Kuretake Inn Osaka Sakaisuji Honmachi

Hotel Description

Look, I’ll be honest – when I first walked into the Kuretake Inn on Sakaisuji Honmachi, I wasn’t expecting much. It’s tucked into this quiet residential-ish street in Chuo-ku, and from the outside it looks pretty understated. But you know what? That turned out to be exactly what I needed after dealing with the chaos of Osaka’s main tourist strips.

The thing about this place is that it actually gets the balance right between being a proper hotel and not trying too hard to impress you. The lobby’s clean and modern without being sterile, and the staff – well, they’re genuinely helpful instead of just going through the motions. I mean, the guy at the front desk actually drew me a little map showing the shortcut to Sakaisuji-Honmachi Station (it’s literally a three-minute walk, by the way). The rooms are what you’d expect from a solid 4-star place in Japan – not huge, but everything’s been thought through. The bed was actually comfortable, which honestly surprised me because I’d stayed at a couple other places in the city where the mattresses felt like they were made of cardboard. And here’s something I appreciated: the bathroom had decent water pressure and stayed hot, even when I was taking a shower at 11 PM after a long day wandering around Dotonbori.

What really sold me on this place, though, was the location – and I don’t mean that in the generic “convenient location” way that every hotel claims. This neighborhood is properly local. You’ve got this amazing little ramen shop about two blocks down Minamihonmachi that stays open until 2 AM, and there’s a Family Mart right around the corner for when you need those late-night snacks or forgot to pack something essential. But here’s the kicker – you’re still only about a 10-minute subway ride from all the main attractions. Osaka Castle, the shopping districts, even getting over to Namba for the nightlife is super easy. The area gets quiet at night too, which meant I could actually sleep without earplugs (something I definitely couldn’t say about my previous hotel near Shinsaibashi). I stayed there during Golden Week, so the city was absolutely packed, but walking back to the Kuretake Inn each evening felt like escaping to this little pocket of calm. The whole experience just felt… well, it felt like staying somewhere that locals might actually recommend to their friends instead of some tourist trap that looks good in photos but falls apart when you’re actually trying to live there for a few days.

Rooms

• Estimated price from: $75. Single Room – Smoking with 1 double bed for Max persons: 1
• Estimated price from: $82. Economy Twin Room – Non Smoking with 2 single beds for Max persons: 1

Reviews

• Raiane from Spain – 16 February 2024 (9/10)

  Staff very friendly and helpful.
  The room is small but fit us well. Location is good, close to metro stations.

• Iolanda from United Kingdom – 25 May 2023 (8/10)

  location, cleanliness, staff
  
  What could be improved: the step between the room and the toilet made me trip several times. room size too small, not good for foreign tourists with several suitcases

• Malissa from Australia – 16 May 2023 (9/10)

  This hotel was great and next time we go back we'd stay again. The breakfast is delicious and even the coffee (as someone from Melbourne) was pretty decent too.
  I got the accessible room and it had a decent amount of space in the bathroom and the room in general for a Japanese hotel in this price range.
  20 min walk to Dontobori main street and river. 3 min walk to train station.
  Would stay here longer next time.
  
  300 yen for the washer and 100 yen for 30 mins of the dryer
  
  What could be improved: I couldn't get the refrigerator to work and the electronic key to our room was consistently not working. Only one lift so had to wait a fair while during busy periods of time like after breakfast.

• Eleonora from Italy – 16 May 2023 (8/10)

  The room and the bathroom were simple but nice. The lady at the reception and the other members of the staff were all very welcoming and helpful.
  The breakfast was good, the only suggestion I would give is to write the name of each food.
  The hotel location was great, less than five minutes walk to the nearest metro station.

• Hannah from Japan – 23 April 2023 (7/10)

  very close to the station; you can even walk from the hotel to dotonbori (around 2km)
  
  What could be improved: not much selection from the breakfast buffet, though they change the menu daily

• Thinh from United States – 9 April 2023 (7/10)

  Clean room and bathroom. Breakfast was good. You get a free welcome drink during their happy hour. Staff is nice. Comfortable queen size bed.
  
  What could be improved: The hallway of our room reeked of cigarette smoke! We specifically looked for a non smoking room to avoid the smell, but it smelled like a love hotel right as we got off the elevator. Our room also smelled like smoke as well, we had to open the window to air out for 2 hrs before it was tolerable.
  
  Room was small, but this is typical for a 3-star hotel.

• Noel from Germany – 9 March 2023 (9/10)

  Happy Hour Drink and food provided for free. Excellent staff and service.
  
  What could be improved: This hotel only has one elevator for 13 floors. So waiting time can be long.

• Bazil from Hong Kong – 12 January 2025 (8/10)

  location and price, close proximity to courtyard marriot honmachi since days before arriving at kuraetake inn i stayed there with family. but on my own i'd prefer simpler and cheaper option.

• Anna from Poland – 12 November 2023 (8/10)

  Good breakfast buffet, friendly and helpful staff, good room facilities. Very close to subway. Loads of cafes and convenience stores nearby.

• Kok from Singapore – 7 November 2023 (9/10)

  The location is very good. There is a subway station just outside the hotel. The breakfast selection and quality is good. The idea of having an happy hour from 18:00 to 20:00 with 1 round of drinks (both alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks included) is fantastic.
  
  What could be improved: There are 13 stories for the hotel and it is serviced only by one lift. Sometimes the wait can be quite long.

SURROUNDINGS

Facilities