Where to Stay in Osaka with Kids: Best Family Hotels

Most travelers planning a trip to Japan choose Kyoto as their home base for exploring the Kansai region because of its beautiful temples and traditional streets. Osaka is often overlooked as just a big city for food and nightlife. But when researching where to stay in Osaka with kids, we realized it can actually be the more practical and convenient choice for families exploring the region. We loved our Kyoto hotel, but Kyoto in general felt much more crowded and intense. Osaka ended up working better for us on this trip exploring outside the cities. Transportation was incredibly convenient for day trips in the region, there were endless kid-friendly food options, and the crowds felt a little less overwhelming. If you’re looking to make Osaka your home base on your trip, these are the areas and hotels in Osaka that actually work best for families.

Home Rentals or Hotels in Japan?

Whether to stay in a home rental or a hotel is usually a point of personal preference. However. Asian countries are different from Western countries in many ways, and it can be helpful to have the convenience of hotel front desk staff to help facilitate on your first trip. I enjoy the comfort and privacy of a home rental when traveling in the United States. But especially in Japan where English is not widely spoken, it’s much easier to stay in a hotel or an apartment run by a hotel. It is helpful to have front desk staff who can assist with making dinner reservations or explaining directions. That is why all our recommendations for where to stay in Osaka with kids are hotels or aparthotels.

It is often also easier to find hotels than home rentals in Japan. Japan has few street signs, making it easy to get lost, even with Google Maps as your guide. Our recommendations for where to stay in Osaka with kids are located close to the train stations or main streets, so there is less chance of getting lost while looking for your accommodations.

Where to Stay in Osaka with Kids

I always get overwhelmed when travel guides list every possible neighborhood to stay in. To avoid analysis paralysis, I narrowed down where to stay in Osaka with kids to the two areas I think work best for families: Namba and Umeda.

• Namba: best for atmosphere, larger suite-style hotel rooms
• Umeda: best for convenience to transportation, shopping, food and less crowds

Most of Osaka’s main sights are clustered around the Namba area, where Dotonbori is located, so it’s where many tourists choose to stay. It’s definitely convenient if you want to be right in the middle of the action. But with young kids, I found it can feel a bit noisier, more crowded, and overstimulating. That said, there are some great aparthotel options in the area. So it really comes down to whether your family prioritizes extra space in the room or a calmer neighborhood.

Now that we’re traveling with our kid, we prioritize convenient transportation, easy food options, and a little more breathing room in Japan. We ended up staying in the Umeda area near Osaka Station and absolutely loved it. Even during rush hour, the stations and area never felt overwhelmingly crowded (at least compared to Tokyo and Kyoto). The area is packed with malls and endless food options. Having so many easy, kid-friendly restaurants just steps from our hotel was great after a long day. And a grocery store nearby for snacks and fruit made feeding our kid even easier. Another huge bonus was how walkable everything was. There were multiple department stores and malls within just a few minutes, which was perfect for me to squeeze in shopping while our kid took a break back at the hotel with dad. And a park nearby. If it’s not obvious already, I’d happily stay in this area again.

Namba

Apartment or suite-style hotels are now my favorite type of accommodation when traveling with a kid because you get all the convenience of a home rental with the added help of a front desk. When you factor in the added fees of a home rental, it ends up being pretty comparable to the rates of the aparthotels. The Namba area has several locations of the best Japanese aparthotel companies for families.

Mimaru Osaka Namba Station ($$$$)

The Mimaru brand hotels are some of the best apartment style hotels in Japan for families. The Mimaru Osaka Namba Station sets itself apart even further for families through their board game rooms, which is great for kids. The apartments are super spacious, with kitchenettes and sitting areas. It’s definitely a splurge, but if you have picky eaters and plan on cooking, or anticipate needing more down time in the room then it’s definitely worth it. The Mimaru Osaka Namba Station is a 4 minute walk from Namba Station.

If your kids are more into arcade games than board games, check out Mimaru Osaka Namba North. They have Pokemon-themed rooms and an arcade room in the hotel. This hotel is a further walk from the Osaka-Namba Station (7-8 min walk), which can make a difference at the end of a long day of sightseeing, so keep that in mind!

&Here Osaka Namba ($$$$)

The &Here Osaka Namba is another great option for families because of all the different room types they have. Besides standard hotel rooms, they also have larger bunk rooms with kitchenettes for families. Some of the larger bunk rooms even have space for a dining table. When traveling with young kids, it’s so worth it to spring for the extra space. Having that room for them to spread out and play is really helpful for a travel reset. And it’s only a 4 minute walk from Namba Station when you’re ready to go out and explore.

Citadines Osaka Namba ($$)

Citadines Osaka Namba is a great choice for a more affordable suite-style hotel option in Namba. While their standard rooms can feel a bit tight, they have larger family rooms and suite-style rooms with a kitchenette. We stayed in a suite-style room in a Citadines in Tokyo and were frankly amazed at how much space we had in the room. The hotel is about a 6 minute walk away from Namba Station.

Umeda

The Umeda area doesn’t have as many aparthotel options, but for us the convenience factor makes up for that. This area is a transportation hub, with many types of rail and train lines passing through so you don’t have to deal with as many transfers. Note that Osaka Station is not where the shinkansen stops – that would be Shin-Osaka Station. But Shin-Osaka Station is just one station or quick taxi ride away from Osaka Station in Umeda. Shopping wise, you can find all the big stores like Muji, Uniqlo, Loft, Daiso, GU, department stores (with depachikas), drugstores, Yodobashi Camera, and a grocery store in the area.

Minn Umeda North ($$)

If you’re looking for an aparthotel option in this area, then Minn Umeda North fits the bill. It’s about a 10 minute walk from Osaka Station, so it’s a little less convenient than the other options. Another thing to keep in mind is that there is no front desk, so check in is fully automated. I find this stressful because the last thing I want when traveling with a kid is not being able to check in. But the rooms do have a kitchenette and dining area, and some rooms have a washing machine, so it just depends what is more of a priority for your family.

Hotel Hankyu Respire Osaka ($$)

The Hotel Hankyu Respire Osaka is a great value for the area and is in a perfect location. It’s a big hotel and definitely has that more impersonal, business hotel vibe. Although there were front desk staff, everyone checks in and out via kiosks. The rooms here do feel cozy, and we had to be strategic about how we opened our suitcases. One benefit for families though is the variety of room sizes. They have triple and even quadruple rooms, and connecting rooms. And one surprise that we did not expect is the rooms overlook the train tracks! Easy entertainment for my train-loving kid, who loved our Tokyo hotel with train track views.

The big plus of this hotel for us though is the convenience. The hotel is part of a mall that contains Uniqlo, Yodobashi Camera (where my kid played with the train tracks on the toy floor every day), Daiso, and a supermarket in the basement. The floor below the hotel is the restaurant floor, with a variety of cuisine options. It’s across the street from JR Osaka Station and basically connected to Osaka Metro station. If you want to avoid a ton of walking, then this hotel is the best option.

Note that the same hotel chain has another hotel nearby, the Hotel Hankyu Gran Respire Osaka. That hotel is located across the street, closer to JR Osaka Station. It’s super confusing that the names are so similar, so double check which one you book (especially if you are sending luggage ahead).

InterContinental Osaka by IHG ($$$$)

The InterContinental Osaka is a splurge, but the rooms are gigantic and feel like an oasis after a day of sightseeing. The hotel generously included a rollaway bed in our room for our kid, and even with a rollaway bed there was still so much space! The walk in closet alone was bigger than the bathrooms in some other Japanese hotels we have stayed in. The InterContinental Osaka is connected to the Grand Front Osaka North Mall, and it’s across the street from the JR Osaka Station. The mall contains a large Muji, and has a bunch of restaurant options as well.

We are not usually this fancy when it comes to hotels. One of the main reasons we stayed here was to maximize our Chase Sapphire Reserve hotel credits (contact me if you need a Chase Sapphire Reserve referral for bonus points!). Because it’s an InterContinental hotel and it’s also part of the Chase The Edit hotels, you can take advantage of both travel credits with one stay! Although the room rates are expensive, those travel credits do help to bring the cost down. We also took advantage of the included breakfast (our kid under 5 was free for breakfast) and used the additional hotel credit from the Edit for their afternoon tea. Overall, it was a lovely way to end our trip and we had the best sleep of our trip here.