New KIX Hilton report
04-19-2016, 11:35 PM
#1
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New KIX Hilton report
I'd put this in the layover section, but since the last entry for Asia is 6 weeks old, I doubt it would get much traffic.
I figured I better get this out before I forgot everything.
The room/bathroom I had was similar in size to the Marriott we’ve been staying in. Temperature control is in English and it works. No complaints on getting the room to a good sleeping temp. Nice sliding window shades that have day/night panels and do a good job of blacking out the room. The beds are not Westin caliber but comfortable. In my room, there were two twin beds pushed together but not connected. They separated easily and had individual bedding, so you’re basically just using one side or the other (unless you have a “friend” for a sleep over). TV has a similar channel line-up to NRT.
Not that I usually expect to get a great deal at the mini-bar, but many place we go aren’t that bad. They are wayyyy proud of the 12 oz. cans of Yebisu in the room. Those will run you ¥1000 and a mini of Macallan or Yamazaki is ¥1900. It’s not an auto-charge version, so nothing stopping you from replenishing from the Family Mart before you leave though.
The gym isn’t the best in the system, but it’s a huge improvement over the Marriott. Hot/cold pool, lap pool with Jacuzzi, “chill-out” room with recliners and TVs/headsets, work-out area has 2 ellipticals, 4 treadmills and a stationary bike. There is a free-weight bench press, dumbbells and a reasonable assortment of Precor machines.
There’s a Sky-lounge on the 35th floor with the standard assortment of over-priced food and adult beverages. Great view of the city and the bar area in the center is cigar friendly.
My check of the local area is far from exhaustive. This is from a fairly cursory recon within a block of the hotel to the north. The good news – no one is going to go hungry or thirsty around this place. Info on other activities will be forthcoming, hopefully as more posts appear.
Standing in front of the check-in desk you are roughly facing east (probably more like SE but I’ll round to the 4 basic cardinals). So, if you exit the hotel to the north, you enter a glassed in atrium area before actually exiting outdoors.
At this point I’m not making any recommendations (other than the okonomiyaki place I visited). Just delivering info on what’s around.
To the right as you exit the hotel while still in the atrium are stairs/escalators that you can take to the basement. Two levels down is a German restaurant complete with piped in Bavarian music and a Lowenbrau sign. Food looks German (sausage plate, schnitzel, etc). It’s got the word “Beer” in the name (which escapes me right now), so my guess is they have some. Doubt it gives Cologne much competition, but it’s there. On the same level, there is also a small pub with a Bass Ale sign.
If you don’t go to the basement, just continue north out of the atrium and outside. Osaka Station is on the north side (opposite) side of the large street in front of you. Go right to the first intersection/crosswalk, cross the street and enter the station (you’ll be entering at the labeled “South Entrance”).
There are two basement levels below the street level you enter on with shops and restaurants. If you simply have to have gyoza, spicy noodle soup and beer, I was able to find one in the lower basement level. It’s right next to McDonald’s, so that can help find it. To go there, basically – in south entrance, go down two levels and go west down a long hallway. Picture menus with English – pictures looked good. Can’t vouch for the food, yet.
In addition to that place, there are too many to list under the station on the two levels as well as street level. Bakery type places, coffee shops, Family Marts and assorted restaurants.
If you stay on the street level as you enter the station and just continue north straight through and exit behind it, there will be an open courtyard to your left. Almost straight ahead, but slightly right is a high rise shopping center called “Grandfront”.
http://gfo-eng.com/shop/restaurant.html
Floor 7-9 have a wide variety of restaurants and even some nice looking bars. Yes, of course, there is a Starbucks (I saw it), I just can’t remember exactly where right now. There were some specialty restaurants like Italian, Chinese, Steak/grill, seafood, etc. There were the “grill your own” BBQ at your table joints and the standard places with the plastic models of food in display cases. There were also a couple of the Okonomiyaki places. They were right next to each other on the 7th floor and I picked the one on the right. It had a more user friendly English menu and the staff was very helpful and welcoming. I’d go there again.
At ground level of Grandfront as well as on each restaurant floor, there are information panels with pictures for each restaurant with an example of the basic kind of food served and its location listed by floor.
Overall – first impression is good. I think it’s a solid improvement over the Marriott. Looking forward to some more reports as people get to know the area a little better.
I figured I better get this out before I forgot everything.
The room/bathroom I had was similar in size to the Marriott we’ve been staying in. Temperature control is in English and it works. No complaints on getting the room to a good sleeping temp. Nice sliding window shades that have day/night panels and do a good job of blacking out the room. The beds are not Westin caliber but comfortable. In my room, there were two twin beds pushed together but not connected. They separated easily and had individual bedding, so you’re basically just using one side or the other (unless you have a “friend” for a sleep over). TV has a similar channel line-up to NRT.
Not that I usually expect to get a great deal at the mini-bar, but many place we go aren’t that bad. They are wayyyy proud of the 12 oz. cans of Yebisu in the room. Those will run you ¥1000 and a mini of Macallan or Yamazaki is ¥1900. It’s not an auto-charge version, so nothing stopping you from replenishing from the Family Mart before you leave though.
The gym isn’t the best in the system, but it’s a huge improvement over the Marriott. Hot/cold pool, lap pool with Jacuzzi, “chill-out” room with recliners and TVs/headsets, work-out area has 2 ellipticals, 4 treadmills and a stationary bike. There is a free-weight bench press, dumbbells and a reasonable assortment of Precor machines.
There’s a Sky-lounge on the 35th floor with the standard assortment of over-priced food and adult beverages. Great view of the city and the bar area in the center is cigar friendly.
My check of the local area is far from exhaustive. This is from a fairly cursory recon within a block of the hotel to the north. The good news – no one is going to go hungry or thirsty around this place. Info on other activities will be forthcoming, hopefully as more posts appear.
Standing in front of the check-in desk you are roughly facing east (probably more like SE but I’ll round to the 4 basic cardinals). So, if you exit the hotel to the north, you enter a glassed in atrium area before actually exiting outdoors.
At this point I’m not making any recommendations (other than the okonomiyaki place I visited). Just delivering info on what’s around.
To the right as you exit the hotel while still in the atrium are stairs/escalators that you can take to the basement. Two levels down is a German restaurant complete with piped in Bavarian music and a Lowenbrau sign. Food looks German (sausage plate, schnitzel, etc). It’s got the word “Beer” in the name (which escapes me right now), so my guess is they have some. Doubt it gives Cologne much competition, but it’s there. On the same level, there is also a small pub with a Bass Ale sign.
If you don’t go to the basement, just continue north out of the atrium and outside. Osaka Station is on the north side (opposite) side of the large street in front of you. Go right to the first intersection/crosswalk, cross the street and enter the station (you’ll be entering at the labeled “South Entrance”).
There are two basement levels below the street level you enter on with shops and restaurants. If you simply have to have gyoza, spicy noodle soup and beer, I was able to find one in the lower basement level. It’s right next to McDonald’s, so that can help find it. To go there, basically – in south entrance, go down two levels and go west down a long hallway. Picture menus with English – pictures looked good. Can’t vouch for the food, yet.
In addition to that place, there are too many to list under the station on the two levels as well as street level. Bakery type places, coffee shops, Family Marts and assorted restaurants.
If you stay on the street level as you enter the station and just continue north straight through and exit behind it, there will be an open courtyard to your left. Almost straight ahead, but slightly right is a high rise shopping center called “Grandfront”.
http://gfo-eng.com/shop/restaurant.html
Floor 7-9 have a wide variety of restaurants and even some nice looking bars. Yes, of course, there is a Starbucks (I saw it), I just can’t remember exactly where right now. There were some specialty restaurants like Italian, Chinese, Steak/grill, seafood, etc. There were the “grill your own” BBQ at your table joints and the standard places with the plastic models of food in display cases. There were also a couple of the Okonomiyaki places. They were right next to each other on the 7th floor and I picked the one on the right. It had a more user friendly English menu and the staff was very helpful and welcoming. I’d go there again.
At ground level of Grandfront as well as on each restaurant floor, there are information panels with pictures for each restaurant with an example of the basic kind of food served and its location listed by floor.
Overall – first impression is good. I think it’s a solid improvement over the Marriott. Looking forward to some more reports as people get to know the area a little better.
04-20-2016, 03:37 AM
#4
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Originally Posted by JetJocF14
Good info, I'll be there next month. Is the pool big enough for lap swimming?
Do you mean the lap pool? Probably not big enough for lap swimming.
04-20-2016, 02:47 PM
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Posts: 3,988
I think 20 minutes closer is a bit optimistic. The Hilton is about halfway between the Swiss and Marriott (they almost are in a straight line N/S), with the Swiss being closest to the airport. It was a strong 45-50 both directions at low traffic hours. Felt like similar what the Swiss used to be, so probably depends on the driver and the route he takes.
Maybe my pool terminology was confusing. The gym has a no-clothing allowed hot pool/cold pool sauna type place. I never learned the drill on whether hot or cold comes first. Maybe it's a nice experience, but I figure if I do it backwards, I'll probably vapor-lock or give myself an ice-cream headache, so I don't usually partake. While certainly not up to official Olympic standards, there is also a pool, with lanes painted on the bottom. There was a woman in a swim cap and goggles swimming laps. Looked to be about the same size as the NRT pool. (I have it on good authority, after posting, that it's 12 meters long)
Maybe my pool terminology was confusing. The gym has a no-clothing allowed hot pool/cold pool sauna type place. I never learned the drill on whether hot or cold comes first. Maybe it's a nice experience, but I figure if I do it backwards, I'll probably vapor-lock or give myself an ice-cream headache, so I don't usually partake. While certainly not up to official Olympic standards, there is also a pool, with lanes painted on the bottom. There was a woman in a swim cap and goggles swimming laps. Looked to be about the same size as the NRT pool. (I have it on good authority, after posting, that it's 12 meters long)
04-22-2016, 12:16 PM
#9
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Train to KIX
I did the train a couple of weeks ago. When getting to Shin-Osaka there were two options.
1. Take the TR to Osaka station (I should have done this). Leaving the station the hotel is across the street.
2. Take the subway Midosuji (Red Line) (M13) to Hommachi stop(M18) cross to the Yotsubashi Line(Blue)(Y13) to Nishi-Umeda(Y11) station. The hotel is above you. I think exit 6.
I took choice 2. It wasn't terrible, but quite a walk between the red and blue lines while dragging bags. Next time I will take the TR.
My advice. While your at the Shin-Osaka, go to the bottom floor and look for the noodle shop on one end with a Red Box sign. Good noodles, enjoy lunch and a beer, then continue your journey.
Oh and by the way if you are new to the train thing in Japan. You'll get basically 2 boarding passes and a ticket from NRT-KIX. Don't lose any of them, especially the ticket. That one cost me another 88 bucks. They won't reprint it for you even with a receipt.
Good Luck!
1. Take the TR to Osaka station (I should have done this). Leaving the station the hotel is across the street.
2. Take the subway Midosuji (Red Line) (M13) to Hommachi stop(M18) cross to the Yotsubashi Line(Blue)(Y13) to Nishi-Umeda(Y11) station. The hotel is above you. I think exit 6.
I took choice 2. It wasn't terrible, but quite a walk between the red and blue lines while dragging bags. Next time I will take the TR.
My advice. While your at the Shin-Osaka, go to the bottom floor and look for the noodle shop on one end with a Red Box sign. Good noodles, enjoy lunch and a beer, then continue your journey.
Oh and by the way if you are new to the train thing in Japan. You'll get basically 2 boarding passes and a ticket from NRT-KIX. Don't lose any of them, especially the ticket. That one cost me another 88 bucks. They won't reprint it for you even with a receipt.
Good Luck!
04-22-2016, 01:03 PM
#10
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Posts: 447
Just to add a little bit we (UAL) stay at the same place.
Toast lady is a 15-20 minute walk. Concierge has a map to get there. Just ask for "Toast Lady" map. Basically head over to the train station and just walk with the tracks above you and over your right shoulder for 15 minutes. Turn right and its 2 blocks down on your left.
Also for gyoza, noodles, and beer head out the front door, take a left (you will see a starbucks a block away), cross to the opposite side there, now just head away from hotel for maybe 3-4 mins until you see a small noodle shop with a turtle sign out front. That is it.
Menu converted into english w/pics. good prices, cold beer, good noodles and gyoza. Walking back just swing into a mart and pick up a few beers for the room.
Toast lady is a 15-20 minute walk. Concierge has a map to get there. Just ask for "Toast Lady" map. Basically head over to the train station and just walk with the tracks above you and over your right shoulder for 15 minutes. Turn right and its 2 blocks down on your left.
Also for gyoza, noodles, and beer head out the front door, take a left (you will see a starbucks a block away), cross to the opposite side there, now just head away from hotel for maybe 3-4 mins until you see a small noodle shop with a turtle sign out front. That is it.
Menu converted into english w/pics. good prices, cold beer, good noodles and gyoza. Walking back just swing into a mart and pick up a few beers for the room.
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