Himeji station guide. How to get Himeji castle from the station

Himeji station is the gateway to UNESCO World Heritage Site, Himeji Castle. It is very popular day trip destination from Kobe and Osaka. You can get Himeji by JR trains, Shinkansen and Sanyo / Hanshin Railway.

How to access to Himeji and Kobe from Osaka

I would like to explain about these station’s structures and show you some images of Himeji station. And I also show you how to get Himeji castle from the station too.

JR Himeji Station structure, tracks and platforms

This terminal station is three levels structure. On the ground floor, there are ticket gates/exits. At second level, there are the platforms of conventional train lines and Shinkansen transfer gate. And Shinkansen platforms are located at third level.

Shinkansen is assigned to track #11 #12, and #13. There are only two platforms for Shinkansen. It’s is very easy to find the way.

Track #1 to #8 are conventional line’s platforms. There are only three platforms. Track #1 to #4 share same island platform. And other two platforms have two tracks each, #5 and #6, and #7 and #8.

All conventional platforms and tracks are connected at the ground level walkway. Shinkansen transfer gate is located at the second level. There are stairs, escalators and elevators between the ground level walkway and Shinkansen transfer gate.

Ticket gate/Exit

All ticket gates/exit are located at the ground level. There is no ticket gate to Shinkansen platforms directly in Himeji station. When you take Shinkansen, you must go through two gates, common ticket gate and Shinkansen transfer gate. You cannot enter/exit to Shinkansen platforms directly.

There are two ticket gates, Central and East. If you visit Himeji Castle, you can go through Central ticket gate. Central ticket gate connects two exit, South and North. North exit is the way to Himeji Castle. There are lots of signage of Himeji Castle. You cannot miss it anyway.

I will show you how to transfer from Shinkansen to conventional line train below.

How to exit the station from Shinkansen platforms and how to transfer to conventional line (JR local trains)

Shinkansen platforms are located on third floor. Take the stairs, escalators or elevator to go down to second level.

You will find Shinknasen transfer gate and go through it.

Another stairs and escalators to ground level will be ahead and go down.

You will see the stairs and escalators to conventional line’s platforms on second level. And there are lots of signage of ticket gate and exit. You will be able to find the way very very easily.

Sanyo-Himeji station

If you use Sanyo Railway to get Himeji, you will arrive Sanyo-Himeji station. The station is in the terminal building. It is almost same location as JR Himeji station. Hanshin Railway operates direct train service from Umeda (JR Osaka). Especially if you use Kansai Thru Pass, Hanshina Railway’s direct train is your choice to get Himeji. But Shinkansen is faster and even JR Special Rapid is much faster than Hanshin Railway’s train.

Sanyo-Himeji station has four tracks and four platforms. This station is the end of Sanyo Railway lines. All trains depart to same destinations, Kobe or Osaka. And also this station has very simple structure. There is only one ticket gate and never miss the direction.

How to get Himeji castle

The map below shows you the route to Himeji station. It is quite easy. You can access to the castle from North exit of Himeji station. If you arrive at Sanyo-Himeji station, just exit the station building.

From JR Himeji station, go through Central ticket gate and proceed to right to North exit.

Once you get outside of station, you will see Himeji castle in the distance. Otemaedori that is the main street of Himeji connects the station and Himeji castle. All you have to do is just going down this street about 20 minutes. You will get the gate of Himeji castle.

When it rains, you can take shopping arcade. If you move one block to east at the north exit of Himeji station, you will find the entrance of shopping arcade, “Miyuki dori”.

This connects to another shopping arcade, “Honmachi Shotengai”. You can go through these shopping arcades to avoid getting wet.

The end of arcade is just one block away from the gate of Himeji castle.

I hope this post is useful for your visiting to Himeji.