luxury hotels and ryokan in kyoto

Luxury Hotels and Ryokan in Kyoto

Our tours stay at Hotel The Celestine Kyoto Gion, in Higashiyama. Around it the city keeps hotels of every character: Aman Kyoto, twenty-six rooms, suites and pavilions in a forest garden at the foot of Hidari Daimonji, with an onsen of mineral water that rises beside it; Hiiragiya, a ryokan kept by the same family on Fuyacho Street since 1818; Hoshinoya Kyoto, reached by its own boat on the river; and The Shinmonzen, nine suites over the Shirakawa in Gion.

On this page
Eleven hotels and ryokan, each with its own page
Where our tours stay
Hotel The Celestine Kyoto Gion, Higashiyama
Districts
Higashiyama, Gion, central Kyoto, Arashiyama and the north
See the list
A narrow stone-paved lane in Gion at night after rain, lanterns lit along wooden teahouse fronts and bamboo fences8
A lane of Gion after rain, the teahouse lanterns lit.
A tatami room with a dark table, carved wooden figures and a vase of flowers, lit through tall shoji
A tatami room in a potter's townhouse of 1937, Higashiyama.

Few of the great hotels of central Kyoto have an onsen. Two do: Aman Kyoto, whose water rises near the resort in Takagamine, and Hotel The Mitsui Kyoto, which draws a spring from some 1,000 metres beneath Nijo. For the onsen ryokan of Kansai, the place is Kinosaki Onsen, about two and a half hours north, where The Classic Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan and two journeys of The Private Collection go after Kyoto.

where we stay

Where our tours stay in Kyoto

Our Kyoto nights are in Higashiyama, the old eastern quarter, so that Yasaka Shrine, the lanes to Kiyomizu-dera and the teahouse streets of Gion are all on foot from the door.

the list

The great hotels and ryokan of Kyoto

Each of these hotels and ryokan has its own page, with what a stay gives you: the setting, the rooms, the water and the quiet. Any of them can be part of a Custom Tour of Japan.

  1. Aman Kyoto

    resort · The north

    Twenty-six rooms, suites and pavilions in a forest garden at the foot of Hidari Daimonji, the rooms from sixty square metres and made in the spare manner of a ryokan. The onsen at the spa is fed by mineral water that rises near the resort, and Kinkaku-ji is a short drive from the gate.

  2. Hoshinoya Kyoto

    ryokan · Arashiyama

    Twenty-five rooms in low pavilions on the Oi River above Arashiyama, reached by the resort's own boat, every window turned to the Rankyo gorge. The interiors are the work of Kyoto artisans, and a storehouse some 130 years old is now an incense bar.

  3. The Shinmonzen

    hotel · Gion

    Nine suites on Shinmonzen Street, the street of Kyoto's art and antique dealers, each with a balcony over the Shirakawa and most with a tub of hinoki cypress. Every suite takes its character from one material: washi, lacquer, silk, bamboo, stone or cypress.

  4. Hiiragiya

    ryokan · Central Kyoto

    A ryokan on Fuyacho Street kept by the same family since 1818, its main building in the sukiya manner of the tea room, in Kitayama cedar and polished earth walls. Each room of the main building has a bath of koyamaki wood, and dinner is Kyoto kaiseki on the ryokan's own tableware.

  5. Park Hyatt Kyoto

    hotel · Higashiyama

    Seventy rooms beside Kodai-ji above the stone lanes of Ninenzaka, the Yasaka pagoda below the windows. The garden at the heart of the site and its Edo-era teahouse were kept and restored, and Kiyomizu-dera is a walk away.

  6. The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto

    hotel · Central Kyoto

    On the bank of the Kamo River at Nijo Ohashi, its rooms of about fifty square metres turned to the river or to the eastern hills and Daimonji. The Garden Terrace Suites open onto a private garden of their own, and Gion is a walk along the river.

  7. Hotel The Mitsui Kyoto

    hotel · Central Kyoto

    Beside Nijo Castle, on the site of the Mitsui family's Kyoto residence, entered through a gate that has stood for more than three centuries. A natural hot spring rises from some 1,000 metres below and fills the outdoor onsen of the Onsen Suites, a rare thing in the middle of Kyoto.

  8. Six Senses Kyoto

    hotel · Higashiyama

    Eighty-one rooms and suites opposite the garden of Toyokuni Shrine, the design drawn from The Tale of Genji, a walk from Sanjusangen-do. The Premier Suites have a Japanese garden of their own, and the spa follows the twenty-four small seasons of the old calendar.

  9. The Hiramatsu Kyoto

    hotel · Central Kyoto

    Twenty-nine rooms within a Meiji-era machiya on Muromachi-dori, once the home and shop of a kimono merchant, its lattice front kept almost as it was built. The smallest room is 55 square metres, and The Hiramatsu Suite is panelled in walnut.

by district

Kyoto's luxury hotels by district

Kyoto is a city of quarters, and the district decides the stay as much as the hotel does: what is on foot from the door, and how quiet the evening is.

Kyoto's luxury hotels and ryokan. Positions from OpenStreetMap. © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Where our tours stay

Higashiyama

The old eastern quarter at the foot of the hills: Kiyomizu-dera, Kodai-ji, Yasaka Shrine and the stone slopes between them. A district for a first stay, and the one our tours choose.

Gion

The teahouse streets either side of Shijo, and the willow-lined Shirakawa. Stay here for the evenings, when the lanterns are lit along the canal.

Central Kyoto

The old merchant city between the Kamo River and Nijo Castle, where Hiiragiya and Tawaraya stand a short walk apart on Fuyacho Street.

Arashiyama

The western hills, the Oi River and the bamboo of Sagano, quiet once the day visitors have gone.

The north

Takagamine, a forest at the city's edge, a short drive from Kinkaku-ji.

our tours

Kyoto, with us

The Classic Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan spends three nights in Kyoto, and so do the three Honshu journeys of The Private Collection. The Custom Tour of Japan can put any hotel on this page into a journey of your own.

questions

Questions about Kyoto's hotels

Which are the luxury hotels in Kyoto?

Kyoto holds hotels of every character. Aman Kyoto has twenty-six rooms, suites and pavilions in a forest garden in Takagamine, with an onsen of mineral water; Hiiragiya is a ryokan kept by one family; Hoshinoya Kyoto stands on the river; The Shinmonzen is in Gion. Our tours stay at Hotel The Celestine Kyoto Gion.

Should I stay in a ryokan or a hotel in Kyoto?

Both, if the journey allows. A hotel in Higashiyama or Gion puts the temples on foot; a night at a Kyoto ryokan such as Hiiragiya shows the city's own idea of hospitality. For a ryokan with an onsen, the place is Kinosaki, two and a half hours north.

Which hotels in Kyoto have an onsen?

Few. Hotel The Mitsui Kyoto draws a spring from some 1,000 metres below Nijo, and Aman Kyoto has an onsen of mineral water that rises near the resort.

Which area of Kyoto suits a luxury stay?

Higashiyama puts Kiyomizu-dera, Yasaka Shrine and Gion on foot; Gion has its evenings; Arashiyama and Takagamine have the river and the forest. Our guide to where to stay in Kyoto takes each district in turn.

Where do your tours stay in Kyoto?

At Hotel The Celestine Kyoto Gion in Higashiyama, on The Classic Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan and on Essential Japan, Classic Japan and Definitive Japan, three journeys of The Private Collection.

Can you arrange a stay at any of these hotels?

Yes. The Custom Tour of Japan is created for your party alone, on your dates, and any hotel or ryokan on this page can be part of it. The Expert Japan Itinerary is a journey planned to the day by us, travelled at your own pace.

further reading

Before you choose

Kyoto, from the right hotel.

Tell us when you would like to be in Kyoto and how you like to stay, and we will tell you which hotel or ryokan we would choose for you, and how the days around it would run.

Every hotel and ryokan we know is set out region by region in luxury hotels and ryokan in Japan, and The Private Collection offers private tours of Japan on your own dates.