After saying goodbye to my family in Hokkaido, I traveled to Kyoto by myself. Since I had a pretty late flight, I booked the capsule hotel “First Cabin Kansai Airport” located in the airport. I wanted to experience it and also saved some money.
First Cabin Kansai Airport – Intro
First Cabin Kansai Airport is located on the 3rd floor of Aero Plaza of the Kansai Airport, near the end of the hallway. Just follow the sign and don’t panic if you walk for a long time. You are there when you see this entrance.
There were many people waiting for rooms when I checked in. If you walk in, you can choose to pay by hour (2 hours min.) or stay overnight (7pm – 10am). Overnight guests are prioritized after 7pm.
First Cabin (more space) Price：
- Overnight: 7,200 yen（7pm – 10am）
- Hourly rate: 1,000 yen（2 hours min. ）
Business Cabin (bed only) Price:
- Overnight: 6,200 yen （7pm – 10am）
- Hourly rate: 900 yen（2 hours min.）
Prices differ from the dates Book a room
The entrance of First Cabin
Male and Female Are Completely Separated
There was this couple who insisted to stay in the same room, as the front desk kept explaining that they had to separate. There are no double room in this capsule hotel. All the sleeping areas and washrooms are all separated. Except for the safety, they can prepare toiletries accordingly.
I stayed in the female area (obviously lol). The shower area is quite nice, better than any other hostel experiences. There’s a private shower room with a basket to put your stuff in. It’s very clean as well. They provide q-tips, nice blow dryers, even makeup remover, lotion, tonic lotion, and curler. Some girls were hanging out in the area. It’s kind of like a Japanese public bath, a nice one.
First Cabin’s shower and room
Sleeping Area
In the sleeping area, it’s like one cubicle-ish room next to another. There’s bed, TV, AC, and they also provide pajamas and towels. It’s fully equipped and clean. The AC is individual in the room so you can adjust it to the temperature you like.
The bed and pillow are not perfect but enough for a good rest. The biggest flaw to me is the noise. There’s no soundproof at all. Almost everyone stays here because of red-eye flights or early departure. You can easily hear the phone buzz, suitcase dragging sound, or footsteps. It’s better to have earplugs. I am not used to those so didn’t sleep well the whole night.
Another downside is that the room is smaller than the photos online. If you have a suitcase, you can only open it in the hallway, and put in the hallway. If it’s too big, you have to lock it and put in the luggage room. There’s a safe box in the room. It only has a curtain to “cover” the room, no door or lock, so it’s better to put valuables such as your passport, wallet, cellphone or laptop in the safe box.
First Cabin’s hallway and room. They provide pajamas and towels.
Overall
With the price 6,200 yen (approx. 57 USD) and space, it’s not a cheap place to stay. Yet on the other side, it’s safe and convenient when you arrive very late or departure very early. Compared to the other in-airport Hotel Nikko Kansai Airport, it’s much more economic. The experience overall was not bad.
