KAYA 京都二條城 — Hotel in Kyoto

Nice newer boutique hotel in a relatively quiet neighborhood. Our second extended stay. Modern attractive rooms with mixed western/Japanese motif. Larger rooms are pretty spacious for Japan. Rooms are very clean and well maintained. Shower and tub in every room. Beds are large and comfortable. Twins are more like doubles. Staff is welcoming. Front desk staff women, Eri and Junko, really helped us by keeping us in same room despite us changing reservations several times. The hotel is a bit removed from the busiest parts of the city so NO crowds. We took a cab from Kyoto station to get to the hotel but once there only used public transportation. The hotel is a just few minutes walk to main north/south and east/west bus lines so grabbing a bus couldn’t have been easier. Since the hotel wasn’t close to Kyoto Station buses were rarely very crowded. Nearly every attraction could be reached on one bus. Short walk to both Nijo Castle and Kyoto Imperial Palace. It’s a very Japanese neighborhood, small apartment complexes and 2-3 story buildings and homes. A small restaurant in hotel only serves small breakfast and afternoon coffee and beer/wine, but there are lots of excellent tiny LOCAL Japanese restaurants within short walking distance, most had English menus (although they sometimes take a long time to find them) Best food I’ve ever had. Trip Advisor’s top sushi restaurant is steps away across narrow street (be sure to book!) Mr Yamada restaurant manager, was really helpful finding things for us to do and providing guidance on how to...

I stayed at Kaya for a week ahead of a planned work event. I wanted some time to myself to settle into the time zone and just relax into Kyoto for a while. I’ve been to the city before (coming from Ireland) but this was my first stay by myself. Kaya is a beautiful hotel. So relaxing and the attention to details and cleanliness cannot be overstated. My room was so easy to balance for temperature using the thermostat to get the exact comfort level I wanted. The bedding was so so comfortable I am even going to make adjustments to my own bed and home when I return because loved it so much at Kaya. The breakfast is easily the best breakfast of ANY of the top hotels I’ve stayed at in Kyoto (all of which pride themselves as being the best of the best) I put more details in noteworthy section below and added a picture of the average breakfast I had. So delicious and always made me feel ready for the day, or ready to go back to bed for a cosy nap! The staff at Kaya were so wonderful and a testament to the hotel standard itself. Will...

Rooms - Although there was no balcony or views from the room, the ambient lighting top quality furniture, fixtures and amenities, luxury bathrooms and the ample space in the rooms makes it up for it. The hotel is brand new and really well done. The rooms were some of the best we experienced in Japan. Location - The location is convenient and has many bars, restaurants and public transport nearby. Obviously walking distance from Nijo Castle, about 10 mins walk to nearest train station and about 15 min bus/taxi ride to the city centre. Staff - The staff is polite and speaks enough English to converse. One thing to note is that they are NOT flexible to give you early checkin or late checkout. Instead they charge extra for that. But that will be the only thing to fault. Overall - Overall highly recommended if you are not fussy about staying in the...