Traveling is one of the sources to boost my energy and also as a mood renewal. I love to do traveling every year to the same countries or different countries for the purpose of resting and exploring the new thing. Osaka, Japan was the city that I visited few years ago but this city still leave the positive impression in my mind and I want to share about it in this post as well as the itinerary.

In the pre-traveling period, I used to make the travel itinerary as my guidance to avoid the unorganized visits or over expenses during traveling. The other reason was by preparing the itinerary, it means that I searched about the history or the story behind about the places that I planned to visits in details. Therefore, I already had the information and a big picture in my mind before visiting the places. And I love the feeling. I felt my visits would be more memorable and engaged me more. However, some people create many types of travel itinerary based on their habit and needs.

What about my travel itinerary’s style?

I made it in the excel format to make easier in calculating the required expenses during traveling and also to control them. It contains several important points as follow:

• Time Schedule – The date and time are a must point that should be mentioned in the itinerary. Why? Because, by mentioning them, I was able to organized easily on the amount of places to visit in each day effectively and also the suitable time.
• The Activities / Places to Visit – This would be the important part for my itinerary. In this section, I put all activities that I plan to do every day that include the hotel check in and check out schedule; places to visit; foods and beverages, transportation (within the CBD or trip to out of town), tips and admission / entrance fees. By putting all of those information in the activity column, I feel that I was guided in every hour regarding to the activities as well as the expenses.
• The Expenses – This is the continuity step from the previous section. I put all the expenses for every item that I plan with the related currency. By doing this, I was also able to add or delete the activities, which means to control myself.
• Supporting Materials – Eventhough, I could take the printed town map in the airport or at the hotel in city of destination, it would better if the online maps are also downloaded in mobile phones before the journey began. This would calm the traveler during the arrival.

Now, it is time to share my travel itinerary during my journey to Osaka, Japan. Please enjoy.

Day 1

• Trip to Osaka from Kyoto – Catch train from departure track No. 5 in JR Kyoto Station and get off in Osaka Station (Arrival track No. 5). The train was provided by JR Special Rapid Service. It was the night arrival. —– Cost: 560 Yen

Day 2

Universal Studio

• Transportation: Get the train from Osaka Station to Universal Studio by getting off in the Universal City Station. The entrance gate of the Universal Studios Japan is located around 5 minutes walk from Universal City Station on the JR Ymesaki Line (as JR Sakurajima Line) — Cost: 180 Yen for each way.
• Entrance Fee: One day pass that includes park entrance and we could also use all attractions in the park — Cost: 7000 Yen per person.
• Open and Close Schedule of the Park: 9.00 – 21.00
• Tips: If you want to ride more than 3 attractions, it will better if you buy the two days pass instead of a day pass. Because, each attraction was required around 1 – 2 hours queued and I experienced at 4 hours queuing on Harry Potter attraction. It was such a long queue. I just rode Harry Potter, Jurassic Park and Terminator attractions on that time. Those were very fun but I still want to ride more than 3 rides.

These are some photos of my visit in Universal Studios Japan:

The atmosphere in Universal Studios Japan during a parade

Cute rides for kids

Harry Potter Complex

Alnwick Castle

Dino Zone

Day 3

Osaka Castle or Osakajo

• Transportation: Catch the train from JR Osaka Station (Departure Track No. 2) and get off in Osakajokoen Station on Osaka Loop Line — Cost: 160 Yen each way.
• Entrance Fee: 600 Yen per person
• Open and Close Schedule for the Castle: Castle Tower (9.00 – 17.00) and Nishinomaru Garden (9.00 – 17.00).
• Tips: It will require half day for visiting a castle as the area is so big and you can enjoy many things inside the Castle area. Therefore, It’ll be better if you plan 2- 3 places to visit including Castle visit in a day. You can also have lunch inside the castle area that are located near the exit gate of the Castle area.

A Way to Osaka Castle

Osaka Castle Area

A Beautiful View from Osaka Castle

Osaka Castle

The above pictures are the eating area in Osaka Castle. The foods and beverages were varies and the stands were also creative and attractive.

The Building in the Osaka Castle Area

Namba Area

This place is a must place to visit. It is the gathering place for young adults and also adults. The area was so crowded but the shops and restaurants were varies. Because of the area size was very big, so you have to remember the way you walked through. There were also many iconic places that tourist used to take some photos.

Tips:

• As there were many shops and restaurants in Namba area, it will be perfect if you spare 1 full day to explore this area from side to side. I didn’t do that because I have no idea in advance that Namba area was very big.
• Be careful with your bag and also your shopping bags!

Namba Area in the Afternoon

Namba Area’s Environment

Crowded in Namba Area

Many Restaurants and Shops in Namba Area

Me with Glico Billboard

Me Still with Glico Machine

Day 4

Go to Airport (Go back to Indonesia)

• Transportation: Catch the train from Osaka Station to Kansai Airport. We had to catch 2 types of train to go to Kansai Airport. The first one was the Umeda Subway (Dobutsuen-Mae) in Osaka city subway Midosuji Line. It costs 240 Yen each way. And the second train was the Nankai Ltd Exp Rapit 23 and it costs 920 Yen each way.
• Tips: We feel very safe when we deal with the schedule and safety in Japan. But, we had to spare some times when we came to the train station with the reason to give more time to deal with the language barrier.

Besides those stated expenses, we had to spend another expenses:

• Food and Beverage: 3,000 Yen per day
• Snacks: 1,500 Yen per day
• Airport Tax: For some airlines, we still had to pay the airport tax in Indonesia. I took Air Asia when I traveled to Japan and I had to pay IDR 150,000 for the airport tax.

*Note: The costs and currency might be different due to the time. You better check the update ones.

I hope this itinerary will help you in planing your holiday. Thanks for reading. See you in my next post.

Published by nikensmartini

I am just a girl who loves all beauty stuffs and traveling. And I am really addicted to a hot cappuccino. View all posts by nikensmartini