8 Reasons why you should visit Minoo Park
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| Minoo Park Waterfall |
We had a spare day to fill in
Osaka, and we decided to spend it at Minoo Park after
some recommendations from Facebook groups. Minoo Park is also known as Minooh and Minoh Park. I have no idea why this place has so
many ‘other names’. It takes about 30 minutes to get to Minoo Park from central
Osaka. The station you are looking for is Minoo Station on the Hyperdia.com
website for navigating how to get there.
We had a lovely day visiting this
park. The weather was fine and there was a lot of greenery with lots of ‘tunnels of
green’ to walk through. The 3 km hike to a waterfall is not onerous as it is
very flat to walk (and so is also ideal for prams). The scenery was beautiful with
lots of vermillion red bridges and old bridges. Combined with an insect museum,
a free foot onsen (foot spa) and yummy maple leaf snack (unique to the area) –
you really can’t go wrong visiting this wonderful gem of a place.
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| Tunnels of Green |
Here are my reasons why you
should visit:
1. Its beautiful, free to visit and its not far from Osaka
Once at the Minoo station you
just follow the path to the waterfall. It’s well signed and you just follow everyone else as they are all heading towards the waterfall. There are beautiful old
bridges and shrines to stop at along the way – and you follow the path of a
flowing river. Its very scenic with lots of opportunities to sit down
and take it all in. At the end of the path (3km) is a 33 metre high waterfall
to reward you for your efforts. There are many places to eat and drink along the way
too (we took our own snacks though).
We went in late Spring, and
although the cherry blossoms were nowhere to be found here – there were other
beautiful flowers. And I just loved the colour of the green trees! Gorgeous!
It is also free to visit this
park and so is rather a cheap day out! Make sure you pack snacks and water though.
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| Japanese Maple Leaf |
2. There is a free foot onsen inside the park.
Once I found out there was a free
onsen inside Minoo Park – that sealed the deal for us why we just had to visit
Minoo Park!
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| Minoo Park Free Foot Onsen |
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| Inside the Minoo Park Free Foot Onsen |
There is also a hotel nearby that
you can pay to use their Onsen and there is another onsen next to the train
station (you have to pay for the one near the train station, and its not natural spring water). The one inside the
park is natural spring water.
3. You might see Monkeys and Deer
There are signs everywhere to
beware the wild monkeys. But we never saw any. They are apparently most
often seen near the waterfall. There are also wild deer too. Some of the signs are quite funny though.
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| Mischievous Monkey |
4. The Path is nearly 3km, but its fairly flat
This really was an easy hike. No
stairs and just a mostly flat walk for 3 kilometres. If you stop often along
the way (and there are quite a few places to stop off at), its a really nice walk in the countryside. I just adored the tunnels of green trees! This
was the Japan I loved to see! There are also temples along the way too.
5. Fried Maple leaves! Yum!
I was rather intrigued by these
treats unique to the area. They are fried maple leaves deep fried in batter (momiji
tempura). They are crunchy and sweet. We only bought a small bag to eat – but I
wish I bought several big bags of the stuff to take home, as it was very tasty
for hungry travellers! I do recommend people try them. They are very cheap to
buy too.
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| Momiji tempura - Fried Maple Leaves |
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| Momiji tempura - Fried Maple Leaf |
6. There are quite a few little shops to look at along the way
Many of the shops cook fried
maple leaves in front of you, as part of an open air market atmosphere, but
there are also other tasty delicacies and other souvenirs.
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| Momiji tempura - Fried Maple Leaves for sale at Minoo Park |
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| Minoo Park |
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| Fish on a stick at Minoo Park |
7. There is a very good insect museum within Minoo Park
The insect museum was labelled as
small, however, it was really good and I didn’t think it was that small really
either. Inside there is a large butterfly glass house where you can sit and
admire living butterflies. I just love butterfly houses – I find the quietness
within very calming and I really enjoyed it there. This is Asia – so there are
many different types of butterfly.
They also have rooms of living
insects in aquariums and other enclosures and displays of the usual butterfly
collections mounted and pinned. There was quite a large number of beautiful
Butterflies on display – colours I had never seen before. There were other
insects also that I had never seen before – some the size of a Recorder (musical
instrument). We also learned more about the dangerous Japanese hornet too!
Most of the signage about the
insects was in Japanese. However, most kids and adults enjoyment of the museum would be from
viewing the insect collection as it’s nicely displayed and the interactive
butterfly house. I would not let any language barrier prevent you from visiting
this place as visually it was really nice (my background is in Entomology
though, so I may be biased).
The insect museum was also
extremely cheap to visit too. Adults ¥270. Kids are free. Check on the official
museum website for opening hours (its closed Tuesdays).
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| Inside the Insect Museum at Minoo Park |
At the entrance of the museum,
periodically during the day, some animated bees come out as part of a clock
face and a do a dance. It was very unusual.
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| There is an animated show in front of the insect museum that will amuse young kids |
8. The goal of a hike at Minoo park is to see the waterfall
With a 33 metre drop, Minoo Waterfall is the prize you get at the
end of the walk in the park. I did find it extremely crowded by the waterfall
(hard to get a photo by yourself with the waterfall), however if you are
creative with your photo angles – it can be achieved. The Waterfall viewing
area is not as crowded as say the Golden Pavilion or Bamboo Forest in Kyoto
however, but it is a busy place.
There are a few food carts nearby
if you wish to stop and rest. We saw kids playing downstream in the creek – and
one fell in the shallow water and got completely wet, so be careful if you are
down by the rocks. There are also more signs about the Monkeys too beside the
waterfall and not to feed them.
Anyways, these are my reasons why
Minoo Park is a must visit place in Osaka!
We thoroughly enjoyed our time
there – and don’t miss out on the fried Maple leaves either!!
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next week,
KJ
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KJ
I am also on Instagram www.instagram.com/sotaram1
Twitter: www.twitter.com/sotaram1
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