How we spent four days in Osaka
Osaka was our first stop in Japan. We flew in from Seoul and stayed in Shinsaibashi which is famous as a shopping area. It was super easy to get into Osaka from Kansai Airport using the airport railway and then the subway. It took about an hour, and cost ¥1210 (about £6) for the whole journey using a Suica card.
How long should I spend in Osaka?
While planning this trip, I found that people either spent one night, three nights, or five to seven nights in Osaka. Which isn’t super helpful as it’s hard to know whether you’ll get fed up after a night or so, or wish you hadn’t left so soon. So we went with the happy medium option and picked a three-night stay before moving on to Kyoto.
For us this was a good choice, because some of the day trips from Osaka and Kyoto cross over due to the cities being fairly close together. So three days meant we had enough time to explore the main sights of Osaka without feeling rushed or leaving the city for day trips elsewhere during our stay.
If I were to come back to Osaka, I would maybe have spent a little longer here and explored further afield. But overall I think three days and three nights is a good amount of time to spend here.
Where should I stay in Osaka?
Googling “Where to stay in Osaka” will have you thinking that Kita is the best spot in the city. But this wasn’t our experience. If you like to stay in the thick of it, get the full city experience, and reduce your need to travel by stepping out of your hotel and onto the main city streets, then stay somewhere more central but want a bit more culture that the main strip. Shinsaibashi worked well for us, but there’s also Minami, Nipponbashi, and the neighbourhoods around Namba that all have a great city centre buzz to them.
What is there to do in Osaka?
We only had three days in Osaka, which meant we were limited on what we could fit in. But these were our favourite things to do.
Dotonbori
One of the most iconic images of Osaka is Dotonbori. It’s an entertainment district along a canal, with famous illuminated billboards including the Glico running man. It’s free and does get busy in the evenings as the lights look best at night. The chances are you’ll naturally find yourself here during your stay in Osaka. And you could spend anywhere from five minutes to an hour or more looking at the lights or stopping for food and drinks.
mipig cafe 大阪店
The first thing we did in Osaka was head to mipig cafe. I love pigs, and animal cafes are a big thing in Japan. So a micro pig experience had to be done. As soon as we sat down, adorable little pigs ran over to snuggle up on our laps.
They’re all so happy and friendly and they love playing with the staff so I wasn’t concerned about their treatment or quality of life at all. We only paid for 30 minutes but you can stay longer. Although I think an hour might have been too long as you can’t really move once somewhere between one and four pigs have turned your lap into a bed.
It’s not too expensive – we paid ¥5060 (about £26) which included two doughnuts. If you’re looking for a micro pig cafe in Osaka and want one that’s clean, ethical, and the pigs seem genuinely happy and excited to play with visitors, mipig is a great choice.
Osaka castle
We didn’t actually go into Osaka castle. But you can walk around the grounds and take in the impressive view of its exterior for free. The building as it is now is a fairly recent remodelling of a 16th century Japanese fortress. The grounds are large and there’s plenty of gardens, gates, and shrines to explore before, after, or instead of going into the main building.
Hep Five
If you want to go shopping in Osaka you won’t be short of neighbourhoods to explore. But for a fun, vintage vibe head north to Hep Five. You’ll find huge vintage stores on the higher floors with a food court at the top, and cute Japanese-style fashion on the lower floors. And while you’re in the area, check out the Hankyu food hall on the way into Umeda station. It’s like Japanese Harrod’s with even more interesting treats and snacks.
Animal Cafe Fairy Room
Like mipig micro pig cafe, animal cafe was the best rated cat cafe near us in Osaka. It cost ¥4200 (£22) for two people to stay for one hour. This includes a drink and you’re free to move around the cafe and play with the cats rather than being restricted to one spot. There were adorable munchkin cats, a Somali cat, a Norwegian forest cat, and more as well as two papillon dogs, a fennec fox, and a genet which you can meet in a separate enclosure. This was the part where I questioned the ethics of the cafe. But otherwise the cats and dogs were obviously very happy and well cared for.
Shin Sekai
The ‘New World’ of Shin Sekai is a weird place. Created in 1921, this entertainment district feels stuck in time. The bright lit streets are packed with restaurants, shops, shooting gallery arcade games, and takoyaki stalls. Visit in the evening for the best view of the tower, and spend up to an hour wandering the busy area. It’s an easy walk from
Namba, or a short subway ride if it’s wet and your feet ache from walking all day like mine did.
Where are the best places to eat in Osaka?
After a not-so-great veggie food experience in South Korea, my ongoing quest to find restaurants that serve both meat and vegetarian food well continued in Osaka.
The good news is, Japan does vegetarian food better than South Korea, where meat can be found in even the most unexpected dishes. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy – particularly if you’re not looking to limit your dining experiences to veggie- or vegan-only restaurants or western food. But in Osaka, we didn’t do too badly.
Here’s where we found vegetarian food in Osaka, with restaurants that served both veggie and meat dishes.
sangmi Shinsaibashi
We stopped here for our first lunch and ordered the daily special. It consists of a small main (fried fish with vegetables on the day of our visit), tofu, salad, kimchi, rice, and miso soup. Alongside an iced chai, it came to less than ¥1200 (£6) per person. If you’re looking for vegetarian food in Osaka, this is a great choice as many of their menu items are alterable, and the whole kitchen is focused on health so it’s not meat-heavy.
OKO
This cute Okonomiyaki bar is known for its varied veggie, vegan, and gluten free options alongside meat dishes. It’s run by one woman, Shiho, who has an amazing energy and has turned this simple restaurant into a spot with a great community vibe. We ordered two okonomiyaki – which are made with soybean flour rather than wheat or rice flour – and veggie gyoza. It’s not too expensive, and the portion sizes are generous enough that we had enough to take home for breakfast the next day.
Nakago
This sushi restaurant in Shinsaibashi looks unassuming from the outside. But the food served was close to Michelin quality. From nigri to salads and tempura, there’s a range of small dishes to choose from and there are plenty of vegetarian options. We had about 6 dishes between us and a large beer each, and the bill only came to ¥6380 (about £32!)
Onigiri Gorichan
There are a couple of branches of this amazing onigiri shop in Osaka – one near Shinsaibashi and another in Umeda. We stopped in for lunch on a Tuesday and only had to wait about 5 minutes for a seat. You can choose from a huge range of veggie, fish, and meat filling for your rice balls. Plus there is free refillable miso and dashi soup to make your own ochazuke.
You eat at the bar where only about eight people can be seated. So it’s not a great spot if you want to sit around for a long time chatting. But it doesn’t feel rushed or uncomfortable and the staff are really friendly and helpful.
We had two onigiri each, two bowls of soup, and shared a third rice ball which was just the right amount (maybe even a bit too much – they’re big!) and we spent about ¥3500 (less than £18) for the two of us.
Chibo Okonomiyaki
There are loads of places with similar names to this, but this Chibo in Dotonbori is the one. You cook your own pancakes on a griddle at your table, and they even have a floor just for vegetarian Muslims where the food will not be contaminated with pork.
We sat at a regular table on the first floor and they were still careful to make sure that my food wasn’t touching any meat dishes. But of course the griddle would have been used to cook meat in the past. So you can request where to be seated based on your own requirements (but if you’re with anyone ordering meat, they obviously can’t do that on the veggie level).
There are three fully veggie options and many of the other menu items are alterable and the staff are happy to help out. You might have to queue outside but it moves fast and food is served really quickly. We even ordered before we’d got to our table, which helps them seat and serve more people.
CoCo Ichibanya
Having eaten here in London I knew CoCo Ichibanya would be a great place to find delicious veggie food in Japan. You essentially build your own katsu curry from a range of toppings, and can select a vegan curry sauce. It’s tasty, cheap, reliable, and you can find branches all over Japan, not just in Osaka.
Where to drink in Osaka
There are endless places to drink in Osaka, from fancy cocktail bars to Irish pubs. And Google Maps can’t always be trusted for finding the best-reviewed spots (Tabelog is better for that) so sometimes it’s best to just go by what you see as you walk past a place.
These were our favourite bars we visited during our time in Osaka.
Bar Agréable - a fancy whiskey bar in Shinsaibashi.
Nomiske - a cute izakaya bar, also in Shinsaibashi.
Rake?raka? - an underground club in Dotonbori that’s hard to find, but worth it.
Find out more about our full one month in Japan itinerary here.