Autumn 2025. We – Sam and Danny, Michel and Wille, and Timothy – are travelling to Japan for a quite classic tour of the Land of the Rising Sun. We are flying separately as we used miles. On the planning: Tokyo, Kanazawa, Shirakawa, Osaka, and Expo 2025, Hiroshima, Himeji, Miyajima, Kyoto, Nara, Nagoya, Hakone, and back to Tokyo. Three weeks plus some extra days.
Osaka would be the city where we stayed the longest on this trip, a full 4 nights as we had planned a full day for the world Expo and a full day for Universal Studios Japan. It thus made sense that we would pick a nice hotel. in the end Sam convinced us to stay at the Swissôtel Nankai as it would offer a pool and a lounge, two things he enjoys very much.
The Swissôtel is located on top of the Namba railway station, a major transport hub for the Nankai railway in Osaka. Unfortunately we arrived on the JR lines at Osaka Umeda which required us to take a metro ride down to Namba at the other side of the city.
The Swissôtel has multiple entrances throught the station and shopping complex with a choice of elevators or escalators to reach the vast lobby level. The hotel was originally built by the Nankai railway as their luxury hotel in Osaka and opened in the early 1990’s, it was taken over by Swissôtel in 2003.
The hotel last had a big renovation upon the Swissotel take over back in 2003 and thus is starting to show it’s age a bit, luckily mostly due to the somewhat dated look and not because of the condition as the hotel is kept in pristine condition.
Upon arrival we were quickly checked in and our bags taken from us to be brought up to the room. As the room wasn’t quite ready yet we were invited to relax a bit in the lounge where they would bring our keys. We had lounge access due to booking an executive room. This time the lounge had a very good offering on the food and beverage front, with a very elaborate breakfast and dinner spread, of which we could easily make full meals off. The afternoon tea was a smaller offering but still more than substantial. During the evening happy hour they also had a very wide range of different alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks on offer. All in all we were very happy with the offer of the lounge. The slight critique we could give was that the lounge was starting to look slightly dated and that it didn’t offer different styles of seating, just chairs and tables.
Our room was also located on the same level as the lounge, just a few doors down, which was very conveneient. To somewhat soften the high price (all hotels in Osaka where expensice, due to the last weeks of the world expo still opened), we decided to share the room with 3, Sam, Timothy and I. contrary to what susually happens the third person also got a proper bed and not a fold out sofa. The room was spacious with ample room for three persons. There was a nice sofa nook near the window, a big desk against the wall and at the other side the 3 proper beds. We could also choose our pillows from a pillow menu. Timothy and I opted for a heavy Wood pine shavings pillow, which surprisingly provided us with excellent sleep.
I the room the minibar was complimentary, as well as some still water, coffee and tea facilities, all replenished daily. As a welcome gift for being an ALL Gold member we received a bottle of sparkling water and some fancy chocolates.
The bathroom was conveniently split into 2 parts. The antechamber offered a bog wardrobe and a sink, useful if you wanted to brush your teeth if the main bathroom was occupied. The main part of the bathroom was located behind a frosted glass door. There we could find a bathtub with shower, a toilet and another sink. This being a 3 person room it was useful that the bathroom was divided into 2 parts.
The hotel also offered a vast gym and spa area. If you wanted to go to the spa and pool area you had to leave your shoes behind at the entrance, for the gym area you could use your own sports shoes.
The pool itself was enormous for a hotel, and looked and felt more like a true sports pool. It luckily did also have a Jacuzzi, which was much appreciated. It could do with a clean-up to get rid of the grime and rust stains and maybe use a bit of a refurbishment to make it look less dated and more upscale.
The hotel also offered a Japanese style onsen. While Sam and I weren’t thrilled by it as we felt it looking dated and tired, Timothy absolutely loved it and thought it to be the best Onsen we had on the trip. In the onsen there where the usual wash areas, as well as a cold and hot plunge pool. It also offered a sauna.
Contrary to Pullman Tokyo, the Swissôtel also offered lounge guests the option to make use of the full breakfast buffet, which we of course did to see how much it would differ from the lounge breakfast. The buffet must have had one of the biggest breakfast spreads I came across in recent years, there was almost too much choice. But as the lounge breakfast was more than good enough for us we only went back another morning because the restaurant breakfast opens much earlier than the lounge breakfast.
All in all we had a wonderful experience at the Swissôtel Nankai Osaka. The wonderful service in the lounge reaffirmed our desire to stay in hotels offering lounges. We were also very pleased to have a room for 3 persons where the third one didn’t feel punished. Despite the hotel ageing a bit, it still is a solid option for a stay in Osaka and one of our favourite hotels on the trip.
2025 Journey Across Japan
- Japan’s Superconducting Maglev train breaks world speed record at 603 km/h.
- Japan’s maglev bullet train delayed to 2035 or later as costs rise to ¥11 trillion.
- QUESTION | Should you be stressed about travelling to Japan, and fear of missing out?.
- Brussels Airport to Milan Malpensa with Brussels Airlines, operated by Air Baltic, ft. the 2025 check-in and boarding software hack.
- REVIEW | Sala Montale Exclusive Lounge and Sala Gae Aulentin Premium Lounge at Milan Malpensa Airport, extra Schengen.
- REVIEW | All Nippon Airways (ANA), Business Class, Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to Tokyo.
- REVIEW | Toei Animation Museum in Nerima, Tokyo.
- JAPAN | Tokyo Station, its Character Street and Pokémon Store.
- REVIEW | Onyado Nono Asakusa Hotel in Tokyo.
- TOKYO | Asakusa ft. Sensō-ji Temple.
- JAPAN | The Odoriko train from Tokyo to Ito on Izu Peninsula.
- PHOTOS & REVIEW | The Izu Teddy Bear Museum in Izu-Kōgen.
- JAPAN | A visit to Ito on Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture.
- REVIEW | Japan’s Saphir Odoriko in Premium Green Car from Ito on Izu Peninsula to Tokyo Station.
- GAY TOKYO | 24 Kaikan in Asakusa (+ Ueno and Shinjuku).
- TOKYO | Sawara in Chiba Prefecture, ‘Little Edo’ beyond Narita.
- TOKYO | Omotesandō in Shibuya – AEON Shinonome – Uniqlo – Muji.
- PHOTOS | The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum in Koganei Park.
- JAPAN | Solo in Tokyo.
- REVIEW | Brussels Airport The View lounge.
- REVIEW | Qatar Airways Business Class Brussels to Doha.
- REVIEW | Qatar Airways Al Mourjan The Garden Business lounge.
- REVIEW | Qatar Airways Q-Suite Business Class Doha to Tokyo.
- REVIEW | Pullman Tokyo Tamachi.
- REVIEW | The Railway Museum, Ōmiya, Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture.
- TOKYO | Imperial Palace East Gardens – Akihabara – Tamiya flagship store – Skytree.
- JAPAN | Kanazawa Castle – Kenrokuen Garden – Higashi Chaya District.
- REVIEW | Daiwa Roynet Hotel Kanazawa Eki Nishiguchi.
- JAPAN | Road trip to Hida no Sato, Takayama and Shirakawa-go from Kanazawa.
- OSAKA | Namba Parks – Dōtonbori – Glico Man – Shinsaibashi.