Best of the rest

The Unlikeliest Backpacker

Alan Brown Kathryn Barnes

Hornet Books, £10 Fired up on Wild and a post-30s malaise, Kathryn Barnes and her husband decide to leave London behind to tackle the blisters and mozzies of the Pacific Crest Trail. But this is not a Cheryl Strayed-esque therapeutic rollercoaster; instead she delivers a cheerfully straight-forward account of the trials and triumphs of their journey north.

Cicerone: Celebrating Fifty Years of Adventure

Edited by Kev Reynolds

Cicerone, £25 Having clocked up a half-century of sending walkers on wild adventures across the planet, you can forgive the guidebook publishers a bit of back-slapping. This foregoes the forensic detail of spectacular trails that have made Cicerone so successful – and often essential – and instead collects together 50 amusing, inspiring and surprising tales from their trek-hardened writers.

The Call of the Mountains Max Landerberg

Luath Press, £13 Overlander Saraband, £10 Scotland is a land of epics – if Homer hadn’t been Greek, he’d be Scottish. So, we’ve bundled Max Landerberg’s account of climbing Scotland’s 282 Munros and Alan Brown’s coast-to-coast cycle over the Highlands together. Both see something deeper in the lonely views and even lonelier back roads; they find purpose in the simple goals of one more ridge or one more mile – a shared sense of the power of landscape to change us all.

Cityscopes Series Various authors

Reaktion books, £15 Context is everything when it comes to understanding a new destination, and the Cityscopes guides have been putting travellers under a city’s skin for a couple of years now, with Prague: Crossroads of Europe by Derek Sayer being their latest. Typical of the series, it’s very strong on the city’s art scene, architecture and long, bloody history – the authors are often academics – though it is less practical when you’re on the ground. wanderlust.co.uk March 2019

Before you arrive

Osaka has a reputation for being at odds with the rest of Japan. In fact, the city prides itself on standing out: the local sense of humour is loud and brash, people jaywalk (frowned upon elsewhere) and the salarymen (businessmen) work hard and play harder. Long-established as one of Japan’s commercial centres (and occasional capital), Osaka was rebuilt after bombing in the Second World War. In April, 11.5-hour direct flights with British Airways launch from Heathrow (britishairways.com; returns from £570), making it even easier to explore the city’s electric buzz.

Along the Dotonbori (the city’s main strip) the neon lights shine brighter than Times Square, and garish octopus figurines leer above you ( takoyaki, or battered octopus balls, are an Osakan hallmark). You’ll probably find yourself beside suited salarymen in any bar you visit, invariably thrusting you a karaoke mic as the early hours arrive.

Then there’s the food: Osaka is the culinary capital of Japan, where the locals live by the word kuidaore: to eat until you drop. After you’ve tried the delicious kushikatsu (deep-fried skewered meat or veg), you likely will too.

At the airport

Osaka is served by two airports: Kansai (international) and Itami (domestic). You’ll probably end up at Kansai, which, like the rest of Japan, is incredibly efficient.

As you step into Arrivals, you’ll find vending machines that sell prepaid SIM cards (data only; no calls), as well as convenience stores with all kinds of treats – try an onigiri (a triangle of soft rice with a savoury filling) to tide you over until you hit the city.

Getting into town

¥¥Kansai airport is about 60km from the centre, on a small island. The easiest way to town is to head to Shin-osaka Station on the Haruku JR Kansai-airport Express, which takes 50 minutes and costs 2,330 (£16). If you also purchase an ICOCA card (recommended – it’s similar to London’s Oyster transport card), you can get the ticket for just 1,300 (£9).

Olivia Lee ASK A LOCAL

“Osaka is all about having fun. People are super friendly, so to experience the ‘real’ Osaka, just try chatting to someone in a bar, even if they don’t speak English. And make sure you eat lots of food. There’s so much and it’s really cheap – one week wouldn’t be enough to try everything.” Ryosuke Hosoi, Cityunscripted guide wanderlust.co.uk March 2019

168 wanderlust.co.uk March 2019

Stay or go?

Stay – at least for a few more days. There’s too much to do (and eat) in Osaka for just 24 hours. You could spend a day at Spa World (spaworld.co.jp/english), a hotspring theme park. There’s also Round One Stadium, a huge entertainment complex with batting cages, karaoke and bizarre arcade games – a great place to immerse yourself in local life. And of course, there’s the food: you could easily spend a week exploring this culinary capital, each dish encouraging you to try another until you really do eat until you drop.

If you can still move, Osaka’s neighbours are also worth your attention. Most people head straight to Kyoto, but don’t overlook the old city of Nara, home to friendly roaming deer and one of the world’s largest Buddha statues. There’s also the island of Shikoku, a wild, beautiful place with unparalleled hiking and a pilgrimage trail that spans 88 temples, which is easily reached by train from central Osaka.

The painted decoration on the showing St Wenceslas on horseback, is based on designs by Mikuláš Aleš