8 Osaka Hotels Within Walking Distance of the Late Counters

Osaka has a word for how it eats. Kuidaore translates roughly as ruining yourself through food, and it is used locally with pride. This is the city of takoyaki, okonomiyaki, kushikatsu and kappo counters, where the good places seat eight to twelve people, open around six, and are frequently still serving at one in the morning.

The trains stop before that. The last services on most lines run around midnight, and the taxi queue outside Namba at half past one on a Saturday is not a queue you want to join. So the walk home matters here in a way it does not in Tokyo, where the eating is spread across many wards.

Minami and Kita, and why it is Minami

Osaka splits into two centres about three kilometres apart. Kita, around Umeda, is the northern business district: the main station, the department stores, the tall towers and most of the international hotels. Minami, around Namba and Shinsaibashi, is the southern one: Dotonbori, the covered arcades, the standing bars and almost all of the eating that people come to Osaka for.

The subway between them takes eight minutes and runs until midnight. Which is fine until the night you finish at one.

Stay in Minami and the walk home from a kushikatsu counter is ten minutes. Stay in Kita and it is a decision.

The nine below are grouped by which centre, with the Midosuji spine between them.

Minami, around Namba and Shinsaibashi

The eating half. Loud, dense, and where you want to be after ten at night.

W Osaka occupies a tower designed by an Italian architect on Midosuji with the most theatrical interior in Japan, a very good bar and rooms that lean hard into the drama. It sits at the top of Shinsaibashi with Dotonbori a few minutes south.

Swissotel Nankai Osaka sits above Namba station in a tower with the best transport position in the city, direct access to the airport train, and Dotonbori five minutes on foot. It is the practical choice for a short stay.

Hotel Nikko Osaka occupies a site on the Shinsaibashi arcade with straightforward comfortable rooms and the shortest walk to the covered shopping and the food streets. It is the best value in Minami.

Cross Hotel Osaka sits beside the Dotonbori canal with a small pool, contemporary rooms and a bar that stays open late. It is the closest hotel on this list to the neon and the noise, which is a warning as much as a recommendation.

The Midosuji spine

The main north-south boulevard between the two centres, with the luxury shopping and a walk to either half.

The St. Regis Osaka occupies the upper floors of a tower at Honmachi with the largest rooms in Osaka, a butler service and a very good Italian restaurant. It sits midway between Minami and Kita, which makes it the compromise pick.

Zentis Osaka sits in Dojima near the river with a design-led interior, a good bakery and cafe on the ground floor and rooms that are among the most comfortable in the city for the price.

Kita, around Umeda

The northern half. Trains, towers and the shopping, with the eating a subway ride south.

Conrad Osaka occupies the top floors of a riverside tower with floor-to-ceiling windows over the city, an indoor pool and the best spa in Osaka. It is the most comfortable hotel in the city.

The Ritz-Carlton Osaka sits in a tower above Umeda with the deepest service in western Japan, several restaurants and rooms that are traditional rather than contemporary.

Four Seasons Hotel Osaka occupies a riverside site in Dojima with a garden, a pool and the quietest position of the nine. It is the family choice.

What we have left off

The hotels around Shin-Osaka station are excluded. They are convenient for the Shinkansen and for onward travel to Kyoto and Hiroshima, and they are twenty minutes north of anywhere you want to eat, in a district that is a transport interchange rather than a place.

What to do between meals

Eat standing up. Takoyaki from a street counter, kushikatsu in Shinsekai, where the rule about not double-dipping the sauce is real and enforced, and okonomiyaki cooked in front of you.

Dotonbori is the neon strip everybody photographs and it is worth twenty minutes at night and nothing else. The interesting eating is in the side streets off it, in Hozenji Yokocho, and in the Ura-Namba alleys.

Osaka Castle is worth a morning for the grounds more than the reconstructed keep. The Umeda Sky Building's floating garden observatory is the best view in the city.

Use Osaka as a base. Kyoto is 15 minutes by train, Nara 45, Kobe 25 and Himeji castle an hour. It is the best-connected city in Japan and the cheapest of the three to sleep in.

Practical notes

Kansai International is 50 minutes by rapid train to Namba, which is the fastest airport link to any of the three cities. Itami handles domestic flights and is 30 minutes by bus.

Spring and autumn are the good seasons. Summer is hot and very humid. Winter is cold and clear and the city is at its cheapest.

Get an ICOCA card. Cash is still useful at the smaller counters.

Questions people actually ask

Osaka or Kyoto as a base?

Osaka for eating, nightlife and lower room rates, with Kyoto 15 minutes away. Kyoto for the temples and the atmosphere. Many people do three nights in each.

Is Dotonbori worth staying next to?

No. It is loud until very late and the good food is a street back. Stay within ten minutes of it rather than on it.

How many nights?

Three, or use it as a five-night base for the whole Kansai region.

Do you need to book the counters?

The famous ones, yes. Most of Osaka is walk-in, which is part of the appeal after Tokyo.

If you only book one

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