1 If you are staying in the OsakaKyoto area , your ICOCA should be sufficient . I am not an expert on better deal tickets and such though . Someone else will have to fill you in there . 2 Anything with a reserved seat . This is usually longer overland trips . If you stay within OsakaKyoto area , you probably won ' t have this come up . 3 To get to Kyoto from Osaka I usually take one of two ways for the simplicity . A The Shinkansen nonreserved seat 15 minute trip for about 1500 yen each way . Get on at ShinOsaka station . From Shinsaibashi station , get on the red Midosuji subway line to get to ShinOsaka station . Only specific cars on each train are nonreserved seats , so pay attention to the signs telling you which cars to ride . Obviously it ' s super fast but pricier than others . Tired feet at the end of a long day wandering around Kyoto sometimes makes it worth it . Also , it gives my family visitors a chance to ride the Shinkansen , even if it ' s only a short burst . B Or I take the Keihan railway from Yodoyabashi from Shinsaibashi station , get on the red Midosuji subway line and get off at Yodoyabashi station . Then switch train lines to the Keihan line to Demachiyanagi station in Kyoto or get off a little earlier , depending where I ' m planning to go in Kyoto . I ' m not sure what that costs because I use ICOCA . It can take an hour to an hour and a half for super cheap , maybe 500 yen this is a guess ! !. Be prepared at peak times to not get a seat for the entire trip though unless you get on at terminal Demachiyanagi . I tend to plan my day in Kyoto around ending up at Demachiyanagi station for that reason . 4 Within Osaka area , the subway is excellent . Within Kyoto , it ' s primarily buses , taxis , a lot of walking . Each taxi ride from shrine to shrine you can expect to pay up to 2500 yen . However , you can get dropped off doortodoor , so to speak , and shared among multiple people it ' s not so bad . It just depends on your personal view of timemoney balance . On a calmer day in Kyoto , the buses are perfectly good . On a lined up tourist day though , the buses can be sardine packed , and those quiet taxi rides start to look appealing . 5 Hoo boy . I ' m not even gonna tackle this one at this point . I ' d need to know a lot more about your trip schedule and how much you already know about public transcript in general to help you out .