25 Kyoto Hotels and Ryokan Across the Centuries
The three-century-old ryokan where Chaplin stayed, an 1801 inn by Nishiki Market, a 1933 schoolhouse below Kiyomizu-dera, and the 1926 telephone exchange that is now the Ace Hotel.
Kyoto keeps inns that have run for two and three centuries, townhouses turned into private stays, and resorts hidden in old temple gardens, alongside its modern landmarks. This list has the Tawaraya, a ryokan of some three hundred years where Chaplin stayed, the 1801 Kinmata by Nishiki Market, the Arashiyama grounds of the Mitsubishi founders at Suiran, and the 1926 telephone exchange that is now the Ace Hotel.
The list is grouped by character, not ranked. Most of the hotels and ryokan link to their own site, where the rate is current and you book direct; a few are listed without a link.
The centuries-old ryokan
Tawaraya · Downtown / Nakagyo
The Tawaraya has run as a ryokan for roughly three centuries and is long counted among Japan’s finest. Its rooms open onto private courtyard gardens in the middle of downtown Kyoto. Charlie Chaplin stayed here on his visits to Japan.
Hiiragiya · Downtown / Nakagyo
The Hiiragiya was founded in 1818 and has been run by the same family for more than two hundred years, across six generations. Its past guests include the novelist Yasunari Kawabata and Charlie Chaplin.
Yoshida Sanso · Yoshida Hill (Sakyo)
Yoshida Sanso was built in 1932 as a mountain villa with ties to the imperial family, on the wooded slope of Mount Yoshida near Ginkaku-ji. It now runs as a small family-run ryokan.
Seikoro · Higashiyama / Kamogawa
Seikoro was founded in 1831, in the late Edo period, near the Kamo River. Its rooms mix traditional tatami with Western antique furniture, and it has taken foreign guests since the Meiji era.
Kinmata · Downtown / Nakagyo (near Nishiki Market)
Kinmata opened in 1801 as an inn for traveling medicine merchants, near what is now Nishiki Market. The same family still runs it, serving kaiseki in a preserved machiya.
Machiya and townhouse stays
Hotel Sowaka · Gion / Higashiyama
Hotel Sowaka centers on a former high-end restaurant building about a century old, in Gion, with a second building moved from an old Gion teahouse. It reopened as a luxury hotel in 2019.
Nazuna Kyoto Gosho · Imperial Palace area (Kamigyo)
Nazuna Kyoto Gosho is a restored machiya near the Kyoto Imperial Palace, in a building that long housed a Kyo-sashimono furniture workshop.
Genji Kyoto · Kiyamachi / Downtown (Takase River)
Genji Kyoto stands on the Takase River canal downtown, its design drawn from The Tale of Genji. It is a member of Design Hotels.
Maana Kyoto · Central Kyoto / Shimogyo
Maana Kyoto is a restored century-old merchant’s machiya, let as a whole-house private stay, its pared-back rooms set behind a traditional townhouse front.
Gardens, rivers and forest
Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto · Higashiyama (Myohoin)
The Four Seasons is built around Shakusui-en, a pond garden said to be some eight hundred years old and to appear in the Tale of the Heike. It opened in 2016 in the Higashiyama temple district.
Aman Kyoto · Takagamine (northern Kyoto)
Aman Kyoto opened in 2019 on a forested hillside in Takagamine, in the north of the city. It was built on a mossy garden a kimono-textile collector had laid out decades earlier for a museum that was never finished. The architect was Kerry Hill.
HOSHINOYA Kyoto · Arashiyama
Hoshinoya Kyoto is reached only by private boat up the Oi River in Arashiyama, on a riverside estate once used as a retreat.
Suiran, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Kyoto · Arashiyama
Suiran sits on the banks of the Oi River in Arashiyama, near Tenryu-ji, on grounds tied to the Iwasaki family, who founded Mitsubishi. Its restaurant is in an early-20th-century building listed as a tangible cultural property.
Six Senses Kyoto · Higashiyama
Six Senses Kyoto opened in 2024 in Higashiyama, near Sanjusangendo, the brand’s first hotel in Japan. Its design takes cues from the Rakuchu-Rakugai screens that painted old Kyoto.
Grand hotels and merchant estates
The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto · Nijo / Kamogawa (Nakagyo)
The Ritz-Carlton opened in 2014 on the banks of the Kamo River, on the former site of the Kyoto Fujita Hotel.
Hotel The Mitsui Kyoto · Nijo Castle (Nakagyo)
Hotel The Mitsui stands opposite Nijo Castle, on land the Mitsui family held as their Kyoto residence for about two hundred and fifty years. Guests enter through the restored Kajiimiya Gate, roughly three centuries old. The architect was Andre Fu, and it opened in 2020.
Park Hyatt Kyoto · Higashiyama (Kodai-ji)
The Park Hyatt opened in 2019 on the Higashiyama hillside, between Kodai-ji and the Ninenzaka lanes, looking out at the Yasaka Pagoda. It was built alongside the long-established Kyoyamato restaurant.
The Westin Miyako Kyoto · Higashiyama (Keage)
The Westin Miyako descends from the Miyako Hotel, opened in 1890 on the Higashiyama heights at Keage. Its sukiya-style Kasui-en wing was designed by the architect Togo Murano.
Hotel Okura Kyoto · Downtown / Nakagyo (Kawaramachi-Oike)
Hotel Okura descends from the Kyoto Hotel, founded in 1888, at the Kawaramachi-Oike crossing downtown. It has long been one of central Kyoto’s landmark grand hotels.
Banyan Tree Higashiyama Kyoto · Higashiyama (Kodai-ji)
Banyan Tree Higashiyama opened in 2024 on the Higashiyama hillside near Kodai-ji, the first Banyan Tree hotel in Japan. It has hot-spring baths and its own Noh stage.
Buildings reborn and design landmarks
Ace Hotel Kyoto · Downtown / Nakagyo (Karasuma-Oike)
The Ace Hotel is in Shinpuhkan, built around the 1926 former Kyoto Central Telephone Office, designed by Tetsuro Yoshida, with the conversion led by Kengo Kuma. It opened in 2020 as Ace’s first hotel in Asia.
The Hotel Seiryu Kyoto Kiyomizu · Higashiyama (Kiyomizu)
The Hotel Seiryu occupies the former Seikan Elementary School, a 1933 building a short walk from Kiyomizu-dera. It was converted and opened as a hotel in 2020.
The Shinmonzen · Gion (Shirakawa)
The Shinmonzen is an all-suite hotel on the Shirakawa canal in Gion, designed by Tadao Ando. It opened in 2021.
Garrya Nijo Castle Kyoto · Nijo Castle (Nakagyo)
Garrya Nijo Castle sits directly beside Nijo Castle, designed by Kengo Kuma. It opened in 2021 under the Banyan Tree group’s Garrya brand.
Hotel Kanra Kyoto · Downtown / Shimogyo (Karasuma)
Hotel Kanra is a design hotel near Karasuma, in the Shimogyo district, its rooms reworking the traditional machiya with timber interiors and small courtyard gardens.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these hotels ranked?
No. The groups sort them by character, and the order within each group carries no meaning.
What made a hotel interesting enough for this list?
A story. Every entry was a centuries-old ryokan, a restored machiya, a temple-garden retreat, or a landmark building reborn. Comfort alone did not qualify.
Why are there no prices?
Rates change daily and a priced list goes stale in a month. Where a hotel or ryokan runs its own site, its name links there, so you see the current rate and book direct.
Which hotel puts me closest to the day trips on this site?
Most day trips from Kyoto run to Nara’s temples and deer park, the Fushimi Inari shrine and the Arashiyama bamboo groves, or over to Osaka. The downtown and Higashiyama hotels sit closest to the trains and the old city.
Do the small ryokan book out faster than the grand hotels?
Usually. The old ryokan, the Tawaraya, the Hiiragiya, Kinmata, hold only a handful of rooms and fill first. Book those far ahead.