Hello – I’m traveling to Japan on a group tour that starts in Osaka. I’m getting there a day before the trip starts, arriving first thing in the morning to spend the full day at Universal Studios with a couple of other people from the trip.
The next day, the formal trip begins at 4:30 PM with a foodie tour of Osaka. (Then after that we head to Hiroshima, Kyoto, Koyasan, Hakone, and finally Tokyo.)
So the day the trip starts I have a free morning/early afternoon. Around 2:00 I want to get a massage/spa treatment as it’s become a tradition when I travel internationally and I never regret it haha. (Looking at the Meguri Spa at the Intercontinental at the moment.)
Here are some options for the first half of the day (no matter what I wouldn’t make it an early start):
—Have a completely lazy first half of the day lounging at the hotel, knowing I will probably have jet lag (I’m coming from NYC) and will have spent the whole previous day at USJ powering through with coffee and adrenaline.
—Go to the Cup Noodles Museum. (Note that we’ll be doing a ramen-making class in Kyoto.)
—Go to Osaka Castle and the park (should be peak cherry blossoms)
—Something else you suggest?
Small potatoes compared to the detailed itineraries that people post here, but would love any Osaka thoughts! Arigato!
(Edit: our hotel is in Fukushima Ward)
1 comment
Hi!
Just so you know, I find jet lag in Japan usually means I become a morning person. I use to live in the NY Metro area so I use to do JFK to Tokyo (as well as few other stop overs to try to get to KIX.)
So with USJ, the getting up and going to the park early will be a breeze. The hard part will be as the evening goes on. Fortunately, I think the parks in Japan tend to close by 9:00.
I’d probably go somewhere to see sakura, especially since you are likely to be up early.
I really liked the Osaka Museum of History, so depending on when you got up, you could probably do both and the spa treatment.
Some would also depend on where you are going specifically on your tour and for how long. Nara might also be an option, but I always love a chance for some nice sakura. I love NY but outside of a botanical garden in Brooklyn, I don’t think there are many good places for sakura viewing (vs. koyo which is super easy to do from the NY area.)