Hiking to the Nunobiki Falls in Kobe

During my this years stay in Japan I spent one day in Kobe and my main goal was to go up the mountains to have a view at the city and for seeing the waterfalls. And for some reason I made the hiking for getting back with the approaching sunset a bit harder for myself...

But from the start: From my stay in Osaka there was an easy train connection (Hanshin-Line) to get to Kobe, the sixth biggest city of Japan - right before Kyoto.

After leaving the station I needed to figure out in which direction I should go. So I just needed to know: In which direction do I get to the mountains? Luckily in Kobe are lots of maps placed on different positions, so if you get lost you'll find a way.

So my first stop was at the Ikuta Shrine which was on the way getting to the mountains. I also walked to the Kitano-Tenmangu shrine and had a first hill view at the city.

Then I continued walking until a saw a ropeway. Then I thought: 'Ok, you are close.' A nearby map at a really empty looking shopping mall confirmed me that. And more and more signs about Nunobiki Falls helped me running in the right direction - and also the river coming from the mountain of course.

Interestingly, I had to cross something like a bigger bus station, but after that my way up the hill started.

Next stop: Nunobiki Falls

So started hiking up the mountain. I followed the little stream coming from the hill. First, I encountered a few little falls before seeing the biggest waterfalls there: The Odaki Falls.

You're coming from the right of the stream going uphill before you cross a bridge seeing the Falls. There are luckily a few benches to sit and enjoy the view: It's truly a nice waterfall. I enjoyed sitting there for a while, absorbing the atmosphere, made some clips with my GoPro. But I wanted to continue hiking up the mountain.

If you continue walking up the mountain you'll arrive at an artificial lake - but before that you'll have an interesting view seeing the Odaki Falls with the bridge from many meters above.

Once you arrive at the lake you can go around for many more paths around the hills. But as the sunset was approaching I decided to go back to the city. While going back I got the idea of choosing an alternate path instead of following the river on the left side. I saw a bridge crossing the water and going up another hill.

It was a bit risky because you could already see that it was getting darker. I went up some kind of stairs up the hill. Some people were coming back and said that the didn't know how far this way would go and they decided to walk back. I was for some reason convinced that I would end up in the city again.


These stairs felt endless, I don't know how many, but it brought me up another hill coming to another path once the stairs ended. And then I went downhill again, not really sure where I would end up. I was only sure it should be somewhere in Kobe.

And I ended up on an apparently 'inofficial' path near some houses at the beginning of the Nunobiki Falls area where I started a few hours before.

After that I went to a ramen restaurant - regained my energy - before I got back to the train station heading back to my hostel in Osaka. It was my only day in Kobe during my Japan trip in 2016 and it was interesting.