Osaka Hotels & Itami transportation
 

Will be in Osaka for 4 nights for a pre-cruise stay. Looking for a 4*or 5* star hotel (USD 300.00 max.per day) centrally located in relation to train terminals, restaurants & major sights. Planning to take day trips to Kyoto & Nara. Will arrive Itami airport around 7:30PM. No heavy luggage just 1 carry-on. What's the easiest way to get to the hotel? Train, bus or taxi.

There is an airport limousine bus that runs from Itami to various hotels. You don't prebook, just go to the counter/machine and get a ticket and wait at the right stop for the bus going to where you want to go. If you tell an attendant where you are going they will walk you through the ticket purchase process...you will need yen to buy the ticket though, no credit card.

Under $300.00, I would recommend the Hilton. Location is great, right across from Osaka Station. The executive floor has breakfast, all day drinks and snacks, evening cocktails and free pool/gym access. If you don't get exec floor, then do get a rate that includes breakfast, as the buffet is very nice and will eliminate the need for lunch, but if you pay for it seperately it's pricey.

A big step up in quality is the Ritz Carlton, across the street from the Hilton, so diagonal to Osaka Station. If you can find a special rate that gets their price down to $300.00/night I'd go for there, as it's a lovely place.

There is a Hyatt Regency on an island in Osaka Bay. It is very close to the cruise ship port at Osakako.

On the Osaka City Chuo line it takes 11 minutes to go from Honmachi to Osakako, the next stop 4 minutes later is Kosumo Square (Kosumo=Kosmo). Change to a tram ride to a station three minutes walk from the hotel. So it is not particularly convenient to the main part of Osaka. It is near Universal Studios. Am pretty sure there is a limo bus from Kansai airport to the Hyatt but I don't know about Itami.

Kim; thanks so much for that useful info. Either the Ritz Carlton or the Hilton will be a good choice. Found a great rate at the Hilton USD 255.00, executive floor, breakfast included, plus will earn points with my Hilton Honors card. The lowest rate at the Ritz was USD 320.00, no breakfast included. Will keep looking to see if something better comes up. But may I ask. Will the limousine bus takes me directly to say the Hilton or to a specific stop that I will need further transportation to the hotel? I was planning to use the "takkyubin" service in NRT to deliver 3 bags directly to the hotel in Osaka. Should I still do that & travel by plane from NRT to ITM without bags for more ease or take the bags with me all the way? I don't think there is too much expense involved in the delivery service. My only concern is the reliability of that service as I am going to be travelling for more than 20 days & don't want to loose any bag

The bus from Itami's final stop is directly across the street on the side of the Hilton. It is called Herbis Osaka. When you purchase the limo bus tickets at Itami, tell them where you want to go, (Hilton or RC) From that stop, you are at the building for the RC, or you are a 1 minute walk to the Hilton (just cross the street, Osaka Station is on your left, Hilton on the right just in front of you). If you enter the Hilton from this side, you go through the revolving doors into the Hilton Plaza shopping center then through the next set of revolving doors into the hotel.

Baggage delivery service is reliable. It's a next day delivery service in most cases. From Narita to Osaka will be next day. It's between ¥1500 and ¥3000 yen per bag, depending on the size. If you are sending to the hotel, be sure to have the hotel's address, and be sure to clearly indicate on the delivery slip that you are hotel guests (like write your last name, first name and check in date).

On the other hand, it will be very easy to take your bags on the limo bus, and if you can manage to walk with them from baggage claim to the limo bus without a luggage cart, then you'll easily manage to get them from the bus stop into the hotel. I have asked the Hilton before to help with luggage from the bus stop at Herbis...one of us runs over to the hotel and asks for assistance with bags and they bring a cart over...though I have no idea if this is "regular" they did do it for us.

As long as the Hilton is not a prepaid rate, you could book it to be sure of getting the room/rate, and then watch for better rates there or the RC. If you are a Hilton Honors member, do note that you can reserve the room for one person, as HHonors has a spouse stays free benefit, which saves you a bit at hotels in Japan. If you are goldor diamond, the Osaka Hilton has been good about giving us at least breakfast as a benefit of being gold, and about 75% of the time we've gotten upgraded to exec floor from the lowest priced room that we usually book, making it a great deal at about ¥17,000 a night for the 3 of us on exec floor. Also, you may want to send them an e-mail and ask if the exec floor rooms have been upgraded/redone, as the last time we were there they had not been, but the regular rooms had been newly redone and were therefore fresh feeling. The older rooms are certainly nice enough, but are rather generic, so it's worth asking about before committing to spending money on them, though a free upgrade to them for lounge benefits is good whether they are upgraded or not.

The limo bus schedule from Itami.
http://www.okkbus.co.jp/timetable/un...;rosen=itm_umd

One more thing. For the Hilton, it may be even easier to get off the bus at the Daiichi Hotel/Marubiru stop, as it is right behind the Hilton, so you'd get off the bus and cross a smaller street and go in the back side door of the hotel...maybe a 30 second walk.

Kim; Thanks so much for all the detailed information. It will be of great help. I checked the limo bus schedule & the Daiichi bus stop that you recommend now is the 3rd.one, right?. Decided to do the bags delivery. Great tip, booking a room for one person as the spouse stays free with HHonors, will earn extra $$$. No gold or diamond HH, so will book a "bed & breakfast" room (staying for 5 nights) & ask for an upgrade to executive level room when checking in. No harm in asking... The best rate I found was on the own Hilton's web site. As we have 4 full days, any suggestions on what to see & do, besides a full day to Kyoto & wander around Osaka to see the castle & do some shopping. Should I venture into Tokyo for 1 day?. I was there in 1985 but will love to have a quick look.

Kim, What's RC?

RC = Ritz Carlton.

I don't know what number stop the Daiichi hotel stop will be from the bus, but be assured that the driver will know that the two foreigners on the bus are going to the Hilton and he will tell you when to get off if you don't figure it out yourself. If you are pretty sure it's your stop, just ask him "HILTON?" and point to the right.

With your four days, 2 or 3 of them can easily be spent in Kyoto. We like Osaka for the shopping that we don't have the equivalent of in Kanazawa. It's got lots of that, and plenty of good restaurants. You'll very likely be ready for sleep by mid - late afternoon, so go easy on what you plan for each day.

Rather than go to Tokyo, you might go to Himeji and maybe continue on to Hiroshima. Makes for a long day, but it would be different. There is plenty to occupy you in Osaka, nearby Kyoto and Nara. Kobe is also very near, and makes for an interesting day.