First family trip to Tempozan, Osaka? Here are some things that you shouldn't miss.

Note: Read this if and only if you have an extra day to spare because there are so much more places in Osaka that you would want to visit rather than just staying in the Bay Area of Osaka, because I'm not going to talk about anything beyond the Bay Area in this post.

From my post on my Two-Day course using the Osaka Amazing Pass 2016, I've been hearing feedback that those two days were too much of a rush and they weren't meant for family trips (yes, because I was on a solo trip! lol), but throughout the days when I was in Osaka, I think that Tempozan is a really great place for families to spend their day in! (Not to mention, it's also a good dating spot. lol)

I thought of various plans to spend a day or two only in Tempozan area, and there are just so many combinations! I'd love to write about them when I have more time some other day since work has been consuming a lot of my writing time, but I'd love to list out some things that should be taken into consideration for families that are visiting Tempozan for the first time, as a family!

It's true that Osaka has many tourist attractions, so you may ask:


Well, Tempozan is a place with many attractions too! For instance, the Kaiyukan aquarium, the Tempozan Giant Ferris wheel, Santa Maria Day Cruise (or their twilight cruise), and Legoland Discovery Center Osaka. There is also an art gallery and culture museum! The best of all? They aren't far from each other. (Yay to the feet!)

The one place where I think family trips should not miss during their trip in Tempozan (more like, in Osaka itself) would be the Kaiyukan! Honed as one of the most spectacular aquariums in Japan, the Kaiyukan has 15 tanks of marine life displays, where each tank represents a region. It opens from 10:00 to 20:00, and their admissions will close one hour prior closing. They are usually open, but you might also want to check with their site for their closing dates too.

The admission tickets depends on the age, as shown in the following image:

Taken from Kaiyukan's official site: http://www.kaiyukan.com/language/eng/ticket.html

Here's the great part about being in Osaka -- Travel discounts!

There are so much that Osaka offers to encourage tourism, and there are various kinds of passes being offered! If you think that your children or the elders would get tired after visiting the Kaiyukan, you could opt for the package with KAIYUKAN + Cruise Ship Santa Maria at 3,200 yen (for 16+ years of age)!

The Santa Maria day cruise itself costs 1,600 yen for adults and 800 yen for children. If your family members (or you) consist of children above the age 16 (where their entrance to Kaiyukan is 2,300 yen), the 3,200 yen package saves you 700 yen per person.

"Why do you suggest the Santa Maria cruise? How about the other places you listed earlier?" you may ask.

Number one. Please be reminded that this post is written for family trips, where the energy levels of your family members are crucial.

Also, if you are planning to board the day cruise of Santa Maria after walking and standing for too long during your time in Kaiyukan, the cruise offers various spots to sit in and relax, while you could also listen to audios on what you could see outside of your windows for about 40 minutes, which is really good to rest your tired feet. If your children are still happy and excited, they could also drop by the lower deck or upper deck to view pictures of dinosaurs or just plain sightseeing too!

Santa Maria Day Cruise (on a rainy day)

Also on a side note, children below the age of 3 can enter Kaiyukan for free! While up to 2 children below the age of 5 accompanied by a single adult/ child of 6-11 years old) could ride the city subways for free. You might want to take this information if you are planning to get any passes for your travel in Osaka! For more information on the city subway and bus fares, you can visit here.

Of course, if you are a sweet-tooth, Kaiyukan also recently (by the time I write this post) launched this soft ice-cream with their whale-shark-themed colors that you could try them too!

I know I'd love to get these from the Kaiyukan! (Credits from Twitter user @shigemac)

Besides the KAIYUUKAN + Santa Maria cruise, there are also packages such as Kaiyuukan + Tempozan Giant Ferris Wheel or KAIYUKAN + Fast Shuttle Ferry Captain Line (you might want to check it out here). The Captain Line sends you to and (or) from USJ with a 10-minute ride (read here for the details!) but to be frank, I don't think it really makes sense to visit USJ and the Kaiyukan on the same day so I'll skip talking about it and jump to the Ferris Wheel talk.

For the Tempozan Ferris Wheel, the ride would give you two options: transparent base where you get to see whatever that is beneath you, or the normal Ferris wheel ride. Each ride is 800 yen and lasts for about 10 minutes (or 15, I don't know, but it certainly feels short). Which to be frank, if you have two days in Tempozan, you might want to opt for the Osaka Amazing Pass instead of the Kaiyukan + Giant Ferris Wheel plan for the adults.

Why? Osaka Amazing Pass offers free rides for the entire day (or two if you get the two day pass) on local subways, city buses, and the new tram! Although it does not grant you free access to the Kaiyukan, there is a 100 yen off per adult per pass. (Note that the pass is only for adults and there's no children tickets for Osaka Amazing Pass).

Besides the 100 yen off using the Osaka Amazing Pass, you can take a ride on the Tempozan Ferris wheel for free, book your Santa Maria Twilight Cruise (booking required for the Night cruise but for the Day cruise no booking is required) for free too! Note: You can pick either Day or Twilight cruise for Santa Maria.

Alternately, if you are willing to go just a little further (Transfer from Hommachi station of Midosuji line to Cosmo Square of Chuo line, then Trade-Center Mae station on the New Tram), you could visit the Asia Trade Center for a little of shopping as well as to visit the observatory of the Sakishima Prefectural Government building (the observatory is also free with the Osaka Amazing Pass)!

Further down using the New Tram, you can also arrive Spa Suminoe at the Suminoe station to relax yourself in the open onsen that opens until 2AM of the next day, which is also FREE!

For a sample itinerary, I'll suggest the following options:
Option A. If your group has elderly and/or young children (3,200 yen Kaiyukan + santa maria cruise package is Enough)
- Depart from hotel > Breakfast > Kaiyukan (if it's a slow pace view it could take about 3 hours) at 10am > Lunch in Tempozan Market Place/ Restaurants around > Santa Maria Day Cruise (begins every hour) > Sight-seeing and photo-taking around Tempozan > Dinner > Return to hotel

Option B. Visiting Kaiyukan and going around places of Osaka that has no discounts with the Osaka Amazing Pass (using Osaka Kaiyu Ticket, see 'Basic Plan' in this page)
- Depart from hotel > breakfast > Kaiyukan > travel to anywhere you'd like to travel to > lunch > continue your travel > dinner > return to hotel

Option C. If your family consists of mostly adults (Highly recommend usage of Osaka Amazing pass)
- Depart from hotel > Breakfast > Kaiyukan (probably wouldn't take very long, about 2 hours should be more than enough) > Lunch > Santa Maria Day Cruise > Tempozan Ferris Wheel > Sakishima Government Building Observatory > Dinner > Suminoe Spa > Back to hotel

For more information on the Osaka Amazing Pass 2017, refer here.
For information on other packages/ passes with Kaiyukan's entrance, refer here.

There are more that families could do in Osaka instead of Tempozan alone, and I hope that I could find some time to write about those someday (as well as to plan for a family trip if I get the chance to!). What do you think about spending a day in Tempozan? Do you have anything else that you might want to share? Let me know in the comments and I'd love to hear from you!

See you next time!

With ♡ from Jin☆