By far one of the cheapest ‘big attraction’ activities that we did during our time in Osaka was to ride the Hep Five ferris wheel.

If you’re not familiar, this big red ferris wheel is considered one of the icons of the city. It sits on the very top level of the Hep Five mall which is in the middle of Umeda, Osaka, and this only makes what is already a big and impressive wheel look even bigger!

We didn’t have tickets to ride the wheel, although you can book them in advance. We just turned up around 10 minutes before the wheel opened and were first in the queue to walk straight on.

We did this on our last morning in Osaka and we had tickets to ride the bullet train back to Tokyo at 1pm (or flight was later than evening, also in Tokyo) so time was of the essence!

But it was a great activity to choose for your last morning in the city because it was easy, low intensity, and its location right in the middle of everything meant we could walk straight there from our hotel (we were also staying in Umeda).

What You Need To Know About The Hep Five Wheel

The Hep 5 Ferris Wheel in Osaka doesn’t open until 11am each morning. It then closes at 10.45pm each night. The opening time is later than we thought, so worth taking not of that! There were a lot of people milling around at around 10.30am who (just like us) had thought the wheel opened at 10am.

As I mentioned above, we got on the wheel for the very first ride of the day, which is a great way to avoid the queues that build later in the day. Although others have recommended riding the wheel at night to see the city all lit up.

As you ride the Hep Five Wheel you can see outstanding views of the city. From the very highest point of the rotation you can see all the way out to the Akashi Strait. At its highest the wheel stands at a whopping 106 meters tall.

The wheel includes 52 4 person cars, so it has a big capacity, and it never stops: you exit and enter your car while the ride is still moving. We thought it was really fun that each car had its own usb connection and blue tooth, so that you could play your own music as the wheel was turning. We enjoyed the views while blasting out Guns n Roses. The boys loved the novelty of it!

Each ride includes 2 full rotations of the wheel. The full duration of the ride experience lasts just 20 minutes. But allow much longer for your visit if you might be tempted by shops (like we were!) The Hep 5 shopping center is huge and packed full of clothing, interior, and unique manga stores: the boys, who don’t usually like shopping, could have stayed here for hours.

How Much Does The Hep Five Ferris Wheel In Osaka Cost?

The ticket office to the Hep Five ferris wheel is just outside the wheel, on the same floor of the mall. This is where we got our tickets from, on the day.

If you’re not so cavalier and want to have your tickets booked and guaranteed in advance then you can book these from the Umeda website (here) or from Klook (here). If you use my affiliate code THATMUMTRAVEL5 on Klook then you will get 5% discount on the klook price, but the prices on both sites are the same and no one is better than the other.

Admission costs 800 yen per person. The price is the same for adults and children, though children under 5 ride for free.

DO YOU WANT MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX? NEVER WANT TO MISS A POST? SUBSCRIBE BELOW!