Minoo Falls

Minoo is the closest real piece of countryside to central Osaka - twenty-five minutes on the Hankyu line, then a paved path of about 2.7 kilometres up a wooded valley beside a stream to a waterfall of thirty-three metres. The walk is level enough for anyone and passes temples, teahouses and a small insect museum, and the valley is a designated quasi-national park with wild macaques that are best left alone. In November the maples turn and the path becomes very busy. The local product is momiji tempura: real maple leaves, salted and stored for a year, then dipped in a sweetened batter and deep fried, sold hot in paper bags along the path. They are more a crisp biscuit than a leaf in the eating, and they are genuinely made from leaves rather than shaped to look like them.

What you actually see

• A level valley walk - 2.7 kilometres of paved path beside the stream.
• A thirty-three metre fall - at the head of the valley, the walk's endpoint.
• Momiji tempura - real maple leaves salted a year, battered and fried.
• Wild macaques - resident in the valley, and best not approached.

When to go

Mid to late November for the maples. Half a day.

Honest expectations

November weekends make the path shoulder to shoulder. The route is paved and beside a road in parts, not wild. Macaques take food from bags - do not carry it openly. Outside autumn the valley is pleasant but unremarkable.

Nearby

Osaka city centre is south; Ikeda is west.