Street food and Japanese joie de vivre. Here is when to go, what a day costs on site and what to see, then Okela composes your itinerary hour by hour.

Compose my trip to OsakaSee Osaka in Okela

When to visit Osaka

Best months: March, April, May, October and November.

What to see in Osaka

1. Dotonbori
   This canal-side street is Osaka's former pleasure district, now the place where the city shows off its love of food.
2. Château d'Osaka
   Osaka Castle is the great witness to the unification of Japan, with its deep moats and enormous stone walls.
3. Kuromon Ichiba
   Nicknamed Osaka's kitchen, this covered market lines a busy arcade with stalls of fish, vegetables, fruit and food to go.
4. Umeda Sky Building
   Two towers joined high up by a ring-shaped platform, designed by Hiroshi Hara: the Umeda Sky Building is one of Osaka's most distinctive silhouettes.
5. Aquarium Kaiyukan
   Kaiyukan recreates the habitats of the Pacific Rim around a huge central tank where whale sharks glide past.
6. Shinsekai & Tsutenkaku
   Shinsekai is a working-class Osaka district, first planned as a modern "new world", and the Tsutenkaku tower is its landmark.
7. Universal Studios Japan
   The park recreates film and video game worlds with such attention to detail that you quickly forget you are on a built-up stretch of Osaka's waterfront.
8. Mizuno (okonomiyaki)
   This Dotonbori institution has been making okonomiyaki since 1945 and is still run by the same family, now in its third generation.

A sample itinerary for Osaka, three days

Composed by Okela from the places in its database, with times. Yours takes your dates, pace and group into account.

Budget

Expect about €139 per person per day on site (accommodation, meals, transport and visits), depending on the comfort you choose. Okela shows the price of every step of your itinerary.

My Osaka itinerary, hour by hour

Road trips through Osaka

More destinations: Japan

Photo: 663highland, CC BY 2.5, Wikimedia Commons.