beef, Honestly — the certification rules and the public register
- Hidden Gems in Kobe — six places we could actually verify