Kyoto Watazen Ryokan

Room, service, and Japanese breakfast were all great. You get a free gift when you arrive and tea and local snacks every night. The one factor which made our stay not so pleasant was the noise - there was a lot of noise from the other guests staying there through the night. People upstairs were slamming the wooden sliding doors shut until nearly midnight or later, kids were yelling in the corridors, and one night the guests in the room next to us were so noisy someone else complained. It was a pity as if it hadn't been for the noise, we would have had an excellent stay.

Awesome location and very friendly saff. Great place to stay at japanese traditional style hotel.

Excellent service, friendly staff and great location. Room size is large by Japanese standards, but the futon was a little hard and uncomfortable. The continental breakfast was also poor.

we really enjoyed staying here! great location and very friendly and easy service. a traditional ryokan a no-frills experience, so make sure you know what you're getting in to. check out time of 10am is a little too early for a hotel this expensive, but it is what it is. we had a fun and interesting time, 2 nights enough time here...i couldn't see a reason to stay here longer, and even 1 night would be enough. I definitely suggest checking this out if you want a traditional japanese experience.

The Ryokan is in an amazing location - within walking distance of all you need to see and do in Kyoto without being swamped by tourists and crowds. I must admit I was hoping for a more beautiful setting/decor/interior in the hotel but to be fair there was nothing surprising from the pictures we saw. We tried the Onsen which was enjoyable but did not try the Kaiseki dinner as there was just too much choice just within the area - fantastic restaurants and of course, Nishiki market. There's a Lawson grocery store within 5 meters for any last minute purchases but you're equidistant between Daimaru and Takashimaya for the most wonderful array of packed food and fruits. We were also luckily in the precinct when the Gion Matsui procession passed by and we could not have been more spoilt. There are bicycle shops close by to rent a bike which we did for our leg to the Imperial Palace of Kyoto. Train stations - Kawaramachi and Karasuma - are within walking distance for any possible combination of trains you need to take within Kyoto and outside of Kyoto. An evening stroll will take you to the Geisha districts of Poncho and Gion, which can get very crowded. We were lucky to be in a perfect but quiet location.