Noku Kyoto — Hotel in Kyoto

Located directly opposite the Kyoto Gyoen National Garden and immediately adjacent to Marutamachi subway station. It’s also just a 10min walk up the road to the Kyoto Imperial Palace and a 15min walk to Nijō Castle. ||The area is fairly quiet, traffic & pedestrian wise, with a convenience store right next door. There are very few shops and restaurants in the surrounding area, at least within walking distance – which if you’ve spent a full day visiting the various sites in Kyoto as the hotel does not have its own bar, lounge, or evening restaurant. You’ll need to catch a taxi if you want to eat at the famous busy older streets in City. The staff were always prepared to book a taxi for you but remember to ask them to give you the address of the hotel in Japanese, so you don’t have problems getting back.||The hotel is quite modern and feels new – it has a large, by Japanese standards, lobby, and reception area, manned by friendly and helpful front counter staff, who have good English skills. ||Our room, a house king room, was clean, tidy, nicely decorated and relatively spacious with a decent sized modern bathroom. Comes with everything you’d expect – good quality toiletries, hairdryer, pyjamas, slippers, fridge, safe, kettle etc. The king-sized bed was very comfortable and fit my 6ft frame.||The only area for improvement is the breakfast. The dining area is a small café on the ground floor at the front of the hotel. It has limited tables so I can imagine during peak periods there would be a reasonable wait to be seated. Not a problem for us as we were always early, just after 7am, and it was off-peak season. Breakfast was limited to four cooked options (poached eggs, scrambled eggs, omelette or Japanese) which were nice but not great – particularly if you are staying multiple nights. They did have unlimited tea, coffee,...

Beautiful and elegant place. The exterior looks simple and welcoming. Going through the double doors, you're greeted by everyone at the reception immediately. If your room is ready, they'll let you check in early. Two keycards were provided for my luxury twin room, along with breakfast tickets (paid extra). The lovely receptionist Naoko-san was very friendly, asking about our trip and what we were planning to do in Kyoto. She also recommended lunch at a delicious soba place nearby and provided a map of the area around the hotel. A porter took our bags and took us up the lift to find our rooms, although we said we were more than capable, he said he wanted to show us to our rooms regardless. The rooms were bright, light and airy. There is a sense of space, in a city where space comes at a premium. The two twin beds were firm but comfortable, and size was perfect. A tall person's (170cm) feet might hang off the edge though. The duvets were perfectly smooth, warm and comforting, the kind of duvet I'd call cozy. Room was clean, with a fridge, kettle, toiletries, hair dryer. Complimentary bottled water and cold green tea were provided, along with coffee and tea packets and small snacks. Breakfast is served from I think 7am to 10.30am. There is a western and Japanese style to choose from, and 3 choices from the western style (sausage, eggs, yoghurt, with toast and croissant; sausage, eggs, yoghurt, with pancakes; or ham and cheese on toast). Water, orange juice included, and your choice of tea or coffee or cocoa. Quite delicious, and a good serving size. I haven't tried the Japanese breakfast yet, will do so tomorrow. Tldr; clean, warm, welcoming, friendly, good location, delicious, convenient place to stay. Worth the price. Would stay again if I don't decide to go...

Stayed at the Noku as part of our tour around Japan.||There were some really good aspects to the hotel. The reception staff were wonderful and very helpful indeed. The location is excellent - right next door to the subway and very close to the Imperial Palace. ||The room was very comfortable indeed and extremely clean.||However; the room faced the main road and needed more sound proofing. The bathroom was fine was but a little tired.||Breakfast was the worst we experienced in the country. We stayed three nights and each morning the cooked elements were served nearly cold. The bread rolls, croissants weren’t fresh. It was very busy and towards the end of service items weren’t replaced. ||The bar and restaurant share the same area in the lower floor. It’s a very sterile and unwelcoming area and not one for a relaxed drink after a day exploring. The Singapore restaurant food is average and very expensive. We had to send one dish back as served cold.||This could be a very good hotel. It’s marketed as a boutique hotel - but it has areas to improve to achieve this.||Personally - I...