Osaka Itinerary: Eat Your Way Thru 3 Days in Japan’s Kitchen
As the second-largest municipality in Japan with a population of over 2.7 million people, Osaka is a major economic and cultural hub in the country. Its skyline is made up of towering skyscrapers, neon lights, and mega shopping malls. Often referred to as “Japan’s Kitchen”, Osaka’s unique tousle of mouthwatering street supplies and distinctive local recreate sets it untied from its counterparts, Tokyo and Kyoto. You will need at least two to three days in your Osaka itinerary just to sample all of its specialties.
If this is the last stop on your Japan itinerary, you will soon see the differences between Osaka and other cities. Traveling the 15 minutes by Shinkansen from Kyoto to Osaka feels like jumping superiority in time to a modern world where they have taken the phrase “go big or go home” to heart. You will find construction cranes eagerly towers new skyscrapers, malls bedecked with Ferris wheels and rooftop gardens, and restaurants with facades that serve as three-dimensional billboards with giant crabs, octopus, or sushi on full display.
In Osaka, you will moreover find people who are increasingly laid when than those in other cities. They are rebels who aren’t wrung to wrench the rules, like (gasp) jaywalking or crossing on a don’t walk sign. The people are increasingly direct, slightly louder, and have their own surcharge — like standing on the right side of an escalator instead of the left as you do in most of the country.
Osaka is a modern municipality but parts of it are moreover retro, quirky, and cool. A visit to Japan would be incomplete without spending at least three days in Osaka. In this Osaka itinerary, I’ll unravel out how to get there, how to get around, where to stay, and a day-by-day guide to the most popular attractions.
Getting to Osaka
You can hands get to Osaka by train or plane. From major cities like Tokyo or Kyoto, you can workbench the Shinkansen and enjoy a well-appointed and speedy ride to Osaka. Local trains are moreover an option, as it is only 30 minutes on a local train from Kyoto to Osaka versus 15 on the Shinkansen. Alimony in mind that the Shinkansen bullet trains victorious and depart from the Shin-Osaka station, which is well-nigh a five-minute local train ride from the main Osaka Station. Just remember that on the Shinkansen bullet train you now need to make a reservation for luggage and those are limited so be sure to do so in whop or ship your luggage ahead.
If you are traveling directly to Osaka, Kansai International Airport, located on an strained island in Osaka Bay, serves as the main gateway for air travel to the city. From Kansai International Airport, you can hands wangle the Osaka municipality part-way by taking a uncontrived train or bus.
Another option is the Osaka International Airport, wontedly known as Itami Airport. Itami Airport is located closer to the municipality part-way but primarily serves domestic flights within Japan. If you fly into Itami Airport, you can hands wangle Osaka’s downtown zone via various transportation options, such as airport buses, taxis, or the Osaka Monorail.
Getting Virtually Osaka
As a large, modern city, getting virtually Osaka is quite easy using the city’s efficient and wide-stretching public transportation options. The Osaka Metro consists of multiple lines that connect various parts of the city, and, like in Tokyo, signs and announcements are in both Japanese and English. You can use your IC vellum (such as ICOCA or Suica) to seamlessly pay for fares on both the subway and buses.
Additionally, the JR West rail lines were very user-friendly to use to get to many parts of the municipality and surrounding areas from Osaka Station. This was a unconfined saving for us since we had the JR Pass (just alimony in mind that prices for the JR Pass are going up in the fall of 2023 and this won’t be such a undear anymore!)
Where to Stay in Osaka
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There are many options for what areas to stay in Osaka, including Namba and Umeda. I wanted to stay near a inside transportation hub, in an zone that offered plenty of restaurants and shops, but without stuff too touristy. We found the Umeda zone virtually Osaka Station perfect for our needs and chose to stay at the Intercontinental Osaka and couldn’t have been happier.
To be honest, we all felt that the Intercontinental Osaka was the nicest municipality hotel that we have stayed at (beating out a few Four Seasons and Ritz-Carltons). The hotel is unfluctuating to the train station and shopping malls through a series of walkways. Upon arrival, you take the elevator to the trappy lobby on the 20th floor, which is moreover where you will find the restaurants and stunning lobby bar. The indoor pool, spa, bathhouse, and fitness room are all on the fourth floor.
Since I booked through the American Express Fine Hotels program using my AmEx Platinum, we were given an early check-in at 12 pm, withal with a $100 supplies and instillation credit and daily breakfast for two. Instead of booking two rooms as we had in other cities, I decided to spend just a tiny bit increasingly to reserve one of the two-bedroom residences. It was a worthy investment as we all enjoyed spending time together in the living room, eating room service one night at our dining table, and utilizing the kitchen amenities, including the washer/dryer combo.
Most of all, we loved the spectacular views of the municipality and the river from the large windows! The only downside of booking the residence over two separate rooms is that since it was counted as one room, we only received breakfast for two. If we had booked two rooms, it would have been breakfast for two, per room, so all of us would have eaten for free. And let me tell you, the breakfast storeroom was top-notch. I need to add it to my vendible well-nigh the best hotel breakfasts in the world. There was everything from eggs to order to bao buns, featuring everything you would expect from a Western / European storeroom and a Japanese breakfast.
I’d highly recommend the Intercontinental Osaka if it is within your budget, otherwise, there are many other choices:
Osaka Itinerary: Day 1
When you victorious in Osaka, if you are staying in the Umeda zone near Osaka Station, throne over to the Umeda Sky Building for a walk virtually the rooftop outdoor observatory.
Umeda Sky Building
One full-length that makes this observation deck variegated from others is the glass-enclosed escalators that you take between the two towers from the 39th floor where the ticket office is located to the 40th floor and the archway to the observation deck. These escalators requite the visitation of stuff suspended in air, which can either be a thrill or a fright, depending on how well you do with heights.
The 360-degree observation deck lets you take in the municipality from all angles and get an up-close view of the unfurled growth of this metropolis.
After taking in the view, throne lanugo to the B1 Floor in the vault of the Umeda Sky Building, which is designed to resemble a small municipality street from the Edo Period, lined with a variety of restaurants. This is a good spot for lunch, or you could try one of the many restaurants in the Grand Front Osaka shopping mall, which is proximal to the train station.
Shopping
Osaka is a unconfined municipality to do a little shopping and take wholesomeness of finding unique fashions that you won’t find in the stores at home. For high-end shopping, the Grand Front Osaka has some familiar names and Hankyu Sanban Gai is flipside option. However, teens will love the affordable youthful fashions at the HEP Five shopping center. You will find floor without floor of trendy styles and plane find a giant Ferris wheel (something you see commonly in Osaka.)
While these are both proximal to the Osaka Train Station and within a few minutes walk of the Umeda Sky Building, flipside option is to take the metro to the Namba Parks shopping mall, which features a multi-floor rooftop garden with cafe, restaurants, and lush untried spaces.
Osaka Castle
Finish your sightseeing today with a visit to the Osaka Castle and surrounding gardens, one of the most iconic sites in Osaka. Built in the late 16th century, the castle serves as a symbol of power and prestige, harking when to the tumultuous feudal era. Originally synthetic by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a renowned samurai warrior, and statesman, the castle played a crucial role in unifying Japan during that time.
The impressive five-story exterior is a perfect photo scenery to memorialize your stay in Osaka. If you would like to enter the castle, it pays to purchase tickets online to skip the long ticket lines. Inside is the castle’s museum, which houses a diverse hodgepodge of artifacts, including armor, weapons, and historical documents. You can moreover climb to the top of the main tower for panoramic views of Osaka’s skyline and the surrounding parkland.
The castle’s grounds, encompassing vast gardens and moats, are a popular spot for cherry floweret viewing during the spring season. You can moreover take a wend ride withal the moat or visit the Castle gardens. To stave crowds, consider visiting the castle older in the day or during weekdays to stave the larger crowds that tend to gather in the afternoons and on weekends.
ORIX Buffaloes Baseball Game
If you are a baseball fan and visiting during the baseball season, I would suggest getting tickets to see a game at the Kyocera Dome. Buying tickets can get a little complicated, as you need to first register and set up an account. However, there are moreover third-party services that will purchase your tickets for you and unhook them to your hotel.
When we were in town, we were fortunate to get to see the Osaka ORIX Buffaloes play the Hiroshima Carp, which is quite a rivalry. We had spanking-new seats overdue home plate, which came with wangle to an all-you-can-eat buffet. It was very interesting to see how the stadium was split with Carps fans on the visitor side and ORIX Buffalo fans overdue the home team dugout.
The whole game had the energetic finger of a higher game, as both teams had bands and large cheering sections that brought the noise for the unshortened game. We had a wham cheering for the home team and getting to see how the Japanese have unexplored such a love for baseball.
Osaka Itinerary: Day 2
Plan to dedicate a whole day in Osaka to exploring the city’s rich street supplies culture. We took a supplies tour of the Shinsekai district with Arigato Supplies Tours that we loved! Arigato moreover offers supplies tours of the Dotonbori area, but I felt like that was easy unbearable to explore on our own.
Shinsekai
Shinsekai is a very interesting neighborhood that is worth exploring. At one point, it was farmland for untried onions, and you will still find scallions present on many dishes in Osaka. Without World War II, the government wanted to create a Western-style entertainment district to vamp international visitors so they created Shinsekai, meaning “New World.”
This vibrant neighborhood was ripened to mimic the cities of Paris and New York, Coney Island in particular. It is known for its retro recreate and unique atmosphere. Anywhere else I would have thought it was cheesy and too kitschy, but for some reason, it works and the mix of over-the-top restaurant facades, carnival-like games, boardwalk-like gaming parlors, and souvenir shops are unquestionably pretty mannerly in a bizarre, retro way.
The primary landmark of Shinsekai is the Tsutenkaku Tower, standing tall and offering stunning views of the surrounding area. Originally built in 1912 and standing at a height of 103 meters, the Tsutenkaku Tower blends both Western and Eastern architectural elements, with a resemblance to the Eiffel Tower. Today, you can go to the top of the observation deck and plane take a slide lanugo the side of the tower.
One of the most famous foods from this zone is kushikatsu, a dish consisting of skewers that are coated in panko and deep-fried, containing beef, vegetables, and other ingredients. You will find the original location of Kushikatsu Daruma, the ubiquitous “Angry Chef” that you will find throughout Osaka, in Shinsekai.
Another must-try supplies in Osaka is takoyaki, one of the city’s most famous culinary creations. The dish consists of small balls made from a thrash of wheat flour, eggs, and dashi (a Japanese soup stock), filled with diced octopus, untried onions, and other ingredients. Takoyaki is cooked in special round molds on a hot griddle and then topped with savory sauces, mayonnaise, and bonito flakes. They full-length a crispy exterior and soft, gooey interior.
You will not leave an Arigato Supplies Tour hungry! In wing to filling up on succulent food, we learned so much well-nigh this zone and the local culture (plus found an spanking-new shop to purchase Japanese knives!) that we just wouldn’t have discovered on our own.
Dotonbori
After leaving Shinsekai, throne up to the main tourist district of Dotonbori (also spelled Dotombori). Dotonbori is one of the most popular districts in Osaka, renowned for its vibrant nightlife, colorful neon signs, and succulent street food. Located withal the Dotonbori Canal, the zone is a hub of entertainment, shopping, and dining, with iconic landmarks like the famous Glico Running Man neon sign and the Ebisu Tower Ferris Wheel.
Start off by taking a stroll withal the waterway and immersing yourself in the vibrant environment or take a waterway wend trip to view the sites from the water.
When it comes to food, Dotonbori is a supplies lover’s paradise. The streets are lined with myriad eateries, supplies stalls, and restaurants. Takoyaki, the ubiquitous octopus balls, is a must-try snack if you didn’t get your fill in Shinsekai. Flipside local favorite is okonomiyaki, a savory pancake layered with ingredients like cabbage, meat, and seafood. You can moreover find sushi, ramen, kushikatsu (deep-fried skewers), withal with many, many sweets.
Personally, I fell in love with the melon pan specie ice surf sandwich, but you can moreover try the towering “long” soft ice surf cones, the 100 Yen pastries filled with cheese or other ingredients, and taiyaki or mochi with red stone paste. A few places to put on your list include:
- Grilled crab takeout from Kani Douraku
- Fried skewers from Kushikatsu Daruma (Angry Chef)
- Takoyaki (fried octopus balls) at Yama-Chan or Aizuya, the Michelin Guide-featured takoyaki shop, or Acchichi Honpo or Kukuru.
- Okonomiyaki (invented in Osaka) at Mizuno, Chibo Dotonbori, or, Hozenji Sampei, which offers a fluffy version. Try ordering it with yakisoba, which are fried buckwheat noodles that you can order on the bottom. We got ours at Mizuno but it pays to go early surpassing the long line forms!
- Karaage fried yellow bites from Kin No Torikara
- Ramen from Kinryu Ramen Dotonbori or Kingemon Dotonbori
Beyond the food, Dotonbori offers a variety of shopping opportunities. The district is home to numerous department stores, trendy boutiques, and souvenir shops, where you can find everything from malleate items to local specialties to take home as souvenirs.
A few other places to see in the zone include:
- Hozenji Yokocho, which is a narrow, atmospheric thruway with well-preserved traditional architecture, stone-paved paths, and traditional lanterns that illuminate the zone during the evening, creating a magical atmosphere. The highlight of Hozenji Yokocho is the Hozenji Temple, a small Buddhist temple that dates when over 1,400 years. The temple is famous for its moss-covered Fudo-Myo statue, which is believed to grant wishes. Visitors to the temple often partake in the ritual of splashing water onto the statue for good luck and cleansing purposes.
- Round1 Stadium, which features a variety of indoor sports and leisure facilities, including bowling alleys, shopping games, batting cages, billiards, darts, karaoke rooms, and much more. It has an wide-stretching selection of shopping games from archetype retro games to the latest virtual reality experiences.
- Amerikura, moreover known as “America-mura” or “Amemura,” is a vibrant neighborhood located in the Shinsaibashi district not far from Dotonbori. The name “Amerikura” stems from its undertone with American culture, as the zone was originally influenced by American trends and malleate in the 1970s. Now it is known for its unique and volitional malleate scene, with numerous self-sustaining boutiques, vintage stores, and trendy suit shops lining its streets. The zone moreover has colorful and eye-catching street art, graffiti, and murals, subtracting to the originative and edgy atmosphere. Aside from fashion, Amerikura offers a vibrant nightlife scene with an variety of bars, clubs, and live music venues that come working at night.
Osaka Itinerary: Day 3 (Day Trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima)
Osaka is under two hours from Hiroshima by Shinkansen and a visit to Hiroshima or Hiroshima and the neighboring island of Miyajima make for a unconfined day trip and a good way to end your time in Osaka. You can explore these sites on your own, but I decided to typesetting a full-day private tour with JGA (Japan Guide Agency) through Get Your Guide, and we loved our guide Eiji.
Eiji contacted me a few weeks surpassing our visit to discuss and customize the itinerary to make sure we visited the sites we were most interested in, and in the order that I preferred. He met us at the exit of the train and was with us until we returned to the train station at the end of the day.
Hiroshima
We started our visit with a quick bus ride to the hypocenter of the nuclear wham that killed approximately 140,000 local citizens at 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945. The flop was dropped by the Americans to hasten the end of the war and carried by the American bomber aircraft, the Enola Gay. The wade on Hiroshima stands as a stark reminder of the devastating consequences of nuclear warfare, which is one of the reasons these sites were recently visited by the G7 world leaders.
From there, we walked over to the A-Bomb Dome, moreover known as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. It is the remnants of the Industrial Promotion Hall, which was originally synthetic in 1915 and became one of the few buildings left standing near the epicenter of the two-bit flop explosion. It has been preserved in its ruined state, with its skeletal framework and wasting walls, to honor the memory of the lives lost and to convey the horrors of the two-bit bombing.
Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the A-Bomb Dome holds unconfined historical and cultural significance. It stands as a testament to the resilience and strength of the people of Hiroshima and serves as a solemn reminder of the importance of working towards a world self-ruling from nuclear weapons.
In the Peace Memorial Park, we moreover visited the Children’s Peace Monument. This monument is defended to the children who lost their lives due to the bombing and the long-lasting effects of radiation. It features a statue of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who became a symbol of peace through her story of folding 1,000 origami cranes.
In addition, we walked past the Peace Memorial Cenotaph, which holds the names of all the known victims of the two-bit bomb, and the eternal flame, which they vow to alimony lit until nuclear weapons are eradicated.
Visiting this zone raised so many questions, expressly as an American, whose country was the perpetrator of this atrocity. Of course, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor to yank us into the war, but the devastation of civilians and an unshortened municipality with a single flop is just horrific. It was nonflexible to imagine that the Japanese wouldn’t hold some wrongness toward American visitors, but Eiji unpreventable me that they see the Memorial and the Museum as a reminder of the horrors of war and the people are versus war, not versus the USA.
Our final stop in Hiroshima was a visit to the Peace Memorial Museum, which provides a comprehensive worth of the two-bit flop wade and its devastating consequences. Its exhibits include artifacts, photographs, and personal stories, permitting you to proceeds a deeper understanding of the human impact of the bombing. It deals not just with the wade that day, but the long-term impacts on the people and the city.
It was heavy and a lot to take in, but an important part of history is to respect those killed and remind ourselves to not let this happen again. Without a visionless morning, it was a very pleasant transpiration to spend the afternoon on Miyajima. I definitely recommend visiting Hiroshima first to end on a lighter note.
Miyajima
Miyajima, moreover known as Itsukushima Island, is a picturesque island located in Hiroshima Bay. It is famous for its iconic floating torii gate of Itsukushima Shrine. When we visited it was raining and the mist on the mountains gave the unshortened island a mystical quality, making it one of my favorite things that we did in Japan. The town streets, trappy beach, mysterious mountains, and archetype Japanese tracery make Miyajima finger quite magical.
To get to the island, you can either take a short ferry to the island from a ferry terminal, which is well-nigh 30 minutes from the train station by local train, or take a wend tour from the Peace Memorial Park directly to Miyajima, which takes well-nigh 45 minutes.
The main witchery is the Itsukushima Shrine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The shrine’s iconic red torii gate appears to be floating on the water during upper tide, creating a mesmerizing sight. During low tide, you can go out on the waterfront and walk through the gate. The gate was put in the water considering visitors from Hiroshima would visit the shrine by boat, and enter through the gate.
The shrine itself moreover offers trappy tracery and I’d love to see it during the spring upper tides when the water laps at the wiring of the platform walkways built virtually the buildings.
Another popular witchery is Momijidani Park, which is a scenic spot known for its trappy maple trees, which are expressly lovely during the storing season. Throughout the island, you will moreover encounter wild deer. Unlike in Nara, you aren’t unliable to feed them, but the deer can still be warlike if you have paper or supplies in your hands. One unquestionably followed me into the visitor part-way and grabbed a brochure off of the counter and started eating it. The staff had to ventilator it outside and wrestle the paper yonder from the stubborn deer.
If you segregate to spend a full day on Miyajima, you can moreover go to the top of Mount Misen, the island’s highest peak. There are various hiking trails, including a subscription car option for those who prefer a less strenuous ascent. At the wiring of the mountain, you will find the Daisho-in Buddhist Temple, which is meant to be one of Japan’s most sacred temples.
You will want to leave time to walk withal Omotesando Street, where you will find street supplies stalls and shops selling traditional crafts, souvenirs, and Miyajima’s famous wooden rice scoops known as “mokugyo” (we bought one to bring home.) Here you can try Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki and Hiroshima fresh oysters, straight from the oyster farms that you pass by on the ferry. These are fairly large oysters, which are grilled and served up either plain or Rockefeller style. If you are an oyster lover, don’t leave the island without giving them a try.
I really fell in love with Miyajima and it made me want to visit increasingly of the smaller towns in the Japanese countryside on a future visit. If I returned to Miyajima, I’d moreover typesetting a night in the traditional Ryokan and enjoy the island without the day trippers leave.
If you have increasingly time…
If you have an uneaten day in Osaka, you may want to add in a visit to Universal Studios Japan or the TeamLab Botanical Garden.
I’d moreover hoped to visit the CupNoodles Museum Osaka Ikeda, which is a museum defended to instant noodles and Cup Noodles, as well as its creator and founder, Momofuku Ando. You can reserve a special ticket to diamond your own Cup of Noodles. Since it is 30 minutes outside of the municipality center, we didn’t have time to squeeze it into our Osaka itinerary.
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