Osaka is a kitchen with a castle in it.
Which food walk really hands you fifteen dishes. Whether the castle ticket beats the queue. How to do Kyoto and still be back for kushikatsu. Every Osaka tour, rated by the people who took it.
Takoyaki at eleven at night is an Osaka food group.
The city eats standing up, on bridges, at counters three stools wide. A guided walk is the shortcut past the queues nobody local joins: fifteen tastings, four alleys, and a person who can order for you in Kansai-ben.
- 1Shinsekai Food Tour with 13-15 Dishes at 5 Eateriesfrom $53
- 2Osaka Food Tour: 13 Dishes at 5 Local Eateriesfrom $73
- 3Hungry Osaka Street Food Tour:15 Tastings & 3 Drinks with a Localfrom $73
Dotonbori does not dim until the last train.
Neon on the canal, a crab the size of a bus, and behind it the alleys where the drinking actually happens. Bar crawls run on local terms here: three stools, one dish per stop, out again before the next round.
Dotonbori, the castle, and the kitchen alleys.
The handful of places every Osaka trip is planned around, and the best way to book each one.
The Osaka tours that go before the Shinkansen lands.
Every review →Ranked by how many travellers actually took them, with what each costs and why it earns its afternoon.
1
Osaka Go Karting Tour with Funny Costume
Drive a one-person go kart in a funny costume through Osaka’s sights like Namba and Dotonbori, with ID rules and safety brief.
From · $46
Read our review →
2
Osaka Castle: Museum and Tower Entry Ticket
from $7
3
Shinsekai Food Tour with 13-15 Dishes at 5 Eateries
from $53
4
Osaka Food Tour: 13 Dishes at 5 Local Eateries
from $73
5
Hungry Osaka Street Food Tour:15 Tastings & 3 Drinks with a Local
from $73
6
Tea Ceremony Experience
from $25
7
Osaka Kickstart: Hotspots & Hidden Gems Tour
from $31
8
Deep Backstreet Osaka Tours (Option to add Dinner)
from $53
Kyoto, Nara and Himeji are all day trips from Osaka.
Kansai is small. Base yourself in Osaka, spend the day somewhere older, and come back for dinner in the noise.
Kuidaore on a budget: what an Osaka day costs.
Every tour on the site, sorted by what it actually costs. A great Osaka afternoon starts at the price of two beers.
Market breakfasts, matcha sittings, kushikatsu crawls and the tower tickets.
The full food walks, cooking classes with lunch, and the guided castle mornings.
Kyoto and Nara by car, private guides, and the long coast days out of Kansai.
Kushikatsu rules, sumo stages and a market that opens at breakfast.
Temples and skylines you can find all over Japan. These three are Osaka doing something no other city bothers to do.
Kushikatsu in Shinsekai
Shinsekai was built in 1912 as a vision of the future and then left alone for a century, which is exactly why people come. Everything is fried on a stick and dunked in a communal sauce pot, and the one iron rule is that you never dip twice. Tsutenkaku stands over the whole thing, lit like a radio tower.
- 1Shinsekai Food Tour with 13-15 Dishes at 5 Eateries★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 2,204 reviews
- 2Osaka Local Foodie Walking Tour in Dotonbori and Shinsekai★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 985 reviews
- 3Tsutenkaku Tower Entry Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 3.8 · 125 reviews
The Sumo Stage Show
Osaka holds one of the six grand tournaments, fifteen days every March, and for the rest of the year retired wrestlers run stage shows where you can take a bout yourself and lose it badly. Both come with food. Tournament seats and the good show nights go long before the cherry blossom crowds arrive.
- 1Sumo Show & Experience w/ Optional Kimono & Hot Pot★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 609 reviews
- 2Sumo Stage Show with Bento or Snack + Fight & Photo★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 364 reviews
- 3Osaka Sumo Experience with Live Show and Audience Challenge★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 162 reviews
Kuromon Ichiba
Six hundred metres of covered market that has fed Osaka since the 1800s, and the only sensible way to start a day here. Stalls grill scallops, tuna and wagyu to order and hand them to you on a stick; the roof means it works in the June rain too. Come hungry and before eleven, when the tour groups arrive.
- 1Kuromon Market Food Walking Tour in Osaka (6 stops, 6 tastes)★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 550 reviews
- 2Kuromon Market Food Walking Tour (6 stops, 6 tastes)★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 272 reviews
- 3Kuromon Market Tour: All inclusive 6~8 Dishes & 3~4 samplings★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 103 reviews
Sort these before you land at Kansai.
Most of Osaka can be booked from your hotel the night before. These four cannot — they run on paperwork, park calendars and rooms that seat eight.
- 01Osaka Go Karting Tour with Funny CostumeThe costumed street karts need an International Driving Permit, issued in your own country before you fly. No permit, no kart.
- 02Universal Studios Japan Express Pass OnlyExpress Passes are sold per park date and the peak days sell out weeks ahead — there is no buying one at the gate.
- 03Sumo Show & Experience w/ Optional Kimono & Hot PotOsaka hosts a grand tournament for fifteen days every March; the year-round stage shows fill first on weekends and in blossom season.
- 04Ramen and Gyoza Cooking Class in DotonboriThese are home kitchens, not lecture halls. Most cap at eight seats and the evening slots go first.
Osaka is roofed for miles — the rain is not a lost day.
Tsuyu, the June rain, is real, and so is the August downpour. Osaka answers with arcades: Tenjinbashisuji runs two and a half kilometres under cover, Kuromon and Shinsaibashi are roofed end to end, and the best indoor bookings — a tatami tea room, a knife and a cutting board, a sake counter — never notice the weather.
By part of town — Namba up to Umeda
Dotonbori & Namba45 tours
Shinsekai & Tsutenkaku16 tours
Kuromon Ichiba11 tours
The Castle & the moats42 tours
Umeda & the sky decks11 tours
The shrines & temples52 tours- Everything in Osaka →
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