Kyoto Hotel Reviews

I made Kyoto my base and was easily able to take day trips to Hiroshima, Hemiji and Miajyma. From there you can easily access other places especially with the JR Bullet Train. As trains are expensive in Japan I made the most of the JR Travel Pass which is available to tourists. With it you don''t have to worry about buying individual tickets and you can reserve your seats at all JR trains for free. It also entitles you to unlimited travel on JR Trains (except the Nozomi Super Express) JR Buses and JR Ferries. You get a voucher from your travel agent which you exchange at a JR office (one is available at the airports). Check out www.japanrailpass.net. for further info.

This hotel has one of the best locations in kyoto!! You can walk to all of the shoppong, Gion, and Nijo Castle. The other shrines are all close by with taxi, bus, or subway. The rooms are small, but this is to be expected in Japan. The rooms are a tad run down but clean. The staff are friendly, many of them speak excellent English. The service is great in the conceriege. Many eateries around the hotel and again you can walk to all the shopping and Gion. I would stay here again if in Kyoto. Also the Kyoto train station is about 15 min from the hotel by taxi.

Take advantage of the 100 yen city bus located across at the train station. You must go to the bus stop to catch this bus. The city is promoting its bus, it goes around the sights of Kyoto, from Sanju-sangen-do to Museums, to the Silver Shrine to Kiyomizu, etc. This is our third trip to Kyoto and we would come back again to enjoy the cherry blossoms, cultural and artistic venues.

Went to Daitokuji temple complex. There aren''t too many people there during the week, so I pretty much had the tour guide to myself, which was nice. Note: most things in Japan are cash-oriented, and it''s even harder to find an English ATM in Kyoto than in Tokyo-- and the one I found wasn''t on Cirrus or Plus, so my ATM card didn''t work anyway. But at least the streets have names and signs in English, which helps.

Kyoto is a nice city mixing modernity and traditions. We enjoyed the many temples (especially the Golden Temple) and Potocho Street, full of restaurants. City buses are very efficient and I would recommend their use. Transfer from Kyoto train station to Kansai airport takes 1h15.

If you only have 1 day, like we did, walk around the immediate vicinity of the hotel and you will get a good feel of Kyoto. Don''t miss Pontocho Street by the river (line of traditional restaurants), the streets of Gion (the old Geisha district) and Higashiyama Area where there are many temples to boast of. If you have more time, then do the temples off the city center... I think the Kinkakuji and Ryoanji area is the next best.

There are so many temples and gardens to see in Kyoto! I''ll definitely be going back to this wonderful city to catch all the things I missed. If you''re interested in sake, be sure to seek out a little bar named Yorum (Yorumu in Japanese). Dozens of fine are rare sakes are available. You can order a sampler and Mr. Yorum personally will guide you through the tasting.

Kyoto is the cultural capital of Japan and a wonderful place to experience the soul of Japan. It is small and very easy to get around on the local bus system. Be sure to get an english map from the central bus station at Kyoto Rail Station.

Took the JTB Sunrise tour of Kyoto, highly recommended to get background on the temples and shrines, especially since the sites are distant from the train station. Used the Haruka Express train to Kansai Airport which is very convenient (drops you right off at the terminal).

We selected a JTB Sunrise morning tour as an orientation to Kyoto. We visited the Golden Pavillion, The Imperial Palace and the Nijo Castle. The tour was rushed and should have gone for at least another hour. The two Tokyo JTB morning tours (Edo Tokyo and the Tokyo Bay Lunch Cruise) we went on by comparison were enjoyable, well-paced and relaxing.<br> <br> The transport system in Kyoto is so easy to navigate that we spent the rest of our week stay travelling on our own. We recommend the following places as must-sees -- Kyoto station''s rooftop observatory, Takashiyama and Hankyu Department stores, the 400 year old Nishiki market and the covered shopping arcades around Teramachi. If you are going to see temples you must limit yourself as there are so many. We went to the Silver Pavillion which has a beautiful garden, Nanzenji, which is huge and has a fantastic Zen dry stone garden for contemplation and the beautiful Kiyomizu. One of the more impressive temples and the most accessible as far as photography was concerned is the atmospheric Chion-in. Also you must visit the very unusual Sanjusangendo Hall.<br> <br> We went to the Gion corner and found the traditional entertainment to be virtually incomprehensible. Wait until you witness the Ikebana demonstration!! Most visitors were bemused. This entertainment is rather expensive so think twice before you go. At dusk the Pontoncho and Gion offer a number of restaurants available to foreigners, just look for the English menus outside. We dined at two Pontoncho restaurants Kaiyoutei (French style, located directly on the river) and Ka-Shin-tei (Japanese style - reasonably priced and marvellous food). At dusk it is possible to witness geisha or maiko walking around in Gion and the Pontoncho. It is not necessary to book yourself onto a tour to see this. You should be neatly and smartly dressed to eat here.<br> <br> If you have children we would recommend a day trip to Osaka from Kyoto. Time wise we took in three sites - the Umeda Sky Building, the Osaka Aquarium - which houses a whale shark, the nearby ferris wheel and the Osaka Castle. Again, transporation in Osaka is OK and we even met some very kind locals who went out of their way to assist us.<br> <br> If you wish to buy souvenirs you must visit the Kyoto Craft Centre near Gion. Do not confuse this place with the Kyoto Handicraft Centre, which sells tacky stuff by comparison. The Kyoto Craft Centre is the best place to buy quality handicrafts. In fact we found no better place to shop for traditional wares even in Tokyo, and that includes the Oriental Bazaar. We recommend that you stay for at least one week in Kyoto. We ran out of time and would have loved to have gone on other day trips.

Experienced my 1st earthquake in Kyoto at midnight! Quite frightening as it lasted a few minutes and I had no clue how to react other than holding on to my pillow and kept looking out the window to see if anyone else was running. Otherwise, the 2-day stay was very pleasant visiting various temples and shrines, all pretty much accessible by bus that charged a flat fee. Would be advisable to buy a day-pass from the bus station and both Walking and City Maps are available free of charge from the tourist office at Kyoto Station.

One word about Kyoto, visitors may find less of an opportunity for late night dining compared with other cities. Do not bother venturing out from the hotel much past 9PM and expect to discover or stumble across a new dining location in the midst of Kyoto - many establishments will be closed by the time you arrive at your newly found oasis. This is where the Rihga Royal can come into its own again because of its varied internal selection of restaurants most of which take a seatings up until 10PM. If you are running late or unsure of where you will be going, it would be better to stay in & take advantage of the facilities. It''s not worth missing out an evening meal through deliberation or paranoia.

Kyoto is an excellent place to visit, the golden temple at Kinkakujini was rated quite cool, but no presents (we visited 25 Dec with a 14 year old) and the free food samples from the station food court were rated wow by his twin brother. The family walk along the skywalk disturbed other romantic couples on the 11th floor walkway. Superb views. We had to video the dinner we ordered in Takagaki with fluttering fish flakes on the vegetarian omelette. It loked like something you would see on a coral reef.

Several of Kyoto''s underpublicized gems, such as the temple Nanzenji and its two separately maintained formal gardens, and the Shoren-in temple, are within a 5-minute walk of the Westin Miyako, giving access to tranquility unparalleled at the more heavily visited sites. The Miyako staff recommended kaiseki, "Japanese haute cuisine," at a restaurant called Sakura near the intersection of Oike-dori avenue and Kiyamachi-dori streets. This was indeed spectacular, and was several cuts above any other kaiseki we encountered and for a considerably lower price (around 5500 yen per person). The local subway from Keage station was easily understood and navigated by a non-Japanese speaker and made getting around much easier and less expensive than it would have been otherwise.

We mainly walked and used the bus/train system. It was terrific.

An excellent restaurant nearby is Agatha''s, a skewer restaurant. Starbucks is only two blocks away. Also, the Pontoncho district is within walking distance, and includes hundreds of restaurants in a very "Japanese" setting.

Kyoto subways and buses are easy to navigate in English.

Take the 206 bus south to Sanjusangen-do and back to Kiyomizu-dera, then it is a nice long sightseeing walk northward to Ginkaku-ji. Good kaiseki lunch at Nakamura-ro on the southern edge of Yakusa shrine is pricey but worth it for the experience. Day trip to Hiei-zan from Kyoto station was also worthwhile.

If you''re coming to Japan you must go to Kyoto - it really gives you a flavour of Japan.

Central Location near Gion for restaurants etc.