Unlimited subway rides, free admission to some of the city’s best sightseeing spots, and no paper ticket you need to pick up at a service counter.

One of the biggest Japan travel sphere bummers in recent years is the price hike for the Japan Rail Pass, which used to be the go-to choice for visitors looking to travel all across the country at an amazing discount. However, Japan still has plenty of awesome and affordable local rail passes, and today we’re looking at three for Osaka.

All of these are digital rail passes, meaning that you can purchase them online and use them via your phone, with no need to pick paper passes up at a service counter or dig through your wallet to pull them out every time you’re going through a ticket gate.

First up is the Surutto Kansai Osaka Amazing Pass, and yeah, it totally deserves that grandiose name. This is the pass for you if you want to see as much of the cool stuff that Osaka has to offer as possible. Available in 1-day (3,500 yen [US$24]) or 2-day (5,000 yen) versions, this pass gives you unlimited rides on the Osaka Metro subway network, and also unlimited of the vast majority of Osaka City Bus and Hankyu, Hanshin, Keihan, Kintetsu, and Nankai train lines within Osaka City. How this pass really earns the “awesome” part of its name, though, is by giving you free admission to nearly 40 sightseeing attractions in Osaka, including some of the city’s most iconic spots and activities including the Umeda Sky Building observatory (one of Japan’s best “travel experiences in the sky”), Dotonbori river cruises, Tsutentaku Tower, and Osaka Castle.

If you’ve got a more focused itinerary, there’s also the Osaka Metro 26-hour Ticket (1,100 yen for adults, 550 yen for kids) and its more expansive sibling the Osaka Metro 48-hour Ticket (1,800/900 yen). These give you unlimited subway network rides for their periods, and as a nice perk the clock doesn’t start running until you activate your ticket for your first ride, so if you’re getting an afternoon start to your sightseeing you’ll be able to use your pass the next morning too. Being lower-priced, these passes don’t get you into places for free like the Surutto Kansai Osaka Amazing Pass does, but they still get you admission discounts of around 10 percent at a number of attractions and museums, including the main keep of Osaka Castle and the Umeda Sky Building observatory.

Rounding out our trio of Osaka ticket passes is the Osaka Smart Access Pass (1,200 yen), which combines unlimited use of the Osaka Metro network and free rides on nearby portions of JR West lines, which aren’t covered by either by the other two passes. The JR area includes the Osaka Loop Line, Yumesaki Line, and access to Shin-Osaka and JR Namba Stations, meaning it can be used for traveling to/from Universal Studios Japan (and its Super Nintendo World area), which is on the Yumesaki Line.

Full purchase details for each pass can be found on the Osaka Metro website here.

Source: Osaka Metro
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Insert image: Osaka Amazing Pass official website, SoraNews24
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