SoraNews24 —Japan News—

Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.

TOP

» Japan
» Travel to Kyoto on the Kyotrain: A Japanese train with interiors like a traditional Kyoto house

Featured

Weird
Studio Ghibli
Jobs

Travel to Kyoto on the Kyotrain: A Japanese train with interiors like a traditional Kyoto house

Oona McGee May 20, 2019
Tweet

With tatami mats, noren curtains and a zen garden, this is one of the most stunning and affordable ways to travel in Japan.

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. It’s these machiya, in fact, that give the streets of downtown Kyoto its unique charm, and while it can be a dream for many to step inside one, there’s now a novel way to experience their beauty firsthand, even before arriving in the old capital.

All it takes is a ticket to ride the Kyotrain Garaku, a new train that takes you from Osaka to Kyoto on the Hankyu Kyoto Line in less than 45 minutes. Although you might wish the ride was 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.

https://twitter.com/Mt_shuzo_822446/status/1124159518630264835

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.

https://twitter.com/zop485/status/1111851151975055361

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 (@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@長時間通勤復活💦 (@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.

https://twitter.com/Sobashima/status/1123105993288630273

温泉みたいですが

電車です。

#京とれいん #雅洛 pic.twitter.com/pO9gmoVku4

— りか🙂のんびりマイペース (@renatamura_7772) May 5, 2019

入学式に向かう阪急京都線。
偶然、京とれいんに遭遇したんで、乗ることに。
車内がすごいことになってる… pic.twitter.com/mxTE16bxxY

— はある (@ha_ru24410) April 2, 2019

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…

京とれいん雅洛に初乗車。
前の京とれいんもだけど、普通料金と変わらずに利用できて驚異のサービスだと思うんだけど、阪急さんほんまに大丈夫なの？ありがとうございます🙏 pic.twitter.com/xBMD7A60gW

— 0鮫 (@SHarcmiz0n0) May 5, 2019

▼ The walls are decorated with Japanese imagery and items like fans…

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 (@michanachan) May 6, 2019

京とれいんに乗車
（烏丸→淡路） pic.twitter.com/v5t3IwmHoO

— ❄そらゆき(蒼空)　地理・交通🐳 (@skyugeo) April 30, 2019

▼ And there are bamboo blinds on the windows.

料亭みたいですが

電車です。

#京とれいん #雅洛 pic.twitter.com/55PdCiJJVp

— りか🙂のんびりマイペース (@renatamura_7772) May 5, 2019

京とれいん
初めて実物見た‼️
乗ってみました☺#京とれいん pic.twitter.com/gU5Uut5iKm

— せせらぎ📖 (@GerberaSese) May 19, 2019

▼ Even the hand straps have a high-class leather-and-wood look to them.

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

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 yen (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
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Follow Oona on Twitter and Instagram for more insider travel tips from Japan!