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Osaka Amazing Pass | Is it good value?

Osaka Amazing Pass collage of attractions

We often don’t find city passes or discount passes to be great deals for us because we’re slow travellers.  We like to have a good look around, spend some downtime in a local cafe or tea shop, take time out to eat and wander off on a few tangents along the way.  That said we did pick up the Osaka Amazing Pass on our first visit to the city and while it might not have been “amazing” value it turned out to be pretty darn good.  We’ll definitely pick up another one next time we’re in town as there are still plenty of Osaka attractions we want to see.

How the Osaka Amazing Pass Works

There are two versions of the pass, the one or two-day option.  A day counts as a calendar day, not a 24 hour period so you want to pick it up as early as possible or perhaps ahead of time if you can.  It doesn’t activate until you first use it so you can purchase it in advance.

The card can be used on a variety of local transport but it’s likely to be the subway you use most within the city.  As a foreigner I find the subway the easiest to navigate, it’s fast and there are so many stops you can always get one that’s close to where you need to go.

There are around 28 attractions that are fully covered by the pass, some are seasonal and other special additions are included for a limited time.  The ‘free’ things include Osaka Castle gardens and museum, the Umeda Sky Building, river and harbour cruises, museums, the zoo, botanical gardens, a natural onsen and more.  There are also other attractions, shops and restaurants that are included in the pass that provide discounts or free inclusions when you show the pass.

Not everything is open every day of the year.  Some facilities do have maintenance periods, seasonal hours and other reasons why they may be closed on a particular day.  You will get information on any closures when you buy your ticket or redeem your voucher and you can also check on the Osaka Amazing Pass website in the days leading up to your visit.

Osaka Amazing Pass

Price and where to buy the Osaka Pass

The current price is Y2,500 for a single day or Y3,300 for a two-day ticket purchased in Osaka.  Passes can be purchased at some station masters office in the subway and a number of information centre offices.  The first time we bought the pass was from the Osaka Visitors Information centre outside JR Osaka (Umeda) station because it was the station we arrived into and was very close to our hotel.  They spoke excellent English which is helpful and the purchase was a quick and simple process.  You can also get the tickets from the Visitors Centre at Namba or if you’re arriving from another city you can pick them up in Visitors Information Centres around Kansai such as Kyoto and Nara.  There are a few other places they show as sellers on the website but the ones I’ve mentioned are probably the easiest to access and some of the others only sell single-day tickets.

A new option that we are using for the next trip is buying the pass voucher in our own currency in advance and then exchanging it either at Kansai Airport or Namba station.  This is convenient, you can print the voucher or just show it on your phone, and it’s going to work out a little cheaper.  Check the online price for Osaka Amazing Pass.

Something to remember if you are buying the pass in Osaka is to take cash with you to purchase the tickets as credit cards weren’t accepted.  Although it is slowly changing, in Japan you regularly can’t use credit cards as we do in western countries so we quickly got used to carrying more cash than we do at home.  Japan is a safe place even in the large cities so we were quite comfortable with that although the usual precautions are sensible and most hotels will offer a room safe for your use.  It’s easy to get cash out of money machines with English prompts at Post Offices or 7-Eleven stores.  We also found that in addition to being convenient, there are usually some savings on fees when you get a larger amount out of an ATM machine in one transaction rather than making multiple withdrawals on a foreign card.

Our Osaka Amazing Pass itinerary

As I mentioned we are slow travellers so you might fit more into your day than we did.   Our starting and ending point was the Umeda subway station adjacent to our hotel.

 (1)    Osaka Museum of History

This probably isn’t an essential stop for everyone but it had some interesting exhibits and as the entry is included I think it’s worth a stop even if it’s just for the life scale replica of an Edo period street.

Entry fully covered by the pass:  Y600

Subway included to the museum:  Y240

(2)     Osaka Castle Museum

From the museum, it was an easy walk to the castle park.  Although the main tower which houses the museum is a replica it’s well worth a look around.  I would have gone just to see the replica of Hideyoshi’s golden tea room alone but do spend a bit of time, have a wander through and take a look at the view from the top.  You can read more about our visit to Osaka Castle here.

Entry fully covered by the pass:  Y600

Osaka Castle

(3)    Osaka Castle Nishinomaru Garden

This garden is especially fabulous during the blossom viewing season with 600 trees in bloom but it has something to offer in all seasons of the year.  During the summer it’s azaleas and autumn leaves are also recommended.  We walked all the way around and I thought the views of the castle are the best from this garden.

Entry Y200 is covered fully by the pass

(4)     Osaka Suijyo Bus (The Aqualiner)

It’s a short walk from the castle grounds to the pier to catch the Aqualiner once you find the right gate.  We did the one-hour cruise from the Castle to Nakanoshima. This is an interesting experience for an entirely different perspective on the city.   We did find out why there’s no outer deck on the boat part way through the trip, some of the bridges were so low they hydraulically lowered the roof to fit safely under!  There was still plenty of room inside though and I didn’t find it claustrophobic as I’d thought I might.

Fee: Y1,700 covered fully by the pass

Subway included back to the hotel:  Y140

Aqualiner

(5)     Umeda Sky Building

This was definitely worth doing, we enjoy seeing cities from above and Osaka is a huge city sprawling out in every direction.  We timed it to be there late afternoon so we saw the full transition from daylight through to the city lights.

Entry fee included in the pass:  Y800

Umeda Sky Building

Did we get good value?

Yes, I think we did!

For our Y2,500 ticket, we got Y4,280 of value.  So we saved 46% off the cost price of doing the activities without the pass.

This is probably at the lower end of savings visitors would experience.  In our case a couple of things impacted the activities we fitted into the day.  We had existing plans with a local colleague to catch up for dinner or we’d almost certainly have headed into Namba after the Umeda Sky Tower incurring return subway costs and taken the Tombori River Cruise after dinner. 

We also would have done the Hep Five Ferris Wheel on top of a nearby shopping centre which is normally open until 11 pm but unfortunately, we were there on a day it was closed for maintenance. Including those additional activities, we would have received Y6,160 value for our Y2,300 ticket.

Order your Osaka Amazing Pass e-ticket in your own local currency

** We purchased the Osaka Amazing Pass ourselves and were not paid to provide this review **

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Have you used, or do you plan to use the Osaka Amazing Pass?  Please share your experiences of the city in the comments below and if this post has helped with your trip planning or you think it might help others please share it. Thanks!

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Aloysius Soh

Thursday 10th of October 2019

Hi, I am planning to visit Osaka in March 2020 and will be landing at KIX. However, I have some confusions about the limitations of the pass and whether it will actually be helpful for my trip. I have booked an Airbnb at Tengachaya and I am planning to get the 2 days pass. But from my understanding, the pass does not allow travel on certain railways such as the Nankai railway from the airport and therefore i might have to purchase a separate train pass like the Pasmo card? I was hoping you could clear my doubts on this. Thank you!

Toni Broome

Thursday 10th of October 2019

The standard Osaka Amazing Pass is for sightseeing in the city rather than the wider prefecture so focuses on the subway and city bus to get around between the attractions. It doesn't cover the airport train. Tengachaya is on the Sakaisuji subway Line.

David Henderson

Tuesday 20th of August 2019

Hi Toni

Very interesting blog. We are planing to visit the area in Feb 2020, and i have a couple if questions for you if you can help

1 - What do you use to find your way around. I normally use Here maps, or download the relevant google maps, to avoid using data whilst abroad, but in the case of Japan neither seem to be an option ?

2 - I was thinking of visiting Okayama, for a day, posibly after Himeji but wondered if you had been and if you thought it worthwhile ?

Toni Broome

Sunday 25th of August 2019

Hi David, I believe you are right that you still can't download Google Maps for Japan to use offline. There is some free WIFI around but we now travel with a WIFI router mainly for maps and translation. Google Maps online is useful as it gives directions with very detailed transport instructions including how many stops before you get off etc. You can manage without it, it just makes things very easy and we can get around more efficiently. You can pick up walking maps from most hotels and info desks at the train stations.

We really like Okayama. The castle there isn't on the scale of Himeji, especially if you are going on the same day but the adjacent Korakuen garden is recognised as one of the top 3 in Japan. We also went out to the Kurashiki Bikan historical quarter in Okayama a couple of months back (article should be up soon) and enjoyed that.

Elsie

Monday 19th of August 2019

Hi There, thanks for a great review of Osaka Amazing pass. I like to check - what are the differences between 1-day and 2-day passes? Also, is Osaka Amazing pass sufficient, or did you still need to get a ICOCA card to standby?

Toni Broome

Monday 19th of August 2019

Hi Elsie. We have IC cards that we keep topped up when we are in Japan but to do the activities we discuss here, or other activities within the central city with the Amazing Pass you wouldn't need it, the covered transport will get you around between them efficiently. We often have the late-night flight out of Osaka and find it a good thing to do on that last day but in that case, we need to buy a separate ticket for the airport train as that isn't included. The only difference between the one or two day pass is how long it runs for and it works on calendar days not 24 hour periods.

Byron

Saturday 13th of July 2019

I've always had really good experiences with city passes - any time I can find one to try and get everything wrapped up in a good deal I'm all over it. Unless its a bunch of outdoor stuff - I have terrible luck with the weather and will sometimes not get my monies worth if its includes parks/zoos/outdoor items. thx for the write up!

Irene

Saturday 18th of May 2019

Hi,

Came across your blog while searching for more informations for our Osaka Trip. Love your blog.. very informative. However, after reading, I still abit puzzle. Wondering could you help me. For this trip, we are 5 adults and 2kids all first time to Osaka.

We thinking to go USJ , Kyoto and Nara. We are wondering how to get to Kyoto and Nara from Osaka. We will like to spend 1 day each on Kyoto and Nara.

Could you advise what pass and train ticket to buy.

Thanks in Advance :)

Toni Broome

Wednesday 22nd of May 2019

There are several train companies that can be used for getting between Osaka and places like Nara and Kyoto, JR or Japan Rail is the best known but not always your best option. It will depend on where you are staying and where you want to get to, do you know if you will stay near Namba, Osaka Station or somewhere else? Because the subway and the multiple companies that are all useful at times in the area a train pass that ties you to one isn't always helpful and can end up costing more. We use an IC card like ICOCA, PASMO or SUICA when in Osaka if we don't have an Amazing Pass active, the Amazing Pass won't be useful for the 3 days you mention here.

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