Budget · 3-hour walk · Osaka
The castle to Dotonbori in three hours
The reconstructed keep and its moat, then the subway south to the neon canal and the covered arcades.
Osaka's two halves are a castle in a park and a canal lined with mechanical crab signs, and they are four kilometres apart, so this route takes the subway between them and walks the rest. Dotonbori is a night walk; do the castle in the afternoon and arrive south after dark, when the signage is the entire attraction.
The route, stop by stop
-
Osaka Castle
A 1931 concrete reconstruction on original 16th-century stonework, and a museum inside. The park and the moat are free.
55 min here Walk here → -
Dotonbori
Arrive by metro from the previous stop
Four kilometres by subway rather than an hour on foot. The Glico running man sign has been there since 1935.
35 min here Walk here → -
Hozenji Yokocho
Two stone-paved lanes behind the neon, with a moss-covered Buddha that visitors have splashed water on for centuries.
20 min here Walk here → -
Shinsaibashi-suji
A covered shopping arcade running six hundred metres north from the canal. Roofed, which matters in the rainy season.
20 min here Walk here → -
Kuromon Ichiba Market
Osaka calls itself the nation's kitchen and this is the kitchen's larder. Grilled scallops and tuna cut in front of you.
25 min here Walk here →
More in Osaka
Every walking route in Osaka, or the full Osaka guide for where to stay and what a day costs.