We had briefly considered skipping Osaka as an overnight stop and only visiting as a day trip from Kyoto but we were really glad we ended up spending 2 nights there. It had a very different vibe from the other cities we stayed in and offered different experiences.
We had fewer plans for Osaka than any of our other stops, which was sort of a refreshing change of pace. We only had 3 things that we really wanted to do and a day and a half to do them in so we had plenty of flexibility.
My oldest really wanted to go to an aquarium in Japan and the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan is one of the country’s best. So that became the top priority. The other site we wanted to visit was Osaka Castle, which was an easy 2-3 hour outing. And finally, we wanted to head to Dotonbori in the evening to check out the action and take a river cruise.
My original plan was to visit them all on our one full day in Osaka: the aquarium in the morning, Osaka Castle in the afternoon, and Dotonbori in the evening. But then Mother Nature interfered. A double typhoon was bearing down on Japan and although we would not receive a direct hit in Osaka, there was still predicted to be a lot of rain. That meant that people were scrambling for indoor activities. And that meant that aquarium tickets quickly sold out for our full day in Osaka. Since we were also arriving earlier than we had planned, we pivoted and bought tickets for 5:30pm on our arrival day. We kept the next day essentially the same except that we added in some shopping/exploration and the Namba Yasaka Shrine in the morning.
