Yokohama or Osaka?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on nature & day trips with your weighting.
Wins on nightlife and good for families with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Osaka if the trip is built around eating and going out: about three times as many bars and central restaurants as Yokohama, more attractions within walking reach, and 6 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip range.
Choose Yokohama if you want the sea 1km from the centre, easier day trips out of the city, and cooler midsummer days.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Osaka leads by 6 points.6
| Yokohama | Osaka | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 49 | 55 |
| Swim season months | 5 | 5 |
| Beaches 10 km | 2 | 25 |
| Coast distance | 1 km | 7 km |
| Water distance | 1 km | 7 km |
Places to eat. Osaka leads by 12 points.12
| Yokohama | Osaka | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 78 | 90 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 3,004 | 9,134 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 24 | 25 |
Museums & heritage. Osaka leads by 11 points.11
| Yokohama | Osaka | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 53 | 64 |
| Museums within 10 km | 57 | 78 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 31 | 22 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 54 | 28 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 1 | 6 |
Nightlife. Osaka leads by 23 points.23
| Yokohama | Osaka | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 74 | 97 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 2,344 | 8,473 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 1,498 | 4,492 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 64 | 53 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 33 | 97 |
Nature & day trips. Yokohama leads by 30 points.30
| Yokohama | Osaka | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 58 | 28 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | — | 1 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 0 | 1 |
| Land share of disc % | 67 | 84 |
| Park area within 2 km | 88 hectares | 88 hectares |
Good for families. Osaka leads by 14 points.14
| Yokohama | Osaka | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 58 | 72 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 16 | 47 |
| Park area within 2 km | 88 hectares | 88 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 8 | 7 |
Sights concentration. Osaka leads by 4 points.4
| Yokohama | Osaka | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 44 | 48 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 49 | 63 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Yokohama and Osaka are level on 70.
| Yokohama | Osaka | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 70 | 70 |
| Price level global | 62.4 | 62.4 |
| Daily budget | — | — |
Year-round weather. Yokohama and Osaka are level on 63.
| Yokohama | Osaka | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 63 | 63 |
| Monthly daytime high | 9.5 °C to 30.1 °C | 9.7 °C to 33.6 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 46 mm to 219 mm | 47 mm to 185 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 0 |
Where they differ
Osaka has about three times as many bars, nightclubs and central restaurants as Yokohama, and the drinking is spread beyond the core. It also has more attractions and notable places within walking reach, plus 6 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip range against Yokohama's 1.
Yokohama comes out ahead for day trips, though park space near either centre is similar. The sea is 1km from its centre against 7km in Osaka, it has 8 theme parks within reach against Osaka's 7, and its museums sit near the centre.
Where they are alike
The two share a weather pattern almost exactly. Both bottom out at highs of 10°C, both peak in August, and neither has a month at 40mm of rain or less, so a reliably dry season is not on offer in either.
Both centres are moderately walkable rather than packed with sights, Osaka only slightly more so, and both give 5 months of sea at 21°C or more, warmest in August.
Which traveller are you?
Someone whose evenings matter most should take Osaka, with about three times as many bars, nightclubs and central restaurants, and the choice spread beyond the immediate core rather than packed into it.
A traveller who wants to get out of the city, or to be near water without planning, is better served by Yokohama: the sea is 1km from its centre against 7km in Osaka, and excursions come more easily.
Families are somewhat better off in Osaka, which has far more tourist attractions near the centre and similar park space, though theme parks within reach are near even, 7 against Yokohama's 8.
What the numbers don't tell you
The value comparison between these two carries no information: it reflects a national price level and is identical for both by construction. The dataset holds no daily budget figure for either city, so no cost comparison is possible here at all, and you will need to price accommodation and food yourself.
Beach figures mislead in both directions. Osaka's standing rests on 25 beaches in the wider area while the sea sits 7km from the centre; Yokohama's shore is 1km away but with only 2 beaches. In both, the warmest months are also among the wettest.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Yokohama: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Yokohama (1.6 km from centre). Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre).
Osaka is the better pick in spring and autumn. May brings highs of 25°C with 136mm of rain, and October holds 24°C with 140mm against Yokohama's wetter 178mm. Midsummer is the weak spot, with August pushing to 34°C.
Yokohama is the easier midsummer choice. July highs of 28°C sit below Osaka's, and it is the drier of the two that month. September stays warm at 26°C but is the wettest month of its year, at 219mm, so early autumn favours Osaka.
Getting there
| Flying from | Yokohama | Osaka |
|---|---|---|
| SeoulICN, GMP | 2 h 10 m €124-187 NRT · 77 km | 1 h 40 m €107-142 KIX · 38 km |
| ShanghaiPVG, SHA | 2 h 45 m €296-314 HND · 18 km | 2 h 10 m €237-303 KIX · 38 km |
| SapporoCTS, OKD | 1 h 40 m €149-164 HND · 18 km | 1 h 55 m no fares ITM · 11 km |
| BangkokBKK, DMK | 6 h 10 m €318-337 NRT · 77 km | 5 h 35 m €288-317 KIX · 38 km |
| Hong KongHKG | 4 h 10 m €255-268 NRT · 77 km | 3 h 35 m €254-314 KIX · 38 km |
| OkinawaOKA | 2 h 30 m €194-253 HND · 18 km | 2 h 5 m €120-154 KIX · 38 km |
| SingaporeSIN, XSP | 6 h 55 m €353-477 1 stop HND · 18 km | 6 h 25 m no fares KIX · 38 km |
| HonoluluHNL | 7 h 55 m no fares HND · 18 km | 8 h 25 m no fares ITM · 11 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 12 h 5 m €835-923 HND · 18 km | 12 h 0 m €859-891 3 stops KIX · 38 km |
| DohaDOH | 10 h 25 m €931-1048 1 stop HND · 18 km | 10 h 0 m no fares KIX · 38 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-08 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Yokohama | Osaka |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Japanese | Japanese |
| Currency | Yen (JPY) | Yen (JPY) |
| Sockets | AB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region | AB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region |
| Driving side | Left | Left |
| Time zone | UTC+9 | UTC+9 |
| Emergency number | Police 110, fire 119 | Police 110, fire 119 |
| Elevation | 24 m | 20 m |
| Main airport | Tokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre97 non-stop destinations | Kansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 16 days | 16 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Yokohama | Osaka |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 3,757,630 | 2,751,862 |
| People per km² | 8,585 | 12,340 |
| Museums within 10 km | 38 | 43 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 6 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 66 | 97 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 5 months | 5 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Yokohama or Osaka somewhere new.