THE Kobe Guide: Much MORE Than Kobe Beef!
Perhaps one of my favorite cities in Japan!
In this guide, I walk you through Kobe’s highlights, daily life, food culture, history, and what makes it a perfect day trip from Osaka or Kyoto.
📸 Our tours & photo shoots in Japan:
🗺️ Read the full Kobe travel guide on our blog:
Kobe Travel Guide: Why Japan’s Port City Is Worth a Day Trip
From Sannomiya and historic cafés to foreign residences, Chinatown, the harbor, and Kobe Station, this video helps you decide if Kobe belongs in your Japan itinerary.
This video covers:
How to get to Kobe from Osaka and Kyoto
Kobe’s café culture and Western influence
Kitano Ijinkan (foreign residences)
Nankinmachi Chinatown street food
Meriken Park, Harborland, and city history
Kobe beef (what actually matters)
Perfect for travelers who enjoy slower cities, walkable neighborhoods, and local atmosphere.
43 Comments
Omg watched everyone of your vids. Was looking for a Kobe one. Wish fulfilled!!
Darn I wish I added Kobe to my 6wk tour in February/March/April. Just a beautiful town
I would also recommend the herb gardens and ropeway
I'm going to be in Kobe in exactly four weeks and you've only made me more enthusiastic! Great video.
my friend said to skip kobe for my first trip but this is making me want to go even more loll
I spent a few hours in Yokohama before seeing Tool in concert last week. It was so nice and chill along the water after dark.
Thanks for covering Kobe! I've been there a couple of times for meetings. I also like Nishimura Coffee, and the Nunobiki Herb Garden. If I get the chance to return, I'll try Tooth Tooth and snack galore in Chinatown.
Abby, you and your husband would love living in Kobe! I lived there as a kid in kitano-cho during the 1970’s. Its was an expat heaven with the Kobe Club nearby. Glad to hear the expats are returning there again. I hear they are building apartments around the Kobe club out there. Look into it. Thats a great area.
the coffee in Kobe is on another level of excellence.
You need to go to the herb garden on the lift. Such a pretty area!
This spring you should come to Shimane, specifically tsuwano for the yabusame at the oldest yabusame grounds in Japan.
Piq-Tour!!!!
I greatly appreciate and respect your honesty about Kobe beef. Going to Kobe was not on my agenda but it looks beautiful and more laid back so I might have to reconsider (or just move there!)
I just got back from Kobe! Spent 5 nights there and absolutely loved it. The Nunobiki Herb Gardens were an absolute highlight, although my friend and I also visited Harborland, Mt. Rokko (via the cable car), Kitanocho, Ikuta Jinja, and our hotel was right next to Nankinmachi.
I also loved shopping in Kobe! Felt less hectic than shopping in Osaka or Tokyo. They had everything I could want and more – Banana Records was a favorite shop, and they also had tons of great secondhand and vintage shops. Their Onitsuka Tiger store had a great selection and also felt less crowded than the other Onitsuka Tiger stores I visited on this trip.
We of course had Kobe beef a few times and it was just great, as were the soup dumplings in Nankinmachi. The sweet potato dessert place (Burikitotan?) next to Yunyun was the best! Their soft serve will live rent free in my head forever.
Thanks for making a video all about Kobe!! I miss it already and would recommend it to anyone who wants to enjoy a little bit of slower paced travel easily accessible from the golden route ☺️🥰
My wife and I visited Kobe as a day trip from Osaka a few weeks ago. We were motivated by your advice to balance our trip with busy activities and calm activities, so it was perfect. The Nunobiki Herb Garden was fantastic!
You have so many outfit different styles and they’re all awesome. I like that you mix things up.
Not related, but you look half Japanese.
Wow, what a gem. Looks amazing.
This video is god sent cause I've been planning a Kansai trip for mid-late March! Would have never known about Nishimura Coffee otherwise, but now it's one of the places to eat in my itinerary 😊 Looking forward to the Arima Onsen video you mentioned cause that's a spot in my plan 😀
just a suggestion ,
a enchanting place ,
the lost world of " IKOMA " , Hozanji Temple .
1 Train station away from nara
great vlog , really think you will be no 1 travel channel for japan soon
I've been going to Kobe since before the quake; it was a grim time. Big changes happened after that.
Addenda in no particular order:
❖ I can vouch for Tooth Tooth. They have a bunch of locations around the city and the offerings vary by location.
❖ Abby has it right.There are a lot of borderline scammy Kobe beef places where one can pay a hefty sum for so-so beef. Unless one is knowledgeable, I'd actually suggest getting beef in another city where it's not so hyped.
❖ If one is into live Jazz, there are a number of clubs along one street that is a short walk from Sannomiya station.
❖ I'm not a big fan of shokupan, but many people are. Shokupan no Mise Shunkashuto is the place for those people. Or one of the Tommy's bakeries around the station.
It's just my opinion obviously, but I've always felt Kobe is a little bit bland. Good for a day trip, but not much more. I do think it's a great place to live though — clean, walkable, and well laid out.
This could not have come out at a more convenient time. We’re planning a day trip here in ~12 days from Osaka 😂 Thanks!!!
I am so glad I follow you! I’m glad you highlighted the Luminarie. Have you been to Yoshiharu on the Sanjo Shoping Street? The Ramen are amazing and the staff is super nice. I would love to see a video with your recommendation for Ramen and Oden in Kyoto. Maybe with some different dietary restrictions options?
As much as I love Tokyo Skytree, Kobe Tower is, by far, the most good-looking of all japanese towers.
When I visit Japan again next year, I am visiting a friend in Kobe while in Osaka, and I’m looking forward to going. Thank you for highlighting Kobe for me. Your videos are wonderful as always!! Merry Christmas to you and Tappei!!
Excellent guide for Kobe. I marked a lot of points on the map now. I'll be in Osaka in the spring and will make the 30 minute trip there this time. I didn't realize how close it was to Osaka. It's like taking the Ginza line from Asakusa to Shibuya. 💙
Great video. This is very niche, but if you're a fan of Snoopy, I also recommend eating at the diner at the Peanuts Hotel.
Can you keep an enma? Or do you have to leave it at the shrine? Asking for me.
We are going to Kobe in May next year so it was so good to see Kobe featured on your channel. Kobe is our first stop after 4 days in Tokyo so I think we are going to love the quieter pace there. We plan on going to the Nunobiki Herb Garden and Ropeway up to the waterfall. Another highlight will be the Mt Rokko Cable car to see the Night view. This is one of the best three night views in Japan. We also plan on going to the Earthquake museum, which has a really long name that I cannot remember. Thank you for showing us some great places to eat. I love the look of the big fish place.
I was planning for Kobe last night… Are you reading my mind?
I really hope I can visit Japan again soon, and this made me want to consider Kobe or add it to the list. Thanks for the video.
Great video, it’s now on our itinerary! Is there any chance you’re planning on going to Okinawa in the next few months?? We are going in May and would love your review, we trust your recommendations, thanks
Awww. We went to Kobe in October 2025. Wish we had this video back then. Didn’t have much time so we went to the Herb Garden. But your trip was interesting with the food and cafes. Wish we done more like that. Will agree with you on the Kobe beef. Had that in 2023 and it was good, both steak and “show”. Did I want to do it again? Not really. But our friend found a hole in the wall and had a wagyu rice bowl and ramen. Wife had a wagyu ramen and sushi. That sushi was great!!! After watching your video, felt like going back to Japan again. 😸😸
been watching you for a while now and this is amazing timing, i'm visiting for the first time in a few weeks!
We were just in Japan last week and if I knew of Abby’s appreciation for Bread sooner, I would have reached out for a Kyoto Bread Tour 🥖
On our second to last trip to Japan, we added in Kobe to the itinerary, and it was by far the highlight of that trip.
素敵な洋服です(✿ ♡‿♡)🩷
Great video, thank you. We were there in Feb 2025. Our friend works for Kawasaki Heavy Industries, he suggested the Kawasaki Good Times World. I highly recommend it: It's much more than motorcycles! The Founder's Area was very interesting, he had a lot of innovative ideas, the history was fascinating.
❤
I was Last week in kobe for a day trip. Extremely beautiful City. I was Walking all day Long, going with the ropewqy Up to nunobiki herb Garden and walked down. The ropewqy people warned me, but i didnt hear. For my legst the way down was Not the best 😀 beautiful spots, but Afterwards all my strength was gone. The ikuta shrine was wonderful!
Hey Abby, that was a fun tour of Kobe. I had no clue that it would be looking the way that it looks, and it did not seem overly crowded in any of your scenes that you were shooting. I think you should open a bakery somewhere because of your love of bread. Do you ever make it? Keep up the good work and merry Christmas.
Can you do a video on how to find healthy food in Japan?
Traveling from Sapporo to Nagasaki over 6 weeks and got really sick. There are NO healthy foods other than paying for an expensive steak or going to the grocery store…good luck if you don't have a kitchen in your room…you're stuck with salad sweet potato and sushi.
I could not believe it. Ramon was loaded with MSG everywhere.
I was just there last month a day. Beautiful city
I agree with you on Japanese port cities that's why I chose to go on a cruise in 2025. I found your site this year when planning for this trip to Japan. I had never been to Kyoto but my husband had. The trade off was to do Kyoto in one day from our ship that docked in Osaka. We had an amazing day. I felt confident in my route and what we could do based on your videos.