First look: Overview of Waldorf Astoria Osaka

Usually enjoying second fiddle to Tokyo, Osaka, Japan, is presently having its personal second — no surprise the town, and the encircling area of Kansai, earned a spot on our 2025 checklist of high locations.

Not solely is World Expo 2025 going down in Osaka, however the metropolis has been a hotbed of lodge exercise currently. Final 12 months noticed the opening of the elegant 4 Seasons Lodge Osaka, and never one, however two fabulous new lodges have opened within the metropolis prior to now two months.

One in all them is the brand new Waldorf Astoria Osaka, which formally debuted in April 2025 within the occurring Umekita district, simply north of the historic middle.

We have been a number of the first visitors to verify in to this thrilling new outpost for the Waldorf Astoria model, and this is every little thing it’s essential to know forward of your individual keep (together with how one can e-book it utilizing Hilton factors).

First impressions

Though the murals and enormous ceramic items within the ground-floor entrance are spectacular, your breath would possibly simply be taken away while you arrive on the twenty ninth flooring and step out onto a dais overlooking the lodge’s point of interest, Peacock Alley, named after the unique Waldorf Astoria’s central promenade, the place turn-of-the-century dandies would attempt to flip well-to-do women’ heads.

Famend lodge designer André Fu oversaw the venture (you may need admired his work at Hong Kong’s Higher Home and Capella Singapore), and the triple-height area has large home windows wanting north towards the unmistakable silhouette of the Umeda Sky Constructing and over the Yodo River to the Kongo mountains past.

Equally eye-catching are the artwork deco touches, together with large cascading chandeliers; a dramatic, crescent-shaped green-marble cocktail bar; and swish metalwork accents. The showstopper, nevertheless, is the antique-style Seiko clock — a riff on the one on the authentic Waldorf Astoria New York, which was commissioned by Queen Victoria for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Tear your gaze away from the lunching women genteelly sipping tea from pastel-hued Ginori china and traverse one in all two corridors to the again tower. You’ll go two glass-enclosed rock gardens earlier than discovering your option to the equally gorgeous however virtually diametrically totally different reception space.

Impressed by conventional Japanese home lanterns, the towering, round area is ribbed with blond wooden panels surrounding a black stone tranquility pool whose edge is pierced by Setouchi granite boulders — equal components Japanese pure supplies and big-city Hong Kong feng shui.

Passing by means of right here on the way in which to the visitor elevators, you might be pressured to take your time, stepping across the pool, previous artwork book-filled cabinets and receiving a heat salutation from one of many workers members ready to name an elevator for you.

It offers you time to soak up less-evident parts, just like the hanging chandeliers that one lodge govt informed me reminded her of the standard wind chimes tinkling exterior her grandmother’s home.

The rooms

Located on flooring 31 by means of 38 of the constructing, Waldorf Astoria Osaka has 252 visitor rooms however, extra precisely, 248 “keys” since a few of these rooms are adjoining. They vary from 517-square-foot Deluxe rooms to the two,077-square-foot Presidential Suite.

Strolling down the lengthy entry hallway to my nook junior suite on the thirty seventh flooring led me previous a powder room and into the lounge, which had a breakfast desk with two chairs that doubled as a piece desk, and a minibar stocked with native spirits (Ki No Bi gin and Okuhida vodka) and snacks (Umeda de Cow chips). A sitting room featured a taupe divan that confronted an enormous wall-mounted tv, and there was a rough-hewn wood desk the place I discovered house-made macarons and slices of recent melon as my welcome amenity.

The pale wood partitions and flooring paired with the inexperienced, gold and blue palette of the carpet, throw pillows and chairs created an indoor panorama of types, with echoes of the Japanese countryside (suppose: mysterious forests, craggy volcanoes and dramatic shorelines pounded by swirling surf).

These motifs repeated within the bed room, which was by means of a big sliding wood door. Surrounded on two sides by floor-to-ceiling home windows, the king-size mattress was dressed with Waldorf Astoria’s signature sheets with crisp stitching and had a number of the finest sundown views on the town.

Behind it, a home made wood kumiko display screen framed a washi-paper wall set up, the patterns on each resembling peacock tails and Asian hand followers — playful allusions to the Waldorf Astoria model’s arrival in Japan.

Behind the mattress space was an ample closet and the light-filled rest room, its surfaces clad in good-looking white-gray limestone slabs. Twin sinks stocked with Aesop merchandise (plus loads of spare toiletries in case you forgot yours at house, in addition to a Dyson hair dryer) and the walk-in bathe offered welcome areas to primp earlier than twilight cocktails at Peacock Alley.

After a day hoofing it below the solar across the Expo, although, it was into the luxurious tub that I sank for a restorative soak.

Eating

There are a number of eating places and bars on the Waldorf Astoria Osaka, starting from high-end teppanyaki to conventional French brasserie fare.

Peacock Alley

Open from 11 a.m. to 10 or 11 p.m. (relying on the day) and true to its identify, Peacock Alley stays the place to see and be seen each day and evening. There’s a confection-filled afternoon tea service, which is already changing into fashionable. Nevertheless, most people have a tendency to return for compact however crowd-pleasing dishes from the all-day menu, like dainty lobster rolls on fluffy brioche buns ($33) and the eponymous Waldorf salad ($19).

Even for those who’re not eating right here, cease by for a pre- or post-meal drink like a spirit-forward Rob Roy ($19) from the 1935 “Waldorf Astoria Bar Guide,” or an equally intoxicating replace on it, the Osaka Rob Roy ($21.50) with Yamazaki single malt whisky, Michter’s US 1 Kentucky straight rye whiskey, persimmon-infused Mancino Secco vermouth, Pedro Ximénez sherry and citrusy yuzu-shiso bitters.

The restaurant additionally has an out of doors deck overlooking the town that is merely spectacular round sundown.

Jolie Brasserie

Sunny and convivial, Jolie Brasserie is the lodge’s informal French outlet. From 6:30-10:30 a.m., yow will discover visitors perusing the cornucopic buffet attempting to resolve between candy and savory pastries and the choice of recent fruit and chilly cuts earlier than tucking right into a la carte inclusions like toast heaped with avocado and eggs or Osaka-style udon noodles in an umami broth with a reduce of grilled Nanatani duck from Kyoto.

For lunch (11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. each day) and dinner (5:30-9 p.m. each day), the menu walks the road between French faves like quiche lorraine ($17) and Asian flavors like tuna tartare with avocado puree, radish, shallot and a tangy ponzu sauce ($20). You may additionally discover consolation dishes like a croque madame ($20) and French onion soup ($20), plus a choice of mouthwatering cuts of wagyu steak (costs range by reduce and measurement) ready to order along with your selection of sauces and a aspect of fries.

Tsukimi

Open just for dinner from 5:30-9 p.m. Thursday by means of Monday, Tsukimi is the lodge’s fine-dining den for teppanyaki dishes ready earlier than your eyes.

Your meal would possibly embrace delicacies like handmade soba noodles with tender squid tartare and earthy mushroom sauce, succulent sea bream recent from the market with shrimp sauce and plum foam over springy maitake mushrooms and seasonal white asparagus with onion-garlic miso cream sauce in a concentrated hen consomme.

The piece de resistance, nevertheless, shall be a slender reduce of juicy, intricately marbled Tajima Kuroge wagyu beef – you’ll be able to even examine its certificates of authenticity, full with the animal’s family tree and distinctive noseprint – slow-cooked to unctuous perfection then barely seared over charcoal for a smoky end.

When you nonetheless have room, strive a number of scoops of seafood fried rice with tiny pink sakura shrimp and pickled greens earlier than sake ice cream with puckery lemongrass granita for dessert. Menus begin at $292 per individual.

Canes & Tales

A clandestine speakeasy tucked behind a jade-green door adjoining to Peacock Alley, Canes & Tales is open 5 p.m. till midnight (Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday) or 1 a.m. (Friday and Saturday).

There, cosseted within the artwork deco-inspired inside, full with lapis lazuli-blue velvet sofas and topaz-yellow leather-based chairs (plus some natty wallpaper!), visitors can sip colourful cocktails just like the Camel’s Again with Roku gin, Chartreuse, pear distillate, gobo and gari cordial, and fizzy ginger beer ($19).

Facilities and repair

• Service all through the lodge was heat, real and attentive with out changing into overbearing. It appeared like, upon arrival, everybody working on the lodge knew my identify.
• Open from 10 a.m. till 9 p.m., the lodge’s spa is intimate, with simply 4 remedy rooms the place visitors can take pleasure in experiences using fancy skincare merchandise from manufacturers like La Prairie and Tiaraleen.
• The lodge’s health middle is stocked with the most recent Technogym cardio and weight gear.
• Simply across the nook from the gymnasium, the pool has fabulous skyline views and is family-friendly, although we did not see any children splashing round.
• Even for those who’re not internet hosting an occasion, ask to take a look at the lodge’s chapel area; it is a stunner.

Location and logistics

The Waldorf Astoria Osaka is within the metropolis’s energetic Umekita district, which is north of the historic middle, and a few 20-minute metro trip to Osaka Fortress. The lodge sits adjoining to Umekita Park, the place you will see people out for strolls or having fun with lunch through the workday. It’s also a part of the Grand Inexperienced Osaka improvement, which incorporates high-end boutiques and eating places, together with an installment of Time Out Market, an upscale meals corridor of types with stalls purveying typical street-food delicacies like karaage fried hen and okonomiyaki egg and scallion pancakes.

From Kansai Worldwide Airport (KIX), the lodge is a few 45-minute drive, which prices round $70 in an Uber. When you’re touring gentle, nevertheless, you’ll be able to catch a practice to Osaka Station for round $20 and simply stroll to the lodge. You can too catch trains from Osaka Station to Kobe, Kyoto and Nara.

In case you are touring to Osaka on the Shinkansen bullet practice, you’ll be able to take the metro from Shin-Osaka station to the Umeda station for just below $2 and stroll from there.

The lodge has a Mercedes Maybach to ferry visitors round on a first-come, first-served foundation to close by places.

What it prices

Nightly charges on the Waldorf Astoria Osaka begin at $536 or 120,000 Hilton Honors factors per evening for a King Deluxe or 2 Queen Deluxe room.

When reserving the Waldorf Astoria Osaka, you will need to use one of many bank cards that earn probably the most factors for Hilton stays, or one that provides automated Hilton Honors elite standing for value-added advantages. These embrace:

• Hilton Honors American Specific Surpass® Card: Earn 12 factors per greenback spent on eligible purchases at Hilton lodges, automated Gold elite standing and the power to improve to Diamond standing by means of the top of the following calendar 12 months by spending $40,000 on eligible purchases in a calendar 12 months.
• Hilton Honors American Specific Enterprise Card: Earn 12 factors per greenback spent on eligible purchases at Hilton lodges, automated Gold elite standing and the power to improve to Diamond standing by means of the top of the following calendar 12 months by spending $40,000 on eligible purchases in a calendar 12 months.
• Hilton Honors American Specific Card: Earn 7 factors per greenback spent on eligible purchases at Hilton lodges and automated Silver elite standing (with an improve to Gold by means of the top of the following calendar 12 months while you spend $20,000 on eligible purchases in a calendar 12 months).
• Hilton Honors American Specific Aspire Card: Earn 14 factors per greenback spent on eligible purchases at Hilton lodges and automated Diamond elite standing.

The knowledge for the Hilton Aspire Card has been collected independently by The Factors Man. The cardboard particulars on this web page haven’t been reviewed or offered by the cardboard issuer.

Alternatively, the lodge participates in American Specific Wonderful Inns + Resorts, so in case you have an eligible card, akin to The Platinum Card® from American Specific or The Enterprise Platinum Card® from American Specific, and e-book by means of that portal, you’ll obtain perks like availability-based upgrades, as much as a $100 credit score to make use of on the property throughout your keep for extras like drinks and meals, complimentary each day breakfast for 2, and assured 4 p.m. late checkout.

Accessibility

The Waldorf Astoria’s avenue entrances are all wheelchair-accessible and have a direct, no-step path to the set of elevators that take you as much as the reception flooring. There are additionally elevators to the extent the place Peacock Alley and Canes & Tales are. Visitor flooring and the wellness middle are all accessible through elevator as effectively, however notice there isn’t any chairlift on the pool.

The lodge has 4 King Accessible rooms with options that embrace lowered spyholes and loo counters in addition to supportive handrails.

Backside line

The Waldorf Astoria Osaka represents an thrilling introduction for a storied model in Japan and is a surprising new factors lodge in one in all Asia’s most dynamic cities. Whereas factors charges there went up shortly after opening, reserving award nights can nonetheless signify nice financial savings … so you’ve gotten more cash in your pocket to benefit from the lodge’s many bars, eating places and different facilities.

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