Osaka

Day 13

Waking up to that hotel view was just stunning. We kept the curtains open so that we could see the sunrise, and it didn’t disappoint! We avoided breakfast at the hotel as the charge would have been 2500 yen each! Instead, we caught the first shuttle bus back to Hiroshima Station after paying 500 yen a suitcase to send our baggage there for collection after 2pm. We grabbed breakfast at the same place, 650 yen pp and amazing coffee and french toast at Hoshino Coffee. We then caught the JR line train down to Miyajimaguchi, got off the train and walked 10 minutes to the ferry terminal where a JR ferry took us across to Miyajima island, it only took around 10 minutes to cross.

On arrival, we were thrilled to find deer roaming the island, absolutely beautiful and obviously a real hit with tourists too. We walked down towards the famous shrine gates, only to find that they were wrapped in scaffolding! Really disappointing, but it didn’t detract from how beautiful the island was itself. After wandering around for a while, we got the ferry back across and the train back up to Hiroshima station. We went into ekie food and grabbed a snack of gyoza to keep us going until the evening.

We then found a train that would take us from Hiroshima to Shin-Osaka, avoiding the nozomi train which is not covered on the JR pass. However, we think we might have taken a nozomi train the day before accidentally…

Once at Osaka, we changed train and took a JR line one stop to Osaka station and then jumped on the JR Osaka loop train to reach our hotel, KAJA Hotel.

Once checked in, we headed back out in search of some food. We jumped back on the loop line, using our JR passes and got off at Osaka station. It was incredibly festive with Christmas music, lights and an ice rink. Right next to the station is a huge office, shopping and leisure complex split into north and south towers. We went in in search of food and were completely overwhelmed by the choice - the floors were huge, there must have been hundreds of restaurants. After walking around for some time, we just jumped into one that looked reasonably priced. We both decided on a beef dish which came with seasonal vegetables - delicious. I don’t think you can go wrong with food choices in Osaka.

Steps: 15,000

Day 14:

For our full day in Osaka, we were lucky enough to have a beautifully sunny day and temperatures of around 21 degrees. We jumped on the Osaka loop line and got off at the castle stop. Osaka castle is stunning and surrounded by 15 acres of gardens. There was a festival on, so it was also very busy in the grounds. We climbed up to the castle but didn’t actually go in, there is a charge to look at the inside. We just spent some time walking around the gardens and getting some photos of the castle itself.

We then headed towards Dotonbori. We mainly spent the rest of the day wandering round, stopping to eat street food and having a couple of drinks. Just a really lovely way to end our holiday. Osaka is also known for having great food, so we wanted to make the most of it.

Steps: 12,500

Day 15:

We had an early flight, 9am from Kansai international. Luckily for us, the express train to the airport was an 8 minute walk from our hotel and we got the train shortly after 5am.