Arriving in Kobe: the Port Liner, the Bay Shuttle Ferry from Kansai Airport, and Paying
How to get from Kobe Airport to Sannomiya on the Port Liner, what the Bay Shuttle ferry from Kansai Airport costs and when it sails, how to pay, and the foreign visitors' ferry discount that ended in June 2026.
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Kobe has its own airport on an island in the bay, joined to Sannomiya in the city centre by the Port Liner. If you land at Kansai Airport instead, the Bay Shuttle ferry crosses Osaka Bay to Kobe Airport. For Osaka itself, the Osaka airport guide covers the trains, and Kyoto has its own guide.
The Port Liner to Sannomiya
Kobe New Transit’s fare table, revised on 1 October 2019, gives these fares between Kobe Airport and Sannomiya:
| Adult | Child | |
|---|---|---|
| Kobe Airport to Sannomiya | 340 yen | 170 yen |
ICOCA works at the gates: charge it and touch the reader. The Port Liner sells adult ICOCA cards from the ticket machines at Kobe Airport, Sannomiya and three other stations, from 1,000 yen, which includes a 500 yen deposit. It also sells an all-day pass for the Port Liner at its station ticket machines.
The Bay Shuttle from Kansai Airport
The Kobe-Kansai Airport Bay Shuttle sails from Kansai Airport to the Kaijo Access Terminal at Kobe Airport. Its published fares:
| Ticket | Adult | Child |
|---|---|---|
| One way | 1,880 yen | 940 yen |
| Return, valid 120 days | 3,060 yen | 1,530 yen |
| Same-day return | 2,510 yen | 1,260 yen |
Children’s fares are for ages 6 to under 12. A child under 6 rides free with an adult if they do not need a seat. A one-way ticket that includes the Port Liner fare costs the same 1,880 yen for an adult, sold at the Kansai Airport ticket counter and at the Port Liner’s Sannomiya station. The Bay Shuttle accepts credit cards.
The Bay Shuttle sold discounted tickets to foreign visitors travelling from Kansai Airport to Kobe. Its notice of 16 March 2026 says it discontinued them on 30 June 2026, because so many inbound passengers now use the service.
Times and boarding
A bus takes you from Kansai Airport’s Terminal 1 (bus stop 12) or Terminal 2 to the pier. The first sailing leaves the Kansai Airport pier at 6:30 and reaches Kobe at 7:01, and the last leaves at midnight and arrives at 0:31. Boarding starts five minutes before departure, and the operator asks you to be there at least 20 minutes early, or you may not get on. At the Kobe end, the operator runs a free shuttle bus on the airport island.
The ferry times and the booking pages are online, and the buses at Kansai Airport leave to the minute. Set up Saily before you fly and you can check them from the arrivals hall. If Japan is one leg of a longer trip, add the next country to the same Saily profile.
Emergency numbers
The Japan National Tourism Organization lists 110 for police and 119 for fire and ambulance. Its Japan Visitor Hotline, 050-3816-2787, runs 24 hours a day in English, Chinese and Korean.
Saily, a data eSIM you install before you fly and top up per country Our full write-up. (affiliate link)