Suggestions for 2-week Osaka itinerary in late January

Hello, everybody!

My girlfriend and I (20y/o) are planning our second trip to Japan in late January. Current plans are 2 weeks in Osaka, 4 days in Kyoto and 3 days in Tokyo. We have plans for Kyoto and Tokyo based on our first trip together, so there are no suggestions needed.

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**PLEASE DO NOT SUGGEST KYOTO OR NARA TRIPS. WE ALREADY HAVE PLANS FOR THOSE.**
**Edit 1: Our Nara plans consists of Nara park and the surrounding temples, as it will be a \~8 hour day trip towards Kyoto meant to cut costs.**

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Here are our current plans for Osaka, however, we do believe them to be slightly lacking:

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|January 23rd|Going to Osaka after landing in HND – not much activity, as we only will be in Osaka at around 9 PM.|
|:-|:-|
|January 24th|We are planning to let ourselves sleep in a little. After that, we are planning on visiting Osaka Aquarium, spinning in the Tempozan Ferris wheel, and enjoying our evening in Osaka castle park.|
|January 25th|Wandering in Umeda – visiting Umeda Sky Building|
|January 26th|Wandering in Umeda – **suggestions welcome**|
|January 27th|Wandering in Umeda – **suggestions welcome**|
|January 28th|Day trip to Minoh Park|
|January 29th|Day trip to USJ|
|January 30th|Shrines – Shittenoji, Hozenji, Namba Yasaka|
|January 31st|Shrines – Hokoku, Osaka Tenmagu|
|February 1st|Reptile cafe in Nipponbashi, afterwards, wandering in Dotonbori – **suggestions welcome**|
|February 2nd|Wandering in Dotonbori – **suggestions welcome**|
|February 3rd|Tennoji Zoo, Abeno Harukas, Osaka Station 3 building|
|February 4th|Wandering in Tsuruhashi – **suggestions welcome**|
|February 5th|**No plans – suggestions welcome**|
|February 6th|Day trip to Nara – beginning Kyoto stay afterwards.|

We would definitely love to hear your suggestions on what to see and what to visit in Osaka – it is our dream city, and we’d love to explore all that it has to offer.

Our apartments will be located near Tengachaya station or near Osaka castle – we are not yet set on the location, as majority of the accommodations have not yet released their prices.If you have had a great experience in Osaka accommodations that would be around Â¥ 60 000 in price – feel free to share as well!

Thank you in advance!

2 comments
  1. As an update, these ideas have been added:

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    |January 25|Wandering in Umeda – visiting Umeda Sky Building, HEP5 Ferris Wheel, Hankyu Sun Square and Underground Mall, Osaka Station 3 building|
    |:-|:-|
    |January 26|Wandering in Umeda – Umeda Sky Building Cafe in 27th floor, Saori Toyosaki, Tsuyunoten shrine|
    |January 27|Wandering in Umeda – Grand Front Osaka|
    |February 1st|Reptile cafe, Kamigata Ukiyoe museum, wandering in Dotonbori|
    |February 2nd|We are thinking about switching Dotonbori for Shinsekai instead.|

    Please note, that these changes are not final, we are still seeking opinions, as well as waiting to hear more from you.

    Thank you in advance!

  2. Hi!

    You mention that you already have a day trip to Nara planned, but do you meant the Nara city or Nara prefecture? Since you have a lot of time, much more than most people spend in one single area, you can visit the rest of Nara Prefecture, which fewer people visit. There are Asuka and Sakurai and if you feel like a slightly further trip you can go to 48 Waterfalls and Nabari to see the samurai area.

    You could look into Iga Ueno from Osaka. You could even day trip to Ise thanks to the Kintetsu.

    I went to a bunch of random shrines in Hyogo-ken trying to track down sangaku temple offerings. I remember one of the places was Takasago, where we went to Ishi no Hoden.

    [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishi_no_H%C5%8Dden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishi_no_H%C5%8Dden)

    Since you have the time you can also travel to Sakai and find out about how knives are made. It’s just south of Osaka.

    While in Sakai you can also visit the Mozu tombs

    [https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4030.html](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4030.html)

    Ise-shi should be the most expensive and longest of the above day trips at 3500 yen each way, but there are probably ticket specials on Kintetsu you can get to lower that, like one of the 5 day passes where you should just need to pay the express fee and could use the pass to get to other places from the above list on other days.

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