karaksa hotel osaka namba

when we went to osaka, we've stayed in two different area, namba and shinsaibashi. the first time around, we were there with my in-laws and her colleague's family, so i didn't do any research, husband was the one that made the hotel booking. and he booked holiday inn namba. the place was turned out in the middle of red district area, no wonder we saw people get drunk walking in front of the hotel. but luckily the kids didn't see any of them. the second time, we were with my parents and the kids were sick at that time. the intended hotel was full so we picked nikko hotel which was in shinsaibashi area. the room was bigger, even the whole hotel was bigger. it was right across daimaru department store so it was a better option for family. but it was more expensive.

karaksa osaka namba

so i asked husband, since people had two recommendations for osaka. for accessibility, they suggested to stay in umeda or osaka station area, basically the center of city area. but it was nowhere near dotonbori, namba or shinsaibashi, which was full of life especially in the afternoon. and street food. and lots of shop. and the second recommendation was obviously namba-dotonbori area. husband picked dotonbori area, but he didn't want to stay in holiday inn again. so i searched and got two options, the cross hotel or karaksa hotel namba. husband chose karaksa namba.

welcome drink, free drink from 2-9 pm

the place was not near big street, so it was quite a walk from the station to the hotel. the first time we were using JR line, so we stopped at JR namba and it was a little bit confusing to go to the hotel from the station. but if you're not limited to JR line, the hotel was closer to shinsaibashi station near daimaru. if you had big baggage, it might not be the best option. but the hotel itself was very clean and neat even though it's not that big.

the self-service for drinks. in the morning, the food were laid here

when you passed the sliding glass door, you could see on your left a bunch of umbrellas that the hotel provided for the guest for free but you had to bring it back to the hotel. on your right there was this drying thing for the umbrella. basically it was a box lined with two floor mats, but it was a genius to turn it into umbrella dryer. and they also provided an antibacterial hand wash. then you could get into the lobby after passing the second glass door.

they educated people how to separate the trash

the counter was on your left, with several receptionist. all of them was wearing a name tag with tiny flags at the bottom that indicates which languages they speak. if you're lucky, you could find someone who can speak english. but sometimes, they can only speak limited english. the check in time was 3 pm and we couldn't get in earlier. the check out time was 11 am and if you wanted to check out late, you would get charged 500 yen per hour and 2 hours max. you could keep your baggage for free though. they also provided shuttle bus to the airport but not for free. the first time you had to pay 1000 yen per person but they would give you a badge which you could show at front office so you could get the second ride for free next time you were staying at karaksa again. for detail you could see it here.

beside the front office, there was this big cupboard where you could get your amenities that's not provided in the room yet. please not that since this was a budget hotel, not all amenities are available. bath gel, shampoo and conditioner were available. hair dryer as well as toothbrush and toothpaste were too. they also provided pajamas for adult but there were no other thing like shower cap. they also had several kids toys for the kids to play while waiting in the dining area.

USB charging next to the bed

there was a smoking room near the elevator and a big dining room on your right when you arrived. they provided free drink and internet from 2 pm to 8 pm so it was a good idea to get recharged since we usually go back to our hotel to freshen up. in the morning, the dining area was the breakfast area. this was the plus about this hotel. even though it was a budget one, they gave breakfast for free. and the breakfast was delicious too! you could pick as much as you can but be mindful not to throw a lot of food waste. they expected us to clean up for ourselves too.

behind that little door was the toilet

you needed the key card to open the elevator door but no key card needed to push the button to your floor. all rooms were non smoking room and we got twin bed room. the room was smaller than the one in granvia, and the bed was different too. it was only the mattress on top of storage space under the bed. there was usb charging hole beside the bed. there was a small table on the side where you could put your things with two high chair. the toilet was separated from the bath. the bath was a shower. no hanging hook inside the bathroom so it was difficult to take off clothes and put fresh clothes in the bathroom. there was small TV and under the table was the small fridge (very small so don't buy lots of things from the supermarket, no big bottles either) and two tea cups and the garbage bin. there was laundromat in the hotel but we didn't wash our clothes so i couldn't say anything about it.

this is the powder room,  the shower was right next to it.
under the sink there were hair dryer, clean towel, pajamas and slipper

there were many type of rooms. you can check it here. at first i thought this was not suitable for family. imagine the bed could move around since it was on top of smooth wood surface with hardwood floor. but apparently it was popular for family. i've seen several family with kids or baby staying in the hotel. the hotel had several connecting room, but all the beds were either single bed or double bed. no queen or king size bed. so put that in mind. again, even though this was a budget hotel, they put extra care even for people with disability. i couldn't find the information about the room cleaning service, but husband told me when he was checking in, the receptionist gave him two option, the eco cleaning and the other one. he picked the eco cleaning. they would only clean the garbage bin, bathroom and toilet and floor, but not making up our bed and not changing the sheet. but we could change the towel and we got additional water bottle. the other option was to clean the whole room but no water bottle.

our breakfast. the tofu patties and the beef and potato stew were good

interesting jam. you need to fold them in half then squeeze the jam out. no mess.

if you were with adults and wanted a place close to shinsaibashi and dotonbori area and with budget price, wanted a free breakfast and didn't mind the small room, then this is a good place to stay. but if you have big family, this hotel might not cater your need since the place was pretty crowded and there were only limited rooms with connecting access. they didn't offer baby crib either, so i didn't think it was suitable for family with baby. the bed was not safe to co-sleeping either. it was a single bed without any barrier, so it might not be safe for mother and baby. karaksa also had other branches all over japan, so head to their website to check out their other branches.

granvia kyoto hotel

we never stayed in kyoto, so i totally had no idea where to stay in kyoto. but there are some websites that you can read about all kyoto hotel recommendation like here, here, and here. i bet there are other recommendation, but for me, if i'm reading too many recommendations, i would get confused, so i decided to just read a few and understand about what they're talking about. basically, they didn't give certain recommendation, but they would categorize based on kyoto districts. they will lay down the pros and cons for each districts and even break it down to budget, mid range to top level hotel. and when i read some recommendation, people say that kyoto was the best place to enjoy some authentic japan tradition, and one way to enjoy it was to stay at ryokan. some people mentioned about kyoto authentic cuisine which came in courses. you could eat them in restaurants, but paolo mentioned that the easiest way to enjoy it was staying at kyoto machiya. honestly, i was intrigued at first, considering that we only went by ourselves, without kids. so i thought about giving ryokan or machiya a try. but most ryokan that i read about was totally traditional, even some only had sharing bathroom, which was not comfortable for us. and the price of machiya was totally expensive. so i decided to just stay at usual hotel. but if you wanted the experience and you had the budget, then you might want to try staying in ryokan or machiya.

okay.. so when i saw the recommendation, basically two famous area to stay was kawaramachi area and kyoto station area. both for different reason. kawaramachi was near nishiki area, so it was near dining options and shopping options. it was even close to gion which was famous for geisha sightings. but you need to take public transportation to go to places and obviously you need to walk from the station to your hotel. while kyoto station was basically the biggest station in kyoto, so almost all lines go through kyoto station. if i wanted to go to fushimi inari or arashiyama, i could go there from kyoto station straight. we could also go to kyoto from kobe and to nara from kyoto (since our plan was to go to kobe and then kyoto and then nara before ending it at osaka). dining was not a problem since kyoto station had 3 dining places and 2 department stores, but shopping wise, there were not that many stores. but we didn't mind about the shopping. for us, accessibility and dining were higher priority for us. so... i turned to tripadvisor and looking for affordable hotels around kyoto station area.

i had two or three options and then i told my husband, and he decided to pick granvia kyoto hotel. so, basically, this hotel was on the second floor or kyoto station, so even though you arrived super late or super early, with big baggages, you didn't need to drag all your bags all the way. you just need to take the escalator and you will arrive at the hotel instantly. you also didn't need to walk too much when you want to go somewhere else. cutting the travelling time. price wise, it was not the most affordable option, but it was within reasonable price range. when we compared the price on their website (here) and from agoda, the price on their website was cheaper, so we made the booking ourselves on their website.

since we wanted non smoking room, apparently the only bedding option available during our stay was twin bed (we chose the cheapest one, standard twin room). we hoped we could get a double bed or queen bed room when we arrived, but we didn't. anyway.. the room was pretty spacious for two people. it has cupboard to hang your clothes, small safe deposit box, several drawers and pajamas for two (but we didn't use it), big mirror and a long table, two chairs and decent window. the bathroom was quite nice too. it had bathtub. the toiletries was decent, but not super luxurious. i was quite impressed that the housekeepers left note on the sink saying that for today, (his/her name) was our housekeepers for the day and we could ask for his/her help by phone. how personal! and the bellboy that helped us with our baggage even explained to us in standard english about their sheet and towel changing policy.

we didn't booked the room with breakfast as we thought we wanted to try as much food as possible, including supermarket's food, but they did have several dining places scattered in the hotel. there was this cafe near the lobby and it was always full after office hours. we totally happy with our choice. it was totally easy to go anywhere since it was on top of kyoto station, and it was pretty near to places that we wanted to visit. fushimi was slightly south and arashiyama was about northwest from the station, so it was almost in the middle of our trip. we didn't have any difficulty in shopping as well. there was a nearby yodobashi which had wide beauty selection and it also had uniqlo. we could find another shopping mall that had GU or uniqlo or donki and even daiso. all within walking range. i was not sure whether or not they had family room or connecting room, but i've seen some families with their kids in this hotel. so probably you could bring your kids. and don't worry about hearing the train's sound. we didn't hear anything during our stay there. fyi, the pictures on their website are really true. our room pictures were exactly like the room we stayed in.