Staying in Japan / Staying in Osaka
1. General Information on Ways of Staying
As in every country, there's different styles of staying: From hotels to AirBnBs to traditional Japanese Ryokan, there's plenty of different ways how you can plan your stay in Japan.
Regarding hotels: They're pretty much what all of you will know hotels are like in the rest of the world, maybe with the sole exception that rooms tend to be smaller than what Europeans are used to. This is simply because space is fairly rare in the huge metropolitean areas of Japan, hence also the hotel rooms are smaller there than usual. Apart from this, well, they're hotels :)
AirBnB: They're pretty common in Japan and can sometimes be a very good option to stay, since they can be cheaper than hotels while offering a bit more space. At the same time, they're usually not serviced (so not reception, most of the times no organized breakfast) and you often only get a code enter the property. This might be a good option for you if you plan to get breakfast outside anyways - there's plenty of options (from bakerys to restaurants to Convenience Stores open 24hours).
Ryokan: This is a traditional Japanese Inn if you will with outstanding hospitality. The quality and service of a Ryokan can vary and can be fairly basic (think shared bathrooms) to very luxurious (you get multiple rooms, some with traditional Tatami flooring and Paper Shoji sliding doors, Japanese Futton beds, including an outstanding multi-course meal). This is usually not found within the huge cities of Osaka and Tokyo, but relatively common in more rural or smaller areas. If you have the chance: We HIGHLY recommend that you experience the slightly more luxurious version at least once in your life. If you find a good Ryokan that also offers a traditional Japanese breakfast and dinner (brought to you and enjoyed in your very own Tatami room), you'll enjoy one of the most authentic Japanese experiences possible. We've did this once and combined this with a Japanese Hotspring (Onsen) right on our Balcony and it was nothing short of heavenly.
2. Where to stay in Osaka
So, where to stay in Osaka? Well, since we always stay at Chiiya's parents house, we have never stayed at any hotel in Osaka and can therefore not make any recommendations out of personal experience.
What we can do though, is to give you an idea of what areas are well connected (e.g. to trains and subways) and central.
Let's first get a lay of the land in Osaka, so you know where our wedding location is in comparison to other key locations (click on the picture for bigger version):
We'll get to certain districts and locations to stay at in a minute, but let's first quickly go through the key locations displayed in the above map, including the links to the respective locations in Google so it's also easier for you to access. And, pro tip, you can use the locations to also evaluate the travel distance to these key locations for potential hotels you're looking at:
1. Osaka Tenmangu Shrine: This is where our wedding will take place. It's easily accesible via Osaka's oldest and longest Shotengai (a type of shopping street). The nearest Metro station to the shrine is Minami-Morimachi Station.
2. Osaka Castle: One of the key sights in Osaka. There's multiple train and subway (Metro) stops surrounding it, so based on where you're coming from, certain stops might be more convenient.
4. Namba Area/ Dotonbori: Depending where you want to go, there's multiple different stations that might be good for you. The one right at Namba is simply called Namba.
5. Umeda and Osaka Station
6. Tennoji
Now, with some of these key locations in mind, let's have a look at some wards ( = districts) in Osaka that might be convenient for you to stay in.
As outlined above, these recommendations are solely based on the fact that they are central and tend to be well connected to many key train and Metro lines. Make sure to check the exact route from your potential hotel to any key area on Google, since not every hotel at every place within a ward is right next to a metro or train stop.
Of course, there's plenty of places outside these immediate wards. We personally recommend to rather go by the connectivity from your hotel rather than which ward it's located in. You do not need to worry in terms of safety: Japan is an incredibly safe country - you'll regularly find people sleeping in parks in summer (the salarymen that were too drunk to find the way home...) and they'll have everything with them the next day. So you cannot really find a district or ward you should not stay in due to safety concerns.
Comments
Post a Comment