JJapan Trips

Family of 7 traveling to Kansai Region

We are bringing my side of the family to Japan, hopefully next year, and I don’t think that transfering from 1 accommodation to another is feasible with 7 people and an infant. We equally loved Kyoto and Osaka when my wife and I visited years ago and we are wondering where it would make sense to book an accomodation if we are visiting Kyoto and Osaka with my family? If the itinerary is divided to 3 days in Kyoto and 3 days in Osaka, where do you recommend staying and why? Pros and cons? Thank you!!

10 comments

  1. If you don’t have an aesthetic preference, it’s the same train trip either way. Just find a cheap, nice hotel the shortest possible distance from a useful train station.

    Personally, I’d lean Osaka but that’s because I like to go to high rise bars and look at the city at night. I doubt you’ll be doing that with 8 people including an infant lol

  2. I would stay in Kyoto, preferably near Kawaramachi/Gion-Shijo, but I also wouldn’t give Osaka 3 days if you only have 6 total. I would definitely give one of those days to Nara (which is a similar distance from both Osaka and Kyoto), and I would probably give half a day to Himeji, with the second half spent in Kobe, Osaka, or Kyoto. I have written quite a bit about this topic in past posts, such as [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/8xh3q7/osaka_or_kyoto_as_a_base/e2538q2/).

    Honestly though, if you really are planning on doing three full days just within each city, I see no reason not to change hotels. It’s not worth spending hours of your trip running back and forth just avoid changing accommodations. I’d also suggest considering vacation rentals rather than hotels for a group that big.

  3. I’d look for a family friendly place in Kyoto. There is *so* much to see/do in Kyoto and it’s a short train ride to Osaka or Nara for day trips to places like the Aquarium or Deer Park. If you stay in Kyoto it’ll be easier for the parents/infant to head back to hotel for a nap while others continue exploring the temples/shrines. I prefer staying in the Higashiyama/Gion area but there are a number of family-friendly hotels with larger sized rooms near Kyoto Station. We’ve stayed at the [Kyoto Granbell ](https://goo.gl/maps/GLwWbgwurUvgm95CA) and, in Osaka, at the [Cross Hotel ](https://goo.gl/maps/Yvc3694KicM5yycc7) and found both to be convenient but are a couple so our needs are different than a family with infant.

    These websites have some family friendly suggestions you could look into.

    – [Tokyo Chapter: Family Friendly Lodging in Kyoto ](https://www.thetokyochapter.com/my-favourite-places-to-stay-in-kyoto/)
    – [Tokyo Chapter: Kyoto with Kids ](https://www.thetokyochapter.com/other-japanese-cities-kyoto-with-kids/)
    – [Tokyo Chapter: Hotel Imagine Kyoto ](https://www.thetokyochapter.com/other-cities-hotel-imagine-kyoto/)
    – [Best Living: Kyoto With Kids ](https://bestlivingjapan.com/tag/kyoto-with-kids/)
    – [Best Living: Osaka With Kids ](https://bestlivingjapan.com/category/travel/osaka/)
    – [Tokyo Chapter: Osaka With Kids ](https://www.thetokyochapter.com/other-japanese-cities-osaka-with-kids/)
    – [Best Osaka Hotels for Families ](https://insideosaka.com/best-osaka-hotels-for-families/)

    Happy Planning!

  4. Osaka is rad because of the nightlife mostly. If you’re with a large family group, stay in Kyoto. There’s probably more for y’all to do there on the whole.

  5. We stayed in Kyoto with a group of teenagers and they loved it. We picked Tokyu Stay Kyoto hotel in the shopping district and it was perfect to let the kids roam around on their own. Very safe – we used life360 app to keep an eyeball on them.

    Going to Osaka and Nara aren’t bad from there as the subway station is right around the corner from the hotel.

  6. I think that both can make sense.

    My question would be what age is everybody in the group? Like 7 adults and an infant or 4 adults 3 kids and an infant ? What is the expectation of things to do at the end of the day. Relax at the accommodation, go out for a dring, go out for a quiet walk ? If with kids, want them to end the day in a shopping district and hitting arcades ?

    I can see hot Osaka can be more appealing for nightlife and shopping and on the other hand, Kyoto have a bit more focus on culture and you can find some more relax places.

    Then do you have any expectation regarding the accommodation ? I know that some hotels have larger rooms for groups, like the Mimaru hotels. Or do you want to experience something more traditional? In Kyoto you can rent kyomachiya that can accommodate 8 people, however, it might be a bit pricey if you are comparing with AirBnb prices.

    Finally, what do you want to visit. You might want to select a place that is as convenient as possible to visit everything you want.

    Speaking of AirBnb, check where they are located, not only the distance from the station, but close to what station. I know someone who went to Japan and got somehow cheap places, but they were not well located, so it would add time to reach whatever places he wanted to visit and pay more to reach these places. So if you are to spend an extra 3000-4000 yen by day in train fare for your group for a cheaper place, it might not be really worth it.

    Also be aware that some people are attracted by really cheap places in Osaka and just end up in a not really the best neighborhood, so if you see cheap places close to Shinsekai or south of it, then that is a hard pass.

  8. We went to Japan in 2019 with a total of 11 people in the age range 3-75 years, including 3 children aged 3-7-10.

    We had base in Osaka due to extended family but also had a 7 days round trip staying in Kanazawa, Takayama, Tokyo and Kyoto. It’s easy to travel around in Japan no matter that you have an infant and a baby stroller or elderly with you.
    So if your concern is that it will difficult travelling 7 people, then I would say don’t worry.

    If you plan on only seeing Kyoto and Osaka (and Nara) then I would say as many others that you can easily stay in Kyoto and go to Osaka, Nara, Kobe and Kanazawa on day trips. But if you plan going to Osaka on more than one day trip, then I at least would consider staying af night or two in Osaka.

    We stayed at Hotel Gentle Fox near Fushimi Inari Taisha. It may not have the best location connection wise, but it was an western style top modern apartment hotel there even the dishes was done for you while away on tours. We especially liked that there was a washing machine and the bathroom also acted as a giant dryer with was much needed then we came back one day soaked even the baby stroller was soaked. Unfortunately Hotel Gentle Fox is at the moment listed as permanently closed on Google, but I hope that is only temporarily during the pandemic. It will be the first hotel I will check then we hopefully go back in not to many years.

    I think the biggest difficulties was agreeing on what to do and see due to the big age gap and very different interests. It wasn’t travelling from place to place.

  9. What kind of budget are you on? Kyoto has some reasonably priced Machiya that can be quite decent for a big family. You can cook simple meals and have everyone live in a house.

  10. You need to provide more detail really. Budget, what type of experience your looking for, idea of the activities you’re wanting to do, how many days you think you’d be spending in each, etc…. would be good to understand are you looking for nights out/late nights or are you planning more traditional type cultural things or a mix of both? What are the age ranges of people going there?

    Personally, I always advocate staying in one or the other as a base camp, but which is more desirable for you in particular is hard to say without at least a bit more detail..

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