Kyoto or Shin-Osaka Station, 4 Bags: Taxi or Private Car?

Short answer: with two or more large suitcases, leave by the Shinkansen central exit onto the Hachijo side and let the car come to you: ¥19,000 fixed from Kyoto Station to any Kyoto hotel (Alphard, 4 passengers, 4 large bags), ¥24,000 for a HiAce, ¥32,000 on to Osaka, ¥28,000 to Nara. A rank taxi is cheaper with one or two bags (about ¥1,400 to Gion) but carries 2 suitcases; forwarding is ¥1,500 a bag and reaches the hotel after 17:00.

The Shinkansen is the easy part. The hard part starts on the platform at Kyoto Station, where the escalator down deposits you in a concourse with 13 named exits, two forecourts on opposite sides of the building, a bus terminal, and a taxi rank that the city itself films during holiday weeks because the queue is that long. Shin-Osaka is smaller but stacked on four floors, with the taxis two floors below the Shinkansen gates. This guide is for the traveller stepping off with real luggage: which exit to take, where a taxi or a pre-booked car can physically stop, what each option costs, and when it is smarter to send the bags ahead and walk out empty-handed. It is the Kansai counterpart of our Tokyo Station guide, with Kyoto and Osaka facts, not Tokyo ones.

Which Exit Should You Take at Kyoto Station With Luggage?

The Hachijo side, every time you have bags and a car or taxi to catch. Kyoto Station is a long building with the Shinkansen tracks along its southern edge, so the two Shinkansen exits, the Shinkansen Central Exit and the Shinkansen Hachijo Exit, both open onto the south, or Hachijo-guchi, side. The famous glass atrium, the city bus terminal and Kyoto Tower are on the opposite, north side, the Karasuma-guchi, reached through the JR West concourse or along the 2F north-south free passage. JR West's own map allows 9 minutes for the transfer between the Shinkansen and its conventional lines and 10 minutes to the subway and Kintetsu, and that is without a suitcase in each hand.

Kyoto City rebuilt the Hachijo-guchi forecourt in 2016 specifically to sort out cars: it now has a taxi boarding rank, a separate taxi alighting kerb, a general-vehicle pick-up and drop-off bay, a hotel shuttle-bus bay and a coach bay, each in its own lane, with marshals on duty from 08:00 to 23:00. Hachijo-dori itself, the road in front, is a no-stopping zone between Aburanokoji-dori and Takeda-kaido. That layout is the reason a pre-booked car can meet you here and cannot meet you in the middle of the Karasuma-side forecourt, which is mostly bus terminal plus a taxi rank the city flagged this April as one of the two places in Kyoto where crowds concentrate most.

Where Exactly Can a Car Stop, and What Do You Write in the Booking Notes?

Here is the one table to screenshot: each exit, where a car can legally stop for it, and the words to put in the notes so the driver and you are picturing the same kerb.

Station and exit	Where the car (or taxi) can stop	Write in the booking notes
Kyoto, Shinkansen Central Exit (Shinkansen Chuo-guchi, opens onto the Hachijo side)	The general-vehicle bay in the Hachijo-guchi forecourt, stop-only, marshalled 08:00–23:00. Taxi rank in the same forecourt. If the bay is full the driver loops once or uses the Kyoto Station Hachijo-guchi car park under Avanti (30 minutes free for station pick-ups with the marshal's discount ticket, 09:00–22:00) and sends you the spot.	"Shinkansen central exit, Hachijo side, general-car bay. Train arrives 15:02, Nozomi 27."
Kyoto, Shinkansen Hachijo Exit (Shinkansen Hachijo-guchi / Hachijo-higashi-guchi, 06:50–23:00)	Same Hachijo forecourt, east end. Closest to the hotel-shuttle bay and the coach bay; slightly longer walk to the general-car bay.	"Hachijo east exit, I will walk to the general-car bay."
Kyoto, Central Exit / Karasuma side (JR West Chuo-guchi, bus terminal, Kyoto Tower)	Bus terminal and the Karasuma-guchi taxi rank. No practical place for a pre-booked car to wait. Use this side for the subway (Karasuma Line, ¥220 to Shijo) or a taxi, and expect a queue in high season.	Don't. Ask for the Hachijo side; the covered 2F free passage takes you across the building in about 5 minutes without bags, longer with them.
Shin-Osaka, Shinkansen Central or South Exit (3F)	Escalators down to the 1F main-exit (Shomen-guchi) forecourt: taxi rank, city and Itami-airport bus bays, and the Times short-stay car park (94 spaces, 24 hours, ¥700 per 60 minutes 06:00–24:00) where the driver can park and come to the doors.	"Shin-Osaka 1F main exit, pillar 3 near the station car-rental counter. Train arrives 14:36."
Shin-Osaka, East Exit (3F, and the 1F east exit below it)	Small taxi rank outside the 1F east exit, useful if your hotel is east of the station. No car bay; not a meeting point we recommend.	"Meet at the 1F main exit, I'll come down from the east side."

Two habits make this work every time. Put the train number and arrival time in the notes, because that tells the driver which minute to be in the bay rather than circling for half an hour. And keep your phone on: the driver is assigned the day before, contacts you by SMS, WhatsApp, phone or email, and sends a photo of the car and a pinned location before you arrive so you walk to a car you have already seen.

Why the Driver Can't Wait on the Platform, and How You Still Find Each Other

Because in Japan a hire-car driver stays with the car, and at these stations the car can only stop, not park. The Hachijo-guchi general bay is defined by Kyoto City as a stop for boarding and alighting only, with parking and waiting prohibited; the city's own survey found 7 in 10 users are in and out within 5 minutes and marshals move the rest along. Shin-Osaka's 1F forecourt has a paid car park precisely because the kerb is not for waiting. A driver who abandoned the car to hold a sign at the Shinkansen gate would come back to a ticket, a marshal, or no car.

So a station pickup is built differently from an airport one. There is no name board (that is an airport-arrivals feature, where the driver can leave the car in the airport car park and stand at the exit). Instead:

• The exit is agreed in advance from the table above, and confirmed by the driver the day before. An airport pickup can be booked as little as 2 hours before you land, and booking that late costs nothing extra: no rush fee, no night loading, the same fixed price as booking months ahead. A pickup from an address more than 50 km from the nearest partner base needs 24 hours, and airports are always exempt from that. Drivers are usually assigned the day before travel, and an assigned driver can occasionally change; you get the new name and number if so.
• Before you arrive the driver sends a photo of the car and a pinned location on WhatsApp or SMS, or calls. A Toyota Alphard or a HiAce in a bay of taxis is easy to spot once you have seen the photo.
• If the bay is full or a marshal moves the car, the driver messages the new spot, usually the Avanti car park at Kyoto or the Times car park at Shin-Osaka, both a 2-minute walk from the exits.
• Free waiting is 30 minutes from the pickup time you booked (station and other point-to-point rides; airport pickups get 90 minutes from actual landing, but a Shinkansen is not a flight). We track flights, not trains, so if the Shinkansen is delayed, message us and we move the pickup.
• The driver does not leave. Beyond the free 30 minutes, waiting is billed at ¥6,000 per hour for an Alphard or ¥8,000 for a HiAce, in 15-minute blocks, with under 15 minutes not charged. If the driver has a later job, we reassign it to another driver so he can stay for you.

Help with the bags is at the car: the driver loads and unloads, and carries them to the hotel or ryokan entrance. On a Gion or Higashiyama lane where cars are not allowed, that entrance is the nearest point the car can reach, and the driver will tell you how far the last stretch is.

How Much Is a Taxi From the Rank, and Do the Bags Fit?

Cheap for the distance, tight for the bags. Both cities publish an upper meter fare, so the price of the ride is predictable; what is not predictable is the queue, the time-based charge when the car is crawling, and whether the taxi at the head of the rank can take your suitcases at all.

Meter (upper fare, standard car)	Kyoto city zone (from 6 Aug 2025)	Osaka zone incl. Shin-Osaka (from 5 Nov 2025)
Flag fall	¥500 for the first 0.9 km	¥600 for the first 1.2 km
Distance charge	¥100 per 255 m	¥100 per 231 m
Night surcharge 22:00–05:00	+20%	+20%
Long-distance discount	10% off the part above ¥9,000	10% off the part above ¥9,000 (varies by company)
Extras	Time charge in slow traffic; expressway tolls on top; MK charges ¥1,000–2,000 to request a minivan or Alphard	Time charge in slow traffic; tolls on top; ¥400 to call a cab to you
Estimate, daytime, distance only	Kyoto Station → Gion/Higashiyama (about 3 km) ≈ ¥1,400 → Karasuma-Oike / Kyoto Gyoen (about 4 km) ≈ ¥1,800 → Arashiyama (about 10 km) ≈ ¥4,100 → Nara (about 46 km) ≈ ¥17,300 plus tolls	Shin-Osaka → Umeda (about 4 km) ≈ ¥1,900 → Namba (about 8 km) ≈ ¥3,600 → Kyoto (about 45 km) ≈ ¥18,500 plus tolls

MK, Kyoto's biggest taxi company, is honest about capacity on its own fare page: a standard car takes 1 or 2 suitcases depending on the model, a minivan takes 2 with every seat in use and 6 only with the back row folded, which turns it into a 3-passenger car, and its Alphard taxis are the same 2-or-6 story with a ¥1,000–2,000 request fee, subject to availability. MK also undercuts the standard meter slightly (¥470 for 0.9 km, then ¥100 per 271 m). The arithmetic for a family of four with four checked bags is therefore two taxis, two queues, two fares, and a hotel doorman matching bags to people, or one pre-booked vehicle.

Can You Take the Bags on the Subway, Keihan or Hankyu Instead?

You can, and with one carry-on-sized bag you should; with a large suitcase per person the fares stay tiny and the stairs and platforms do the punishing. Kyoto City's official Hands Free Kyoto site asks visitors outright to keep large luggage off the city buses because it crowds out residents, and the same logic applies on the Karasuma Line at 17:30.

• Kyoto Municipal Subway, Karasuma Line, from the Karasuma-side concourse: ¥220 for a 1-zone ride (fares run ¥220 to ¥360 by zone since 1 October 2025), for example Kyoto to Shijo for the Shijo-Karasuma hotels or a change to Hankyu at Karasuma. JR West's own map allows 10 minutes for the walk from the Shinkansen gate to the subway gate first.
• Hankyu for Kawaramachi and Arashiyama: not in Kyoto Station at all; you ride the subway to Shijo and change at Karasuma station, two sets of gates and one flight of stairs with the bags.
• Keihan for Gion-Shijo and Sanjo: also not in Kyoto Station; the nearest Keihan stop is Shichijo, about a kilometre east on foot, or one JR Nara Line stop to Tofukuji and a change there.
• Osaka Metro, Midosuji Line, directly under Shin-Osaka: ¥240 to Umeda (2-zone fare, 3–7 km) and ¥290 to Namba (3-zone, 7–13 km), the best-value ride in this article if you have one bag and a hotel on the line. Peak-hour Midosuji trains are crowded, so 2 large bags per person is where the metro stops being reasonable.

Coin Lockers, Forwarding, Taxi or Private Car: What Happens to the Bags?

Four ways to handle the luggage itself, each with a real price and a real cut-off. The forwarding counters are the option most overseas visitors do not know exist, and at ¥1,500 a bag they are the cheapest way to have a free afternoon in Kyoto before check-in.

Option	Where and when	Price	Fits a large suitcase?	Best for
Coin lockers (about 1,700 at Kyoto Station across the JR concourse, station building, Porta and the bus ticket centre; an ICOCA-locker vacancy search in 4 languages is on screens in the station)	Station opening hours; the cashless bank outside the JR central gate runs 04:35–23:55	Cashless bank at the central gate: large ¥600 per 3 hours or ¥1,800 per 24 hours, medium ¥400 / ¥1,200, small ¥300 / ¥900, first 60 minutes free	Large lockers take one suitcase each and go first; sizes vary by bank, so use the vacancy screens	Day-trippers passing through, a few hours, one bag
pikuraku PORTER smart lockers (JR West same-day delivery; Kyoto Station left of the JR central gate, also at Shin-Osaka, Osaka and 5 other Osaka stations)	Load by 14:00 for same-day delivery to about 280 Kyoto hotels (about 350 Osaka hotels from the Osaka stations); arrives the same evening; IC card or credit card	Kyoto Station to Kyoto city: large ¥2,800, medium ¥2,300, small ¥1,900; same prices Osaka station to Osaka city	Large door 33 × 80.7 × 64.5 cm, one suitcase per door	Self-service, no counter queue, hotel that signs for parcels
Crosta Kyoto (B1F of the station building, down the escalator from the JR central gate; Kyoto Prefecture's tourism federation listing)	Hand in 08:00–14:00, at your Kyoto-city hotel after 17:00; reverse direction hotel → station by 10:00 at the front desk, collect 14:00–20:00; counter open 08:00–20:00	¥1,500 per bag; day storage ¥1,000 per bag	Yes, standard suitcases; check the size limit at the counter	The cheapest same-day forwarding, and the only one with a return service for departure day
Yamato, Kyoto Ekimae office (Aburanokoji-dori, a short walk west of the Karasuma side)	Counter from 08:00, same-day cut-off 10:00, hotels with a reception desk in Shimogyo, Nakagyo, Minami and Higashiyama wards only; next-day delivery nationwide	Same day within Kyoto city: 120-size ¥2,180, 140-size ¥2,540, 160-size (25 kg) ¥2,860; to an Osaka-city hotel same day ¥4,020 for 160-size; Kyoto → Tokyo next day ¥3,160; storage ¥1,000 per bag per day	Yes, up to 200 cm combined and 30 kg	Sending bags on to Osaka or Tokyo, or a morning arrival
Taxi from the rank	Hachijo-guchi and Karasuma-guchi ranks at Kyoto; 1F main-exit rank at Shin-Osaka; long queues on holiday afternoons are normal enough that the city films the Karasuma rank	About ¥1,400 to Gion, ¥4,100 to Arashiyama, ¥1,900 Shin-Osaka to Umeda (meter estimates above)	2 suitcases per standard car; 3 or more bags usually means 2 cars	1–2 people, 1–2 bags, hotel within 5 km
Pre-booked private car (RydAgent)	Waits at the Hachijo-side bay or Shin-Osaka 1F forecourt at the booked time; 30 minutes free waiting	¥19,000 Alphard / ¥24,000 HiAce anywhere in Kyoto city from Kyoto Station, or anywhere in Osaka city from Shin-Osaka; ¥32,000 / ¥35,000 Kyoto Station to Osaka	Alphard: 4 large bags + 4 carry-ons; HiAce: 9 large bags + 9 carry-ons	Families, groups, ryokan on a lane, onward to Osaka, Nara or Kobe

Kyoto City's Hands Free Kyoto site lists five delivery counters inside Kyoto Station with their hours: Crosta Kyoto 08:00–20:00, the Kotochika bus and subway information centre 07:30–19:30, the Kyo Navi tourist information centre on 2F 08:30–19:00 (Yamato same-day delivery to accommodation in Kyoto Prefecture and Osaka city), the JR Kyoto Station Hachijo Gate delivery service 10:00–18:00, and MK's Kyoto Travel Center 09:00–19:00. The common catch across all of them is the hotel: it must have a reception desk that accepts and signs for luggage, so a guesthouse with a key box or a machiya rental is out, and the bags arrive in the evening, so pack a day bag with what you need before 17:00.

What Does a Private Car Cost From Kyoto Station or Shin-Osaka?

¥19,000 for a hop inside the city, ¥32,000 between the two cities, and the same price at 06:00 or 23:00. The price is per vehicle, fixed when you book, and includes tolls, parking and fuel; it is the same whether the hotel is beside the station or up in Arashiyama.

Route (point-to-point)	Alphard (up to 4 pax, 4 large bags)	HiAce (up to 9 pax, 9 large bags)	Typical time	Per person, 4 sharing
Kyoto Station → any Kyoto city hotel or ryokan (Gion, Higashiyama, Arashiyama, Kyoto Gyoen area)	¥19,000	¥24,000	15–40 min	¥4,750
Kyoto Station → Osaka (Shin-Osaka, Osaka Station/Umeda, Namba)	¥32,000	¥35,000	about 75 min	¥8,000
Shin-Osaka → any Osaka city hotel (Umeda, Namba, Shinsaibashi, USJ area)	¥19,000	¥24,000	15–40 min	¥4,750
Shin-Osaka → Kyoto Station or any Kyoto hotel	¥32,000	¥35,000	about 75 min	¥8,000
Kyoto Station → Nara (Nara Park, Kintetsu-Nara, Nara hotels)	¥28,000	¥31,000	about 54 min	¥7,000
Kyoto Station → Kobe Sannomiya	¥41,000	¥47,000	about 86 min	¥10,250

Set that against the rank. For a couple with one bag each going to a Karasuma hotel, a ¥1,400 taxi beats ¥19,000 and we will say so. For four people with four checked bags going to a ryokan in Higashiyama, the honest taxi figure is two cars at roughly ¥1,400–2,000 each plus two queues, so the car's premium buys one vehicle, a driver who is already waiting, and no bag counting at the kerb. The comparison flips hard once the destination is another city: Kyoto Station to Osaka is ¥8,000 a head for four in an Alphard, door to door with the luggage, against a 29-minute Special Rapid that leaves you at Osaka Station with the bags and a second taxi to find.

Kyoto Station to Nara, Osaka or Kobe: Train or Car With Luggage?

Train for one or two light travellers, car for three or more with real bags or a hotel that is not beside the arrival station. All the train figures below come from the operators' current timetables and fare tables.

Onward leg	Train	Private car (Alphard / HiAce)	Go with the train if…
Kyoto Station → Osaka Station / Umeda	JR Special Rapid, 29 minutes (07:00 → 07:29), no reservation, about ¥600 per person on an IC card (see our Kyoto to Osaka route page)	¥32,000 / ¥35,000, about 75 min door to door	1–2 people, hotel within a few minutes of Osaka Station
Kyoto Station → Shin-Osaka	JR Special Rapid, 25 minutes to Shin-Osaka; Shinkansen 13–15 minutes but with the ticket gates and platform escalators at both ends	¥32,000 / ¥35,000	You are connecting to another Shinkansen anyway
Kyoto Station → Nara	Kintetsu limited express, Kyoto to Kintetsu-Nara in 37–40 minutes (16:25 → 17:02), ¥1,280 including the ¥520 express fee, reserved seat; or JR Miyakoji Rapid to JR Nara in 47 minutes (09:34 → 10:21), no reservation	¥28,000 / ¥31,000, about 54 min to the hotel door	Nara hotel within walking distance of Kintetsu-Nara and bags you can wheel
Kyoto Station → Kobe Sannomiya	JR Special Rapid, direct, about 50 minutes (check JR West's timetable)	¥41,000 / ¥47,000, about 86 min	Almost always, unless you are 5+ with a HiAce-load of bags or heading to the cruise terminal

For a family that wants Nara done as a day out rather than a hotel move, the maths changes again: a Kyoto-based day charter to Nara with the bags left at the hotel is often the better product; see the Kyoto and Nara day tour. And if you are arriving into Kansai Airport rather than by train, the station is not your problem at all; our KIX to Kyoto guide and Haruka vs private car comparison cover that leg.

Go With the Subway, the Taxi Rank, the Car or the Forwarding Counter If…

• Go with your feet or the subway if you have one bag per person, it has wheels, and the hotel is within about a kilometre of the station or one subway stop away. ¥220 on the Karasuma Line, ¥240–290 on the Midosuji Line from Shin-Osaka, and nothing to book. Skip the city bus with a suitcase; the city asks you to.
• Go with the taxi rank if you are one or two people with one or two bags, the hotel is inside the city, and you are arriving outside holiday peaks. Budget about ¥1,400 to Gion or ¥4,100 to Arashiyama on the Kyoto meter, ¥1,900 Shin-Osaka to Umeda, and accept that a third suitcase means a second taxi.
• Go with the pre-booked car if you are three or more people with checked bags, a family with a pushchair or a child seat (¥2,000 each, request at booking), staying in a ryokan on a lane the taxi driver will argue about, arriving after a long day with no appetite for a queue, or continuing straight on to Osaka, Nara or Kobe. ¥19,000 inside Kyoto or Osaka, ¥32,000 between them, driver at the car with 30 minutes of free waiting.
• Go with the forwarding counter if you land at midday and want the afternoon in Higashiyama before a 17:00 check-in, or the bags are going to a different city than you are. ¥1,500 a bag with Crosta by 14:00, ¥1,900–2,800 through the pikuraku lockers by 14:00, ¥2,860 for a 160-size case with Yamato by 10:00. Then walk out with a day bag and take the subway, or pair it with the car for the family and the forwarding for the skis.

What Is Included on a Station Pickup, and How Do You Pay?

Everything that makes the number on the screen the number you pay. Your price is all-inclusive: tolls, parking, fuel, taxes, and the meet and greet at the car. Free waiting is included, 30 minutes on station and other point-to-point rides, 90 minutes from actual landing on airport pickups. Tipping is never expected, never required. The only extras are ones you choose: a child, infant or booster seat at ¥2,000 each, waiting beyond the free 30 minutes, or a fluent English-speaking driver at +20% of the car fare, subject to availability and refunded if we cannot arrange one. Most drivers have basic English plus a translation app; a Chinese-speaking driver is free on request, as the driver network is majority Chinese-speaking, so most rides can be conducted directly in Chinese. Pets travel free in a carrier if you tell us at booking.

For trips booked 48+ hours ahead, choose Reserve now, pay later: ¥0 due today — your card is verified and saved, then charged automatically 48 hours before pickup, with free cancellation and a full refund until 24 hours before pickup. Trips within 48 hours are paid at booking. Cancellation is free until 24 hours before pickup with a full refund, which matters on a multi-city trip: if the plan changes the day before, you cancel from your phone at no cost. More on how the hold works in our Reserve now, pay later explainer.

What We Can't Do

• Meet you inside the ticket gates or on the platform. The driver stays with the car in the bay or the car park and guides you to it by photo, pin and phone. If you want a person at the gate, that is a porter or a guide, not a transfer.
• Hold a name board at a station. Name-board meet and greet is included as standard on airport pickups booked directly with us; a station pickup uses the car photo and pinned location instead, because a marshalled stop-only bay does not allow a driver to leave the vehicle.
• Stop on Hachijo-dori or in the Karasuma bus terminal. The road in front of the Hachijo forecourt is a no-stopping zone and the Karasuma side is buses and taxis. We use the bays the city built for this.
• Track your train. Flight tracking adjusts airport pickups automatically for delays over 20 minutes; a Shinkansen delay needs a message from you. Free waiting is 30 minutes from the booked time, then ¥6,000 per hour (Alphard) or ¥8,000 (HiAce) in 15-minute blocks.
• Promise a bag count we have not seen. Published capacities are up to 4 passengers with 4 large bags plus 4 carry-ons in an Alphard and 9 with 9 plus 9 in a HiAce. Send the real count, checked and cabin bags separately; four people with six checked bags should book the HiAce even though the Alphard covers the people. Our 9-seat HiAce guide shows what fits.
• Beat the subway on price for one person. ¥220 is ¥220. The car is a per-vehicle price that only makes sense from about three people or three bags upward, or when the destination is another city.
• Drive into a pedestrian lane. In Gion, Pontocho and parts of Higashiyama the car stops where cars are allowed to and the driver carries the bags to the entrance from there; he will tell you the distance in advance.

How to Book a Kyoto Station or Shin-Osaka Pickup

It takes 30 seconds and the notes field does the important work. On rydagent.com choose point-to-point, type "Kyoto Station" or "Shin-Osaka Station" as the pickup and your hotel as the destination, and the fixed price for an Alphard and a HiAce appears before you enter a name. Set the pickup time 10 to 15 minutes after the scheduled arrival: enough to get off, find the escalator and walk out, not so much that you are standing in the bay. In the notes, write the exit from the table above, the train number and arrival time, the number of checked bags and carry-ons, and any child seat. Confirmation is immediate; the driver's name, number and vehicle follow once assigned, usually the day before. The morning of travel you will already have the car photo and the pin. Support is always online, so a delayed train or a changed hotel is a message, not a problem.

RydAgent is operated by PLENS Inc. (株式会社PLENS), Koshigaya, Saitama, registered in Japan as a Travel Service Arrangement Business. We are not a fleet — we are a Japan-based dispatch operation working with licensed partner fleets across the country, with 36,000+ airport transfers processed. For the airport end of the same trip, our guide to where the driver waits at Kansai and 12 other airports explains the name-board pickup that stations cannot offer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a taxi from the rank or a pre-booked private car better at Kyoto Station with four suitcases?

With four large suitcases, a pre-booked car: ¥19,000 fixed from Kyoto Station to any Kyoto hotel (RydAgent Alphard, up to 4 passengers and 4 large bags) or ¥24,000 for a 9-seat HiAce, with the driver waiting at the car in the Hachijo-side pick-up bay and 30 minutes of free waiting. A rank taxi is cheaper for one or two bags, about ¥1,400 to Gion on the Kyoto meter (¥500 for the first 0.9 km, then ¥100 per 255 m), but a standard sedan carries 2 suitcases, so four bags usually means two taxis or a minivan you cannot count on being at the rank. Take the taxi with one or two bags; take the car with three or more, a family, a ryokan on a lane, or an onward ride to Osaka or Nara.

Where does the driver meet me at Kyoto Station? Can he come to the Shinkansen ticket gate?

At the car, not the gate. Japanese rules keep a hire-car driver with the vehicle: the Hachijo-guchi general-vehicle bay is stop-only, marshalled from 08:00 to 23:00, and Hachijo-dori itself is a no-stopping zone. So you agree the exit in the booking, and before you arrive the driver sends a photo of the car and a pinned location on WhatsApp, SMS or by phone. From the Shinkansen central exit you are on the Hachijo side already: walk out of the building and the bay is in the forecourt, next to the taxi rank. Name-board meet and greet is an airport-pickup feature; on a station pickup the car photo and pin do that job.

Where does a pre-booked car wait at Shin-Osaka Station?

In the 1F main-exit (Shomen-guchi) forecourt on the south side of the station. From the Shinkansen central or south exit on 3F, take the escalators down to 1F: the forecourt has the taxi rank, the city and Itami-airport bus bays and a 94-space short-stay car park (Shin-Osaka Station Jikayosha Seirijo, central; ¥700 per 60 minutes in the daytime) where the driver can park legally and walk to the doors. Hire-car firms use the pillar-3 area near the station car-rental counter as their meeting point, and so do we unless you ask for something else in the notes.

How much is a taxi from Kyoto Station to Gion or Arashiyama, and will four suitcases fit?

On the Kyoto meter (¥500 for the first 0.9 km, then ¥100 per 255 m; 20% more between 22:00 and 05:00) Gion is roughly ¥1,400 for about 3 km and Arashiyama roughly ¥4,100 for about 10 km, before any time charge in traffic. Fitting the bags is the real problem: MK, Kyoto's largest operator, lists 1 to 2 suitcases for a standard car and 2 for a minivan with all seats up (6 only if the back row is folded, which drops it to 3 passengers). Four suitcases is two taxis or a pre-booked car.

Can I forward my bags from Kyoto Station to my hotel the same day, and what does it cost?

Yes, three ways. Crosta Kyoto on B1F of the station building takes bags from 08:00 to 14:00 for ¥1,500 each and they are at your Kyoto-city hotel after 17:00. The pikuraku PORTER smart lockers to the left of the JR central gate send a bag to about 280 Kyoto hotels for ¥1,900 (small), ¥2,300 (medium) or ¥2,800 (large door, 33 × 80.7 × 64.5 cm) if you load it by 14:00, arriving the same evening. Yamato's Kyoto Ekimae office, a short walk west of the station, delivers a 160-size suitcase the same day for ¥2,860 to hotels in Shimogyo, Nakagyo, Minami and Higashiyama wards if you hand it in by 10:00. All three need a hotel with a reception desk that will sign for it.

How long will the driver wait if my Shinkansen is late?

A station pickup includes 30 minutes of free waiting from the pickup time you booked. Flight tracking does not apply to trains, so message us or the driver if the Shinkansen is delayed and we move the pickup. Beyond the free 30 minutes, waiting is billed at ¥6,000 per hour for an Alphard or ¥8,000 for a HiAce in 15-minute blocks, with under 15 minutes not charged, payable in cash, by card link on the spot, or later from the hotel. The driver does not leave: if he has a later job, we reassign it to another driver.

Is the train or a private car better from Kyoto Station to Osaka or Nara with luggage?

For one or two people with one bag each, the train: the JR Special Rapid reaches Osaka Station in 29 minutes and the Kintetsu limited express reaches Kintetsu-Nara in 37 to 40 minutes for ¥1,280 including the ¥520 express fee. For three or more people with large bags, or a hotel that is not next to the arrival station, the car: ¥32,000 fixed from Kyoto Station to Shin-Osaka, Umeda or Namba (¥8,000 a head for four, about 75 minutes) and ¥28,000 to Nara (54 minutes), door to door with the bags in the boot and no second taxi at the far end.

Related

• Arriving at Tokyo Station by Shinkansen with luggage
• Shinkansen or private car from Tokyo to Osaka with luggage?
• Luggage forwarding in Japan: how takkyubin works
• Travelling Japan with heavy luggage
• Train, bus or private car from Kansai Airport to Nara
• Late-night arrival in Kansai
• Are car seats required in Japan?
• Shin-Osaka to Kyoto private transfer · Kansai Airport to Kyoto · Kyoto day tour by private car