Need hotel recommendations for Kyoto and Osaka

[CocaColaCruiser]

We will be on the Sapphire Princess sailing from Vancouver to Osaka in September and October. We need to make reservations in both places and would love to hear you recommendations on hotels in both cities. We don't have a clue where to start in deciding on what hotel to choose. HELP!:eek:

Thanks so much.

[Druke I]

Karen

 

At this late date, I don't recall the names of the hotels, but:

 

1989 - stayed at Princess package hotel in Kyoto. Very nice, well located.

 

2001 - stayed at Princess package hotel in Osaka. Standard 3 star, nothing exceptional. Believe it was part of Righa (sp) chain.

[stingraynz]

Hi

 

These are the hotels that I noticed had a good location. Around the train stations seem to be the best place to stay if in doubt. Everything is near by; many modes of transport, ATMs, many, many dining choices including selections that are good and cheap.

 

NB**** when I talk about the train station in Osaka I am NOT referring to the shinkansen or bullet train station. That train uses its own tracks and the Shinkansen train station is a bit of a distance. We always used a cab to get to andf from there. In KYOTO the shinkansen (bullet train) did run out the main train station. I think it ran off two tracks on the upper level of the Kyoto station.

 

GRANVIA - This hotel chain had a property attached to the train station in both Kyoto and Osaka. Looked like a great option and I would probably stay there next time travelling to either city.

 

MIYAKO - across the street from train station in Kyoto. I believe it is part of the westin chain, nice hotel, great locale, most cruiseship passengers seemed to stay there. I asked a few people on our tour staying there and they liked the hotel.

 

NEW HANKYU - across the street from train station and one block up. we stayed here in Osaka and just took the train to Kyoto. Osaka was our base. This hotel was a 4 star. It had good breakfasts, and all or most of the main hotel ammenities. The staff was fantastic - however, I think you will find this is the case in most Japanese establishments. The rooms were just OK. We stayed in two different rooms and they were both the same; 2x2 window and 4x4 room. The rooms appeared very old but they provided slippers, kimonos and those fancy toilets.

 

HILTON - in Osaka this hotel was acoss the street from the train station and about a 5-10 min. walk. It looked really good.

[Crown Prince]

I have to be back to work on Monday so I am trying to get the Ramada Kansai International Hotel. It has a free shuttle to the KIX airport. I am flying back at 3:15 on Sunday 15 October.

I e-mailed www.sinohotel.com at

sales @sinohotel.com. after neither of their 800 (toll-free) numbers worked. About a half hour after I sent the e-mail, "John" called me from China. He said the Internet rates won't be out until July. They advertise on their website, $66 (single) for my date in October. This is the best rate I have found on the internet. I thought I would take the Princess ShorEx - City Tour with Osaka Castle - to get to the airport and then just get on the free shuttle to the hotel.

@ says HI.

[CocaColaCruiser]

Thanks Michael, stingraynz, and Crown Prince for your help. The more I think about it we may stay in Osaka and go to Kyoto as a day trip. We have the day we get off the ship for Osaka, next day to Kyoto, last day head to the airport around noon in Osaka. I hate to schlep heavy luggage and the cars in Japan are small. I've just about talked myself into it. Thanks again.:D

[jasl]

Karen:..... We will be on the cruise with you and are also doing a similar itinerary this coming May. We are staying in Osaka and are planning a day trip to Kyoto, although from my researh I think we should have booked a room in Kyoto as there is more sightseeing there. Will post more upon return.

Don't know if you are also asking for a hotel recommendation in Vancouver, but here are a few of my favourites: Pan Pacific, right a the pier, Fairmont Waterfront, close to the pier and the Wedgewood, a ten minute taxi ride from the pier. The airport is about half an hour drive to the pier, depending on traffic, of course. Happy planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joyce

[Sandy R]

Karen... I think we'll have more than just a few of us Sapphire passengers day tripping it to Kyoto that Sunday. The more the merrier!

 

Sandy

[CocaColaCruiser]

Hooray for DAYTRIPPERS to Kyoto. If possible, let's plan to all go together. Anyone interested in a private tour for 6-8 in Kyoto? I'll be more than happy to check on it for us. Karen.

[Jane110]

Karen,

 

In case you've decided to stay in Kyoto, I recommend the Miyako Hotel. It's wonderful and you can choose from either a western room w/ western furniture or a japanese room with tatami mats and futon beds. (more expensive).

 

Kyoto is an incredible city - my favorite in Japan. I highly recommend more than one day there.

 

Also, if you have an opportunity to visit Nara, I'd highly recommend that too. We stayed there for a few nights at the Nara Hotel which is a fabulous, historical hotel.

[Coral]

I recently did a land trip to Osaka. We stayed at the Hilton Osaka and loved the location and the hotel. It is right across from the train station (3 minute walk, max) and there is a subway station right outside the door of the hotel. There is a limo bus (which turned out to be a very clean, new coach bus) available from the airport to the Hilton and back for 1300 yen.

 

In Kyoto - I would stay at Granvia. It looks brand new. We walked in there and I was really impressed. It is right next to the train station in Kyoto.

 

We spent one day in Kyoto and wished we would have spent 3 days there. We spent 1 day in Nara and really enjoyed it - 1 day in Nara is enough (easy day trip from Osaka) for us.

[Sandy R]

Thanks Coral... happy to hear you liked the Hilton. That's where we'll be staying after our Sapphire Cruise. Would really like to hear what sites you saw in Kyoto and if you used local transportation or booked a tour.

 

Sandy

[minke]

Coral, glad you approved of the Granvia as we have booked that one for 2 nights to give us 2.5 days in Kyoto. There is so much there of interest to us, would be interested in same info as Sandy (we are on same cruise)

[greatam]

FYI-take your passport if you are going to the Royal Palace. You must get "entry permission" and a copy of your passport is needed.

[Coral]

I just posted pictures of my trip:

 

http://homepage.mac.com/tlassek/japan/PhotoAlbum112.html

 

From the first album - you can click on the other albums.

 

This was a last minute trip for me and a quick trip to Japan. A co-worker said "I found airfare for $400 to Osaka - do you want to go?" and of course, I said "sure". We left March 25th, arrived on the 26th and left Osaka on the 31st. This is how we spent our time:

 

Day 1 - arrived at hotel (Hilton) around 7 pm (our flight was at 6 am the day before) so we just went to sleep.

 

Day 2 - we went to Nara. We took the train from the JR station to Nara (don't remember if it was 30 minutes or an hour train ride). We walked about 40 minutes to the area where the shrines and temples were (I heard there was a private train that would have gotten us closer but this was fine). We spent the next couple of hours walking from one site to another. Deer run freely around here and are very tame.

 

Day 3 - Osaka Castle in the morning and the Aquarium in the afternoon. It looked like it was going to rain here. The Aquarium is right next to the ferris wheel and the pier where you will be docking.

 

Day 4 - Kyoto. We spent the day with one of our former foreign exchange students. She didn't know Kyoto that well. She asked us if we wanted to take a tour or do a taxi ride from place to place. We said a tour was fine. She signed us up for a 5 hour tour (around $50) at a place at the Kyoto Station that said "site seeing tours spelled out in English" though our tour was in Japanese - she translated the imporant parts for us. It was a coach tour that made 3 stops. One was at the Golden Pavillion, one was Higashiyama where the Kodai-ji, Kiyormzu (water) Temple and a few other places are (cool trinket shopping here and excellent gelato), and the other was at the Silver Pavilion (which isn't silver at all). There was a 6.5 hour tour that I wished we would have signed up for. It was spring break in Japan when we were there and traffic was really bad and the sites were crowded - it seemed to take 30 minutes or so to get from one sight to another site. I wish we would have done an English tour but this was fine. This was the only place where we booked a tour.

 

There is something called Good Will Guides in Kyoto. Here is a link:

 

http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/GJ/travelSupport/list_volunteerGuides.html

 

They are people who know English or who want to practice their English and will provide tours free - you just pick up their expenses (subway, entrance fees, etc. .) I had heard very good things about these guides. Many of the people I have spoken with had guides who had studied in the US or Canada while in college. Some friends did the goodwill guides the first day and had them explain the bus system and then they felt comfortable from then on. Kyoto is a lot larger then I had expected. The train station is brand new and gorgeous and the Granvia is very nice.

 

I also found this walking tour in my research that everyone raved about but due to time constraints, couldn't do:

 

http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/people/h-s-love/

 

Day 5 - we went to Himeji Castle (an hour from Osaka).

 

Day 6 - we went shopping in the morning at Numba (sp?) area in Osaka and then went to the airport in the afternoon.

 

---------------

 

As far as language is concerned - this was never an issue. We found most things we needed were in English. We were challenged the first day in buying train tickets because we didn't know how (you look at a chart of where you want to go and it lists a fare, and then you go to a ticket machine and punch in how many people and then punch how much the ticket is and then insert your money) and the ticket prints. Once we figured that out, we were fine. There are also information guides at most places and while their English wasn't always great - we learned quickly how to point to a piece of paper of what we wanted and they were extremely helpful.

 

Hope this helps some. I really wish we had spent more time in Kyoto. We looked at staying there but while we spent $200 in Osaka for hotels, in Kyoto, they were $300 plus per night. The sumo wrestling tournaments had just gotten over and it was cherry blossom season - so the prices were very high. We decided to just use Osaka as a home base and go from there each day.

 

Theresa

[Sandy R]

Coral... just viewed your photos. You've got a great eye for photography. You should really frame some of your photos... they're wonderful! I left my e-mail on the other thread where you posted (sandy@riskin.net). Would love to hear more about your experiences. Also, have a few more questions. Can't believe you just returned home and already posted your photos...

 

Sandy

[Coral]

I returned home 3 weeks ago and just finally fully unpacked. It was busy at the school I work at and I just hadn't gotten around to unpacking the small things.

 

Sandy - I just sent you an email, let me know if you don't receive it.

 

-Theresa