Kansai attractions

With its rose gardens and cherry blossoms, Osaka’s peaceful Utsubo Park offers respite from the city's flashing lights and bustling streets. It’s a particular hit with tennis lovers. It's home to the Utsubo Tennis Center, which boasts 16 tennis courts that host international competitions.

The Kyoto Handicraft Center is an easy one-stop-shop for browsing and purchasing local handicrafts, ranging from kimonos and decorative fans to pottery and dolls, and much more. Spanning three floors, a huge variety of traditional arts and handicrafts are available here, and the center also runs classes and rents kimono.

Lake Biwa is a large lake in western Japan near the city of Kyoto. At an estimated four million years old, it's believed to be one of the oldest lakes in the world. It’s also Japan’s largest freshwater lake, and its proximity to Kyoto makes it a popular place for swimming, camping, fishing, boating, and more.

Built in the year 678, Kamigamo Shrine (aka Kamo-wakeikazuchi Shrine is one of the oldest Shinto shrines in the country. Although it predates Kyoto’s reign as capitol of Japan by over a century, it is believed to protect the city from negative influences. The shrine played host to four Emperors between the 8th and 18th centuries.

A unique educational museum where kids can learn through play, Kids Plaza Osaka features three levels of interactive and immersive exhibits, activities, games, and play areas that encourage creativity and personal development. Enjoy a fun day of learning at this popular, family-friendly attraction.

Spanning the tranquil Uji River, Uji-bashi Bridge occupies a legendary site. Few Japanese landmarks have played such a starring role in Japanese literature and art as the Heian-period version of this structure, which was featured in The Tale of Genji—a masterpiece of Japanese prose that’s considered by many historians to be the world’s first novel. It was originally built in 646, and was most recently rebuilt in 1996.

At around 4am, Osaka Central Fish Market springs to life. Bidding begins with the refrigerated tuna seller—a bell is rung, giant tuna fish are placed on display, and the fish sells out within the hour. Then, bidders move on throughout the one million-square-foot (320,000-square-meter venue to try their luck at winning other coveted food items.

The Tempozan Harbor Village is a popular entertainment complex in the Osaka Bay Area, across the water from Universal Studios Japan. Visitors have a bevy of attractions to choose from, including a sky-high ride on a Ferris wheel, a shopping center, and a deep-sea adventure at the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, one of the world's largest aquariums.

Learn about how one of Japan’s most ubiquitous beers is made with a visit to Asahi Beer Suita Factory, the company's first brewery, built in 1891. Asahi offers daily tours, during which guests see, smell, and touch the hops and barley, along with other ingredients that go into brewing one of Japan’s best-known beers.

The Kyoto National Museum, established in 1897, houses 12,000-plus artifacts—including art, archeological relics, ceramics, kimonos, pottery, and swords. As one of Japan's four national museums and a major art museum, it’s the perfect place for visitors to deepen their appreciation and understanding of pre-modern Japanese and Asian art.

Japan is famed for its onsen (hot springs), but there are few naturally occurring in the Osaka area. Luckily, visitors looking for a little relaxation of the soaking variety can find it at Spa World, one of the world’s largest hot springs complexes, where you’ll find kitschy decorated onsen and saunas from around the world.

Step back in time to the Edo period in Japan at Toei Kyoto Studio Park (Toei Uzumasa Eigamura), the only theme park in Japan that’s also an open-air film set for period drama (jidaigeki) films. Visitors can watch exciting performances, dress up in period costume, learn fun skills, and enjoy a number of other entertaining attractions.

The only pilgrimage route besides the Camino de Santiago to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Kumano Kodo is a network of trails through Kansai. In use for more than 1,000 years, the pilgrimage routes developed as a way to travel between sacred areas, a practice that tourists and pilgrims alike continue today.

Fans of Japanese pop culture will love Nijigen no Mori (Awaji Island Anime Park). Located within Hyogo Prefectural Awajishima Park, it's a must-visit for anime enthusiasts of any age, and its entertaining attractions will even appeal to those unfamiliar with anime.

Experience the ultimate indoor LEGO®adventure at LEGOLAND®Discovery Center Osaka. Located inside Tempozan Marketplace, this interactive LEGO-themed entertainment park lets kids and adults build, explore, learn, and play in a 3,400-square-foot (316-square-meter) space full of games, displays, workshops, rides, and a 4D cinema.

Folklore says that Sojobo, the mythological King of the Tengu, inhabits Kurama, a rural temple town in the foothills of the northern Kyoto mountains. Less than an hour from Kyoto, Mt. Kurama is a popular choice for a day trip, famous for its hot springs and mountain top temple.

Yoshikien Garden is a beautiful ornamental garden beside the ever-popular, sprawling Nara Park. Here you’ll find three distinct settings—a pond garden, moss garden, and tea ceremony garden. It’s a lovely place to stroll, especially as entry is free, and travelers with an interest in gardening, especially Japanese gardens, will get the most out of visiting.

Chionji Temple, also known as Hyakumanben Chionji Temple, is a Buddhist temple in Kyoto. Its peaceful halls and landscaped gardens lined with cherry blossom trees offer a tranquil escape from sightseeing. However, the temple really comes to life during its monthly open-air handicrafts markets. Here, you can pick up handmade goods: from artwork to kids’ toys, jewelry, ceramics, and tasty local snacks.

Beautiful Yakushiji Temple in western Nara holds more than a millennium of spiritual and architectural history. Although the current main hall was rebuilt in the 1970s after a fire, the multitiered east pagoda dates from the year 730. This Buddhist temple is lesser-known by tourists than Nara’s other UNESCO-listed landmarks, because it lies beyond the ever-popular Nara Park.

The neo-Renaissance, red-brick, bronze-domed Osaka City Central Hall, built between 1913 and 1918, rivals Osaka Castle in its architectural beauty. The Iwamoto Memorial Room in the basement of the building commemorates Einosuke Iwamoto, an Osaka stockbroker who funded the construction.

Known as the "flower temple," Mimuroto Temple in Uji City near Kyoto showcases a vast array of seasonal flowers. Early spring sees cherry blossoms, while azaleas and hydrangeas start to flower later in the spring. Lotus plants complement the bright summer months, and autumn foliage colors arrive in late October or November.

A 700-year-old pine tree welcomes visitors to Hosen-in Temple, a lodging site for Buddhist pilgrims since the 11th century. Part of this temple’s ceiling is made from blood-stained wooden floorboards from Fushimi Castle, which was invaded in 1600, resulting in a mass Samurai honor suicide.

Known to locals as ‘Kokedera’—the ‘Moss Temple’—Saiho-ji Temple is home to lush moss gardens, considered among the most beautiful in Japan. Laid out in the 14th century, the zen meditation gardens are a verdant wonderland, where mossy banks lead to fish-filled ponds and gurgling brooks run through idyllic bamboo groves.

At Taiyo Park in Himeji, visitors can tour of some of the world’s most famous monuments without leaving Japan. The park contains smaller replicas of such iconic attractions as the Giza pyramids, the Statue of Liberty, and China’s Terracotta Warriors. Don’t miss the 3D trick-art gallery inside the replica of Germany’s Neuschwanstein Castle.

Marked by its modern steel and concrete gate and imposing guardian statues, the temple of Isshin-ji dates back to 1185 when it was founded by Honen, the founder of the Pure Land Sect of Buddhism. The temple is best known for its “Bone Buddha” statue, made from the cremated remains of some 200,000 Osaka residents.

Dating back to the 18th century, Kinshi Masamune Horino Memorial Museum is a historic sake-brewing house located within a well-preserved machiya, a traditional wooden townhouse that exemplifies the architecture of Old Kyoto. Visitors get a glimpse of how sake was fermented and bottled centuries ago, as well as the minimalist elegance of the machiya’s latticed interior.

The Prefecture Government Sakishima Building (aka the Cosmo Tower) rises 840 feet (256 meters) above the streets of Osaka, home to trade offices linking cities around the globe. Glass elevators take visitors to an observatory on the 55th floor, where the 360-degree views extend as far as Awaji Island and the Rokko Mountains.

The finest ceramics from Japan, China, and Korea are gathered under one roof at Osaka’s Museum of Oriental Ceramics, which houses one of the best collections in the world. Of the 6,000 pieces, about 300 sit on display at any given time; highlights include two registered National Treasures from Japan.

Known for its crystal-clear waters and stunning forest foliage, the Kiyotaki River runs between Kyoto and Osaka. It is reachable from Takao, a scenic hamlet in the mountains west of Kyoto filled with stunning valleys and several historic temples, as a day trip from Kyoto. Winding through the woodlands, the rocky river is home to the Japanese giant salamander, measuring up to 5 feet (1.5 meters) in length.