Momijiya Honkan Takao Sansou Mountain Villa Ryokan — Hotel in Kyoto

We stayed at this Ryokan in early January when it was snowing in Kyoto. ||Before I begin this review, I think the Ryokan should really clarify the difference between the Momijiya Honkan and Momijiya Iwori. Both are different Ryokans with different perks.||Momijiya Honkan is located on the edge of a hill and is the Ryokan where we stayed. It does not overlook the river and you have to walk down the hill to get to the river by foot. ||Momijiya Iwori Bekkan is located BY the riverside and is the Ryokan that has that nice bridge across the over. It’s definitely the more scenic Ryokan with Geisha performances during the summer for dinner. If you are in for the scenery, this is the place you should book.||Now on to the review for Momijiya Honkan:||The Pros||1) Bus driver was friendly. The staff greeted us at the entrance and rushed to get our bags and luggage||2) The rooms have a nice view that overlooks the trees by the hillside ||The Cons||1) The dinner offering was mediocre. For the price we paid, we definitely expected more. The food that we ate was nothing special and not memorable. ||2) Breakfast was cold. Yes, we literally woke up to a cold breakfast on the table. The fish that they served was as hard as a rock and the pickled vegetables was cold after being left of the table. I’m not sure if this is standard in the winter, but I’ve stayed at other Ryokans that take the effort to keep the food warm even during winter time for the guests.||3) The toilet in our room had a stench of urine and was quite frankly, the worst part of the Ryokan experience.||4) The onsen in the Honkan building is so small that it’s almost hard to believe - it looks more like a bathtub. Seriously it was the worst let down ever. They also offer a larger private onsen but I understand that you have to pay extra to use it.||5) The staff at dinner/breakfast did not bother to refill our green tea. We needed to ask and wave to get their attention just to refill our tea. I don’t know if this is because we were foreigners, but for this price was definitely expected much better service. I have definitely stayed at much cheaper Ryokans where the waiters were much more attentive and served us with a smile.||Overall, it’s a nice looking Ryokan that’s good for a one night stay, but lacks value because of its expensive price. Will definitely...

We stayed at this Ryokan in early January when it was snowing in Kyoto. ||Before I begin this review, I think the Ryokan should really clarify the difference between the Momijiya Honkan and Momijiya Iwori. Both are different Ryokans with different perks.||Momijiya Honkan is located on the edge of a hill and is the Ryokan where we stayed. It does not overlook the river and you have to walk down the hill to get to the river by foot. ||Momijiya Iwori Bekkan is located BY the riverside and is the Ryokan that has that nice bridge across the over. It’s definitely the more scenic Ryokan with Geisha performances during the summer for dinner. If you are in for the scenery, this is the place you should book.||Now on to the review for Momijiya Honkan:||The Pros||1) Bus driver was friendly. The staff greeted us at the entrance and rushed to get our bags and luggage||2) The rooms have a nice view that overlooks the trees by the hillside ||The Cons||1) The dinner offering was mediocre. For the price we paid, we definitely expected more. The food that we ate was nothing special and not memorable. ||2) Breakfast was cold. Yes, we literally woke up to a cold breakfast on the table. The fish that they served was as hard as a rock and the pickled vegetables was cold after being left of the table. I’m not sure if this is standard in the winter, but I’ve stayed at other Ryokans that take the effort to keep the food warm even during winter time for the guests.||3) The toilet in our room had a stench of urine and was quite frankly, the worst part of the Ryokan experience.||4) The onsen in the Honkan building is so small that it’s almost hard to believe - it looks more like a bathtub. Seriously it was the worst let down ever. They also offer a larger private onsen but I understand that you have to pay extra to use it.||5) The staff at dinner/breakfast did not bother to refill our green tea. We needed to ask and wave to get their attention just to refill our tea. I don’t know if this is because we were foreigners, but for this price was definitely expected much better service. I have definitely stayed at much cheaper Ryokans where the waiters were much more attentive and served us with a smile.||Overall, it’s a nice looking Ryokan that’s good for a one night stay, but lacks value because of its expensive price. Will definitely...

I’m no expert by any means, but having had the opportunity to experience two ryokans this trip (first in Osaka, then Kyoto) with similar prices but vastly different quality, I feel compelled to compare and comment.

Service: Generally felt rushed during our stay. Check-in was technically at 3pm but shuttle was at 4pm, so we did not arrive until 4:30. Similarly, check out was at 10am, but shuttle was at 9:20. At breakfast, there was a sign nudging you to pay before 10am as it gets busy then. For an experience that’s suppose to be relaxing, this took away from it.

Room: In dire need of renovation. Room was visibly old and had a musty smell from the moment of walking in. There would be whiffs of piss when the AC wasn’t circulating air. In-room baths were stained and scary to look at, let alone use, ha.

Bath: Public bath was tiny and fits maybe 3 people max. Naturally, everyone opts to pay extra to book a slot in one of the two private baths on the property. Depending on when you check in, you may not get a slot until the next morning, which is what happened to us. That said, the private bath had incredible views and was the highlight of this experience, for sure.

Food: Mediocre at best compared our first experience, which we had in-room. Presentation was good, but flavors were just a bit off. Breakfast was better than dinner.

All in all, our Osaka ryokan experience felt like luxury hotel with spa with authenticity while this felt more like a beat down budget hotel turned tourist trap. We booked this based on the pictures on here (which are great) and reviews (not sure how) but left pretty disappointed. This would have been passable if it costed significantly less, but it didn’t, so be warned.

Note: we stayed in Honkan (main building) and not Bekkan (annex) so this review only applies to where we stayed. Though some pictures here look to be the annex and not the...