Where to stay in Kyoto

Three kinds of nightWhere to stay in Kyoto

The choice is really about what kind of night you want. A hot-spring inn feeds you twice and stops you moving. A city hotel is the right answer if you are arriving late or leaving early.

A ryokan or hot-spring inn旅館・温泉宿

Dinner and breakfast brought to you, a bath, and floor bedding laid out while you eat. The price is per person and includes both meals.

Includes 2 meals Book ahead

See ryokan and onsen inns › How an onsen works

A city hotelホテル

Clean, small, reliable and priced per room. Right for early trains, late arrivals and anyone travelling with a large suitcase.

Per roomNear the station

See hotels in Kyoto › Getting around

A guesthouse or minshuku民宿・ゲストハウス

Family-run, cheaper, and often the only option in the countryside.

Ask about cashRural areas

See guesthouses and minshuku ›

Our first choice in Kyoto is named below.

Looking for a room in Kyoto tonight?

MAP How an onsen works

BookingSix things worth asking before you pay

Ask about these

Meals: Whether dinner and breakfast are included, and what time dinner is served. Inns often serve at a fixed time and will not wait
Tattoos: Ask whether the bath admits them, and ask about a private bath
Private bath: Kashikiri. Many inns have one, and it removes the question of bathing with strangers entirely
Payment: Card or cash. Rural inns are often cash only
Arrival time: Tell them. Inns lock up earlier than hotels
Luggage: They will hold it before check-in and after check-out. Just ask

What a night at an inn is like

Shoes: Off at the entrance. Slippers inside; nothing on the straw matting
The robe: A cotton yukata is provided and is worn to dinner and to the bath. Left side over right
Dinner: Many small dishes, often in your room or a dining room at a set time
Bedding: Laid out on the floor, usually while you are eating
Bathing: Before dinner and again before bed is normal here
Breakfast: Rice, fish, egg, pickles. Ask the night before if you need it early

How an onsen works

Our first choice hereThe one we would book

Hotel Granvia Kyotoホテルグランヴィア京都 — Gu-ra-n-vi-a

The hotel is part of the station. You come off the shinkansen, go up, and you are at the desk. Every line in the region meets at this station, so you can be anywhere in the city or beyond it without moving your bags twice.

No taxi, no bus, no walk with luggage.
Two stops on the local line to the vermilion gates at Fushimi Inari, which has almost no beds of its own.
The site is in English — you can book it yourself.

Where: Directly connected to JR Kyoto Station — inside the station building itself
Address: Karasuma-dori Shiokoji-sagaru, Shimogyo, Kyoto 600-8216
Telephone: 075-344-8888
Booking: Through the official site, or the booking services below

Worth knowing

Kyoto fills up in April and November. Book as early as you can for those months.

Checked 2026-08-20

MAP Call Official site

Where to stay & onsen