(Kobe) Rokko Arima “ShuYu” Day Pass: Cost vs. Value

The first in a series of Field Trips to come! We did a day trip to Kobe using this pass and it's recommended.

There are a range of prices for the Rokko Arima Shuyu Pass, depending on where you come from, as it includes the local transportation. We got the one day pass but there is also a two day pass. The passes can be purchased from stations in the Kansai area. It is a thin IC card shaped pass that you run through like a train ticket at ticket gates or show to the staff when you get off a bus or get on the cable car and ropeway.

Cost per adult: 2600 yen (for using Hankyu Line)

Value per adult: 4400 yen

The breakdown of how we used the pass:

We used our local Hankyu train to get into Kobe (Rokko Station) 390 yen

We took Hankyu Rokko bus to Rokko Cable Shita Station 210 yen

Rokko Cable car, one way 600 yen

Rokko Sancho bus to Alpine Botanical Garden 210 yen

(there was no discount on the 900 yen entrance, but we received a picture postcard because we had this pass.)

Same bus to Garden Terrace 210 yen? (not sure)

Walked a few minutes from there to Rokko Arima Ropeway 1030 yen one way

Kin no Yu onsen entrance 650 yen weekday price

Return train all the way, via Arima Onsen Station and the subway to Sannomiya Station (much faster than the complex way there) 1100 yen

We got more than our money's worth just for the transportation and also went to an onsen. Not bad considering we didn't do anything extra (that was covered by the pass) or take advantage of any of the discounts available at shops and museums in the area.

The cable car and ropeway route is more scenic and expensive, but there is a discount round trip price. There is also a pass available from Cable Shita Station which includes a discount for the cable car plus bus plus ropeway part (shown in the photo below). This is an all you can ride day pass for the area, so if we had lots of extra time and energy, we could have stopped by as many other stations as we wanted to.

If you are in the Kansai area, Kobe has a lot of great offers for tourism (and it isn't nearly as crowded as Kyoto!)

Link to (Japanese) information about this pass (more offers are available - some with English information - on the same site).