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There’s no other way to put it: Osaka is so hot right now. Fresh off making Time Out Worldwide’s world’s best cities for food list and being named Asia’s most liveable city by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the beating heart of Kansai can now boast about having the best hotel on the planet.
That’s right: Patina Osaka was named the Best Hotel in the World at Travel + Leisure’s 2026 World’s Best Awards.
The hotel, which opened opposite Osaka Castle in May 2025, has quickly built a reputation on its picture-perfect location, striking design and extensive art collection.
Not to mention its standout dining offerings, which include P72, a lunch-and-afternoon-tea restaurant built around Japan’s 72 micro-seasons that sources its produce from an organic veg farm on Awaji Island.
Many rooms and public spaces at Patina look straight out onto the castle itself, floor-to-ceiling glass windows framing the 16th-century fortress from the lap pool, the onsen-style hot tub and the shoji-walled tea lounge Nijiri.
Rooms feature 3D washi paper headboards moulded from a section of the castle’s original granite walls, and the hotel’s Sonata Bar & Lounge is built around a wall of hundreds of upcycled vintage Japanese speakers.
It’s the first time a Japanese hotel has topped the global list, capping a strong couple of years for Osaka’s hospitality scene as the city continues to see exciting new openings.
You can read Travel + Leisure’s glowing review of Patina Osaka here.
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