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
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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
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 walks in Osaka
More in Osaka
Every walking route in Osaka, the full Osaka guide for where to stay and what a day costs, or walks in other cities.