Shin-Kobe to Kitano: a waterfall walk, western houses and a ropeway

The day, in order

1. Morning

   Nunobiki Falls

   Four waterfalls share the name, and the first is five minutes from the station: Mentaki drops 19 metres just past the brick bridge. The trail then climbs to Tsutsumigadaki and Meotodaki and ends at Ontaki, 43 metres, where the water comes down like a sheet. The whole circuit is about two kilometres and an hour, and it is one of Japan's hundred famous waters.

   Read the city guide →
2. Late morning

   The upper gorge Optional

   Push on past Ontaki to the observatory at the top and the teahouse that has stood there since 1915. The city and the bay open up behind you. It is optional because the first two falls already give the day its contrast with the streets below.

3. Lunch

   Downhill into Kitano

   Ten minutes of walking brings you out of the gorge and into the hillside streets above Sannomiya. Eat before the houses rather than after: the district is a slope, and a slow lunch is the right way to break the climb.

4. Afternoon

   Kitano Ijinkan-gai

   The foreign residences that gave Kobe its character sit on this slope: colonial style, with verandahs, painted clapboard, bay windows and red brick chimneys. Weathercock House belonged to a German trader, Moegi House was the American consul-general's residence, and Uroko House was the first to open to the public. Walk the streets even if you go into none of them.

5. Late afternoon

   The ropeway over the slope Optional

   The ropeway rises to a garden at 400 metres with around 75,000 plants of 200 species and the whole city and bay below. It is one of Japan's largest herb gardens, and the ride is the point as much as the top.

Make it lighter

The first cascade and the Kitano streets, with the upper gorge and the ropeway left out. Still a full morning, with a shorter climb.

The harbor and the old quarter → Nada and Arima → Read the Kobe city guide →

If the weather changes

The gorge trail gets slippery and the ropeway view disappears in cloud. Keep the falls to the first cascade, or skip them and give Kitano the morning, where the houses are the point rather than the view.

Check before leaving

Check each house's opening days and admission before committing to interiors, and check the ropeway and herb garden hours, which change with the season.