Osaka: Hotel Monterey Grasmere.

Hotel Monterey Grasmere is in Namba, Osaka.

A full size tub. Not bad.

With three double beds!

City view from hotel room.

Not a bad size for a hotel room in Japan.

Board rates. Go to ZUJI for better prices. I did.

This pass gives access to our floor and our floor only. Security is good.

Corridor. Nice!

This is a first for me.
A chapel on level 22 where the hotel lobby is located.

The hotel occupies the upper levels of this building in Namba.

Well located, spacious and clean, I much prefer this to Hotel New Hankyu located in Umeda, Osaka, which I stayed in twice before.

The building has a huge supermarket in the basement. This opens till 12 midnight daily.

The JR line and city subway have stations in the basement too. Umeda is just 4 stations away. Take the Yotsubatsu Line to Nishi-Umeda. How is that for convenience?

As always when in Osaka, visit the information centers for tourists and buy the Kansai Thru Pass if you are going to do some extensive travelling by rail.

Information center for tourists in Namba.

This covers all the subway lines as well as some train services to cities like Himeiji, Kobe, Nara and Kyoto. A 3 day pass will cost JPY 5000 per person. Children pay half the price.

If you are not planning to make day trips out of Osaka, then, a one day subway pass is probably a cheaper option at JPY 800 per person.

There is also the option of getting a JR pass but this is purchased at the JR station in Osaka. Remember to bring along your passport at all times. This will allow rides on some Shinkansen services!

This 4 day pass was relatively inexpensive at JPY 7,000 per person. It allows travel from Shin-Osaka to Okayama on the Shinkansen too.

Apart from the fact that most Japanese do not speak English which makes communication an issue for me, the country is really tourist friendly. Also, many young people are able to speak some English much better than I could speak some Japanese now.

Yokoso Japan!