Things to Do in Kansai, Japan
Japan's cultural heart: Kyoto, Nara and Osaka, plus the pilgrim trails and islands of the Kii Peninsula.
361 destinations across 7 prefectures
Festivals in Kansai
Jidai Matsuri
22 October 2026
Kyoto · Float procession
Awaji Island Festival Fireworks
8 November 2026
Hyogo · Fireworks festival
Wakakusa Yamayaki
23 January 2027
Nara · Fire festival
© ignis / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Omizutori
1 to 14 March 2027
Nara · Fire festival
© J o / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Aoi Matsuri
15 May 2027
Kyoto · Float procession
© 江戸村のとくぞう / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Gion Matsuri
1 to 31 July 2027
Kyoto · Float procession
© 663highland / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5)
Tenjin Matsuri
24 to 25 July 2027
Osaka · Boat festival
Photo: Idushin at Japanese Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri
18 to 19 September 2027
Osaka · Float procession
© sailko / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Nada Kenka Matsuri
14 to 15 October 2027
Hyogo · Float procession
Suggested Itineraries
Places to Visit in Kansai
Michi-no-Eki Miyama Fureai Hiroba
Miyama milk and farm produce before the thatched village
Miyama Fureai Hiroba combines the Flat Miyama farm shop, a dairy counter and visitor information ...
Michi-no-Eki Tojo
Regional shopping at the gateway to Tojo Lake
Tojo is a roadside station just outside Hyogo-Tojo IC, with local produce, regional goods and pla...
Michi-no-Eki Toju-no-Sato Adogawa
Folding fans and boysenberries on Lake Biwa's west shore
The obvious break on Route 161 up the west side of Lake Biwa. Adogawa has made the ribs of foldin...
Shoryaku-ji
A Valley Temple Southeast of Nara Where Refined Sake Began, at Its Best in the November Maples
A mountain temple about 4 km up a valley road from Route 169, where medieval monks worked out the...
Yoshimizu Shrine
The Yoshino Shoin Where Yoshitsune Hid, Go-Daigo Held Court and Hideyoshi Came for the Cherries
A small shrine on Mount Yoshino that was Yoshimizu-in, a monks' lodging of Kimpusen-ji, until the...
Akashi Castle Ruins
Two surviving three-story turrets stand above massive walls just north of Akashi Station. The cas...
Chugu-ji
A Nunnery Beside Horyu-ji's Yumedono, Kept for One Dark Wooden Bodhisattva
A small nunnery right next to the Yumedono in Horyu-ji's east precinct. It is kept for its main i...
Hannya-ji
The Cosmos Temple on the Old Kyoto Road, with a Kamakura Stone Pagoda in the Middle
A temple on the hill north of Todai-ji, known in Nara as the cosmos temple: about 150,000 cosmos ...
Hokke-ji
Empress Komyo's Nunnery, Where the Eleven-faced Kannon Comes Out Three Times a Year
A working nunnery on the site of Empress Komyo's palace, just east of the Heijo Palace Site. Its ...
Imai-cho
A Moated Temple Town Turned Merchant Town, Where People Still Live in the Edo-Period Houses
An old merchant town in Kashihara where roughly 1,500 buildings fill an area about 600 m by 310 m...
Koriyama Castle
Koriyama Castle Ruins: Moat Cherry Trees, an Upside-Down Jizo and a Free Deck on the Keep Base
The ruins of the castle Toyotomi Hidenaga made his seat in 1585, seven minutes' walk from Kintets...
Kushimoto Turkish Memorial Museum
The 1890 Ertugrul Shipwreck, Beside Japan's Oldest Stone Lighthouse
A small museum on the eastern cliffs of Kii-Oshima about the Ottoman frigate Ertugrul, wrecked on...
Michi-no-Eki Kyoto Shinkoetsu Mura
Local rice and farm produce at Sonobe IC
Beside Sonobe IC, Kyoto Shinkoetsu Mura gathers local rice, vegetables and prepared products from...
Michi-no-Eki Mizuho-no-Sato Sarabiki
Kyotamba soba and produce on Route 173
Mizuho-no-Sato Sarabiki pairs a produce market with soba made from Kyotamba buckwheat on Route 17...
Michi-no-Eki Nagomi
A riverside food stop in Wachi
Nagomi sits beside the Yura River on Route 27 in northern Kyotamba. Farm vegetables, Wachi specia...