Walk Kobe from the harbour to the hills
Kobe is squeezed between the Rokko mountains and Osaka Bay, a port city of Western houses, a Chinatown and a harbourfront. FOG keeps the map dark until you walk it, and the narrow strip of city makes a satisfying map to fill.
The harbour
Meriken Park, on the waterfront, has the red Kobe Port Tower and the Port of Kobe Earthquake Memorial, which keeps a section of the quay as it was left by the 1995 earthquake. Harborland, next to it, is a shopping area by the water.
Nankinmachi, Kobe's Chinatown, is a few blocks inland, a busy street of food stalls. The old Foreign Settlement, between it and Sannomiya, has stone buildings from the early twentieth century.
Up to the hills
Kitano, on the slope above Sannomiya, is a district of Western houses built by foreign merchants in the late nineteenth century, some open to visitors. The streets are steep and narrow.
Behind Shin-Kobe station, a path leads up to the Nunobiki Falls, a series of waterfalls a short climb from the city, and beyond to the herb gardens and the ropeway.
A strip of city
Kobe runs east to west in a narrow strip between mountains and sea, so walking north from the harbour climbs quickly. A loop from the harbour to Kitano and the falls is a solid day.
Summers are hot and humid, and spring and autumn are the best seasons.
What the app adds to a walk
The ledger tracks the area you have unfogged, the distance you have covered and your share of the whole Earth. Ranks climb with area, from Fogbound and Wanderer up through Scout, Pathfinder and Explorer to Atlas. The collection fills with the countries, regions and cities you have actually stood in, and nothing else can add to it.
Everything stays on the phone: no account, no cloud, no app analytics, no ads. If you already have years of Google Timeline or GPX history, FOG Unlimited can import it, a single purchase rather than a subscription, so Kobe walks you took before installing appear on the map the same day.
Questions people actually ask
How far are the Nunobiki Falls from Kobe?
A short climb from behind Shin-Kobe station.
What is Kitano in Kobe?
A district of Western houses on the slope above Sannomiya, built by foreign merchants.
Is there a subscription?
No. Exploring is free and FOG Unlimited is a single purchase. There is never a subscription.
Start with a dark map.
FOG is free to explore. No account, no subscription, and your map never leaves your phone.
free to explore · one purchase unlocks everything · never a subscription