Ōsaka between city history, culture and culinary delights

Ōsaka combines an impressive history with performing arts, markets and a surprising amount of greenery. In Osaka Castle Park, water and large flower areas meet historic walls; elsewhere, museums tell the story of the city’s development, while markets and viewpoints offer impressions of their own. You can therefore choose different priorities when planning your trip: a day in the park, an introduction to traditional art or culinary discoveries.

Green spaces and history at Osaka Castle Park

Osaka Castle Park is an urban park with plenty of greenery and water. It covers an area of 105.6 hectares. Its seasonal flower areas include around 300 cherry trees and a plum grove with 1,245 trees across 105 varieties. So the park offers more than a single moment of blossoms: cherry blossoms and plum blossoms bring different seasonal highlights. Every year, spring and autumn plant markets are held there, as are nighttime cherry blossom viewings in Nishinomaru Garden. The park also has an archery range; music concerts are often held at Osaka Castle Music Hall and Osaka Castle Hall.

A special glimpse into the past awaits you at the Osaka Castle Toyotomi Stone Wall Museum. Here you can see original Toyotomi stone walls that had been hidden for more than 400 years, since the Toyotomi forces’ victory in the Summer Siege of Osaka in 1615 and the construction of Tokugawa Osaka Castle. The museum opened to the public in April 2025. If you are interested in the castle’s history, you can view these walls alongside the broader history of the city, without conflating the two stories.

Museums and performing arts

The Osaka Museum of History offers insight into almost 1,400 years of Osaka’s history and culture. Scale models and miniatures, videos and original documents provide different ways to explore this long period. A guided tour of the remains of Naniwa Palace adds a specific historical connection to your museum visit. By contrast, the Osaka Museum of Housing and Living focuses on changing forms of housing and cityscapes, from the Edo period through the Meiji and Taishō periods to the Shōwa period.

The National Bunraku Theatre offers a different kind of cultural experience. Bunraku is a traditional Japanese performing art and is registered as an intangible UNESCO cultural heritage. The theatre’s free exhibition space features collections about Bunraku, including information on how the puppets are made and their costumes. COOL JAPAN PARK OSAKA has three theatres for stage performances and Manzai comedy. When planning your trip, you can therefore choose between traditional puppetry and other forms of stage entertainment.

The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka holds around 5,700 ceramic objects from the Orient, including two National Treasures and 13 Important Cultural Properties. The ceramics are displayed in an exhibition space with natural lighting. If you prefer to try things out and explore for yourself, the Osaka Science Museum has around 200 interactive exhibits. The museum also has a planetarium with one of the world’s largest dome screens.

Markets, food and views

Kuromon Market is a historic market founded during the Taishō period. The shopping street is about 580 metres long and has around 150 shops. Its street food includes seafood bowls, sushi, fruit, croquettes and tempura. This makes it easy to combine a visit to the market with a variety of small culinary discoveries. Dotonbori also has a strong culinary focus, with restaurants of various styles lining both sides of the street. The popular riverside promenade Tombori Riverwalk is also part of Dotonbori.

For a view across the city, the Umeda Sky Building KUCHU-TEIEN OBSERVATORY has an open-air, 360-degree rooftop observation deck. It is 173 metres above the ground. Another piece of the city’s history awaits you at Tenjinbashi Bridge: together with Tenmabashi and Naniwabashi, it is one of the “Three Great Bridges of Naniwa” and also features in a children’s song.

When choosing a holiday apartment in Ōsaka, you can start by considering which experiences matter most to your trip: parks and seasonal plants, museums and history, performing arts, or markets and food.

More places to discover: Izumiōtsu, Takaishi, Sennan, Ōsakasayama, Tondabayashi, Ibaraki, Shijonawate and Kawachinagano.

For the broader travel overview: Ōsaka Prefecture.