Visiting the Osaka World Expo 2025 - Tips and Impressions

We visited the Osaka World Expo in late May 2025 - and it was an amazing experience, but also very confusing as to how to get pavilion reservations and make the most out of our time there - here’s a blog post on the overall experience with some insider tips to try to beat the crowds, navigate the reservation system, and make the most of your visit. We booked about a month in advance, and although we didn’t get choice advance pavilion reservatons, we had a successful day visiting about 10 pavilions.

The good

• The Venue is easy to get to from public transit
• Entry process is well organized
• The Grand Ring and the views from the top of the ring.
• 🏛️ The architecture and exterior design of many pavilions are stunning and creatively unique.
• The exterior of some of these pavilions is better than the interior - thus walking the entire venue is a must do.
• 🌍 Personal interactions: Many pavilions were staffed by people from the countries they represented. I had some lovely conversations about their home countries and their experiences in Japan.

The bad

• Pavilion Reservation system is badly broken
• Queues for some pavilions better organized than others.
• Some “pavilion food areas” are inaccessbile without full entry into the pavilion
• We did one of the “Commons” buildings that house muliple small countries, it had a travel convention feel to it. Many of these smaller countires aren’t able to staff with people from their country.

🎟️ Entry Strategy

If you’re planning to visit the Osaka World Expo 2025, timing is everything. Here are some key tips to make the most of your day:

• 🕘 Book a 9 AM entry slot, and arrive at least 30–40 minutes before the gates open to be among the first inside. We booked this trip a bit late less than 30 days in advance and not all days had 9:00 available, so book entry in advance - getting in at the earliest time slot will ensure you can access at least two or three pavilions before the venue fills up.. You can see which pavilions don’t require advance reservations on the app (read below of some reccomendations)
• 📲 As soon as you enter, open the app and try for same-day reservations while walking toward your first pavilion. Timing matters here—speed is your friend.
• ⏱️ Entering promptly at 9 gives you a window of about one hour to visit 2–3 popular pavilions without a reservation. We started with Germany and Korea, and I highly recommend starting with the Korea Pavilion, which is a guided immersive experience.
• 🎟️ If you get lucky with lottery-based reservations, aim to book them after 11 AM, when general lines are at their longest.
• You also have some
• 🍱 Eat lunch early—you’ll beat the crowds and have a better chance of finding shaded seating. Also eat as you go, especially if theres no wait inside a pavilion.

if you do some online research, you’ll see a lot of people posting tips and tricks to try to maximize your changes of getting reservations, my advice here is even if you don’t have any reservations before hand, you should be ok if you set your expectations that you won’t get into some of the most popular pavilions, and lines will be very long mid-day.

🌍 Pavilion Highlights

Here are some of the pavilions I visited and what stood out to me:

🇰🇷 Korea Pavilion

An immersive show rather than a self-paced walkthrough. It’s worth hitting this early for a reservation-free experience. The exterior isn’t as interesting as some of the other pavilions, it’s basically a big box, but inside you experience three rooms. The first is AI generated music and light show using words as inputs from the guests - presumably each show is slightly different? This was really cool.

The second room “barren cityscape to live renewed” - looked to be a nod to sustainability initiatives, as it looke to have some themes around repurposing common modern objects, there was some funnels you were supposed to blow into and bubbles come out of the ceiling - I guess Covid is over for sure, a little odd but fun.

The third room “A melody shared across time” has an immersive short movie experience on a 3 sided screen that trackes a young girl (k-pop star maybe) who connects with the spirit of her grandfather through finding a short melody of his sheet music. I’m not a k-pop fan particularly but this was cute and lighthearted. Grade A

Indonesia Pavilion

One of our favorites, there’s a few rooms you interact with and walk through - the first is greenhouse showcasing native plants, then up a level is an immersive circular projection short film, up another level showcases native crafts, weaving, etc. and the final room is a small amphetheater showing a move about native culture. Good AC. Really well done Grade A+

🇵🇱 Poland Pavilion

Very interesting exterior with geometric wood construction - inside theres some interactive touchscreens where you can design your “spirit plant” the plant and sustainability theme is in other rooms as well. Tara’s comment was that Poland really read the homework and tried to present on the theme rather than make a tourism booth. (Germany did well in this area also) - Bonus, the staff was really friendly. Grade A-

🇵🇹 Portugal Pavilion

Very cool exterior, the outside is covered in ropes, and this theme is carried into the inner design as well. Portugal has a strong seafaring culture and history and this theme is present through the pavilion. There are a few interactive rooms mostly dealing with Ocean sustainability. The best part is a large immersive room where there is short movie that’s projected on all the walls about the sea and our need to preserve it’s resources. Good AC. We sat through it 2 times in a row. Grade A

Qatar Pavilion

Well designed exterior, the inside mirrors the shape of Qatar as a penninsula, you “Journey around” the country and see alternating displays of sustainability and cultural interest. The middle has a “beach area” where you watch a movie (have to remove shoes) - seating was limited, we skipped that part. One plus for Qatar - the line is largely shaded under the large canopy that drapes the whole building. In general, we felt desert/hot climate countries seemed to understand the concept of shade. Grade B+

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Pavilion

The Building is really neat - it’s all white marble, and you sort of walk through different areas, sort of like courtyards. The design is visually appealing but doesn’t actually facilitate people flow that well. Grade B-

🇹🇭 Thailand Pavilion

This was the one lottery reservation we “Won” before the expo, it’s one of my favorite buildings on the outside - inside is a short movie about Thai food, culture, and history. Worth doing if there’s not a line but not worth wating a long time for in our opinion. Grade B+

Kuwait Pavilion

We didn’t actually make it inside this one.. but they did have a lovely cafe / elevated seating area sort of hidden around the right side of the pavilion, it’s not obvious, but you can skip the pavilion line and order light snacks, dessert, and drinks (non-alcoholic, duh, it’s Kuwait) without a reservation.

👍 What I Loved

• 🏛️ The architecture and exterior design of many pavilions were stunning and creatively unique.
• 🌲 The wooden circular walkway that surrounds the venue offers beautiful panoramic views and a peaceful place to walk.
• 🌍 Personal interactions: Many pavilions were staffed by people from the countries they represented. I had some lovely conversations about their home countries and their experiences in Japan.

👎 What Could Be Better

🧭 Final Thoughts

Despite a few hiccups, the Osaka World Expo 2025 is a visually stunning and culturally rich experience. Plan well, get there early, and pace yourself. It’s a full day of walking, talking, and exploring the world.

Feel free to reach out or leave a comment if you’re planning to go or want help navigating the reservation system!