Utano Youth Hostel — Hotel in Kyoto

Been here once in 2015 during my solo trip. After staying here , I feel that I must bring my family here someday. And I did! My family of 5, 2 A and 3C aged 13,10&9 stayed in the Japanese style room from 09-11 June. ||It's off peak timing so not many ppl are staying here. We get to enjoy the peace and quiet.||What's good abt this hostel ?|Cleanliness is at its best. The shared bathroom, toilets areas are in top notch cleanliness. You can't find in other youth hostel. The communal onsen area is well maintained and clean. Everyone who use the area has the responsibility to keep it clean and tidy. And am glad that everyone is doing it well. Everyday between 10am to 3pm, u cannot stay in your room as the staff has to clean your room.||Common area: kitchen and living area is shared and very cosy place for us to hang around. U can rent games like Uno, jenga from the front desk for free to play with your family.||There is also an outdoor balcony area where u can just sit there and enjoy the breeze.||The whole compound is at a residential area. So it's serene , peaceful and quiet. A very zen place.||I was originally afraid that my kids who are city kids would be bored here... But they actually loved it. Especially making their own cup noodles dinner at the kitchen.||There is no TV at the room we stayed , so we went to the kitchen area to watch TV and snack.||Like all other YHA, u will be given bedsheets and pillowcase to make your bed and have to return them back to the front desk upon check out.||The nearest JR station is abt 5-7mins drive away. ||It's so nice to...

Overall a good hostel. The architecture of the hostel is nice and everything was meticulously clean. The onsen/hot water pool was great, nice to relax and also clean.

What bothered me massively was the fact that you don't get a duvet-casing but just a second linen sheet to place between you and the duvet. Obviously, this will slip away while sleeping and it's neither hygienic nor pleasant. I really think they should offer casings for the duvets, because this really contradicts the otherwise high hygiene standard of this hostel.

The WiFi in the first floor is almost unusable. You're instructed to use the Kyoto City WiFi there, which requires you to re-connect every 10 minutes and also has marginal encryption and safety certificate. The hostel WiFi needs to be available also in the first floor.

Sound insulation is also rather poor - fortunately the rooms in the south wing of the first floor have sufficient distance from the common areas, so it's rather quiet there.

There are plenty of rules regarding what to do and not do, including a night curfew after 23:30. A bit strange but probably necessary for such a large hostel.

The location is at the very northwest end of Kyoto and quite far away from all the main attractions. However, it's a peacful area close to a little bamboo forest and a...

Although it is a long bus ride (~45mins to 1 hr depending on traffic) from Kyoto Station, I really appreciated the peacefulness of staying here for my four days in Kyoto. It was a good base, and I took many different buses to explore the city. You can get to Arashiyama easily, and the Golden temple too. ||While I was the only female gaijin traveller with little spoken Japanese, I felt welcomed & I met many retired Japanese travellers willing to speak English with me. ||The facilities are clean, the meals are delicious (esp. the evening meals), the shared bathing facilities are warm & clean (I didn't discover there were separate showers until my final day), the laundry is cheap, and the staff are very helpful.||The shared dorms are tidy, with plenty of room in the lockers for storage. The curtains around each bed give privacy, and you also have two shelves & a light to read. The beds are comfortable & the duvet/comforter is warm. ||I must have been lucky compared to previous reviewers, as this place was very quiet when I stayed, and the wifi was fast, and the weather was good (cold but fine). I would definitely stay here again, and just allow more time each day for travelling in/out of central Kyoto, or perhaps I could have rented a bicycle for more...