By plane
Kobe Airport, built on reclaimed land in front of the harbor, opened in February of 2006. The airport handles domestic flights only: both Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA) have flights to Kobe from Tokyo Haneda, Sapporo, Sendai, Okinawa, and Kagoshima. ANA also offers service from Niigata, while JAL has flights from Kumamoto. A new low-cost airline, Skymark, is offering cheap flights to and from Tokyo as well as Naha.
From Kobe Airport, the Port Liner light rail runs about every 10 minutes, reaching Sannomiya in less than 20 minutes (�320) for easy connections to the Japan Rail (JR), Hanshin, Hankyu and subway lines. From there, a small trip on the subway will link you to the Shin-Kobe bullet train station (�200). If coming from Sannomiya to the airport, be sure to board a train marked "Kobe Airport", as some head to the Kita Futo branch line instead.
The nearest international airport is Kansai International Airport. The fastest way to get there is on the Kaijo Access high-speed ferry from Kobe Airport, which runs every 45 minutes or so, taking 29 minutes one-way (�1500). However, if coming from central Kobe, it's nearly as fast and less of a hassle to take the Airport Limousine bus. Airport buses cost �2000, and the run to Sannomiya takes 65 to 75 minutes depending on whether the bus travels directly to Sannomiya or stops first on Rokko Island. Alternatively, the JR Rapid Express connecting at Osaka about as fast and more dependable. By JR, the ride costs �2410 and lasts 90 minutes, taking the Kanku Kaisoku rapid to Osaka station and changing there to the Shin-kaisoku that runs to both Sannomiya and Kobe stations.
Finally, if you land at Itami Airport in Osaka, airport buses run to Sannomiya in 40 minutes and cost �1020.
By train
The nearest station on Japan's high-speed shinkansen network is at Shin-Kobe station. From Tokyo station, Shin-Kobe is 2 hours, 50 minutes away
