ttabornta

My husband and I are going to make our first trip to Kyoto in July and would like suggestions on American style hotels. We are in our late 50's and relatively healthy. We would like to keep the price under $175 a night if possible. We plan to stay in Kyoto for 11 nights and just do day trips to various locations.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Tricia

JuneAnn

I don't have any info for you, but I would like to ask you a question. How did you decide to stay 11 nights in Kyoto rather than visit other cities? Have you been to Tokyo? If not, how did you decide not to stay there also?

We are in the early stages of planning our first trip to Japan.

ttabornta

Gerald does not like to change hotel rooms and it's his birthday trip so he chooses our itinerary. Also, he is most interested in seeing the temples and the gardens. So we will just do day trips to other places. We haven't made a decision on whether to see Tokyo since it is six hours round trip.

Tricia

DonTopaz

The Kyoto Royal Hotel is a modestly-priced, Western hotel in an excellent location. The Royal is just across the river from Gion, near the best shopping, and next to the subway. It's just down the street from the Kyoto Hotel Okura, a particularly nice hotel, but I'm afraid the Okura is more than $175/night.

I'd recommend against the hotels clustered around Kyoto Station. While they are convenient to the trains, they're not close to most of the places you'd want to be.

The ANA Hotel and Westin Miyako are both very nice Western-style hotels, but neither of them is in a convenient location for your purposes.

laurieco

I'm just back from Japan and stayed in Kyoto for 4 nights at the Granvia Kyoto. It is very convenient, right above the JR station. The hotel is new and the rooms large with very nice, large bathrooms, CNN, kettle to boil water, minibar, etc. I disagree with the poster that being near the station is inconvenient to sights. Not only are you right upstairs from the JR, but the main bus depot is there as well. Buses in Kyoto are inexpensive (buy the day pass for 500 Yen for unlimited rides all day, or a weekly pass), and they are very easy to use. All sights are accessable by bus and none are very far. The Granvia can be booked through hotels.com for 15,000 Yen per night for a double, plus 15% service/tax.

r_shum

Although I don't have any hotel recommended to you, I do suggest you to stay close to JR Station. You said it will be several day trips from Kyoto, I guess most of them will be travelled by JR train. I would not worry too much about the sights within Kyoto because basically all tourist sights within Kyoto are assessable by bus (stops are clearly marked).

DonTopaz

Let me clarify my comment about station-area hotels being inconvenient to the sites:

For travelers who don't at all mind jumping on and off buses and trains to get around a city, the station area is certainly convenient. Like the OP, I am in my late 50s, and my travel preferences and needs have evolved some.

Although I consider myself to be healthy, I don't have the same energy levels that I had 10 or 20 years ago. Knees (especially) and other joints and muscles tend to get cranky if they take more abuse than usual. As a result, I like to plan trips that minimize subways (which almost always mean lots of stairs), and that maximize walking to the places I want to go.

So, by staying in the Kawaramachi-Oike area of Kyoto, as opposed to the station area, I am much closer to both eastern Kyoto (Kiyomizu-dera, Silver Pavilion, Path of Philosophy, Gion) and to the Kawaramachi shopping areas: I'd never need to take public transportation to any of these places. If I'm staying near the station, it's certainly true that I've got great public transportation access to anywhere I'd want to go -- but it also means that I'm taking public transportation to *everywhere* I want to go.

So, my comments were directed specifically to those fellow (youthful) travelers in their late 50s, and not to everyone.

silvo123

I stayed at Gion Fukuzumi last year and loved it. It was a good price, easy to find, close to many of the site and a pretty short walk from the subway. The hot baths were great after walking all day.

laurieco

In case anyone is interested in the Granvia Kyoto, I realize I gave the wrong site to book it through. I used hotelbook.com and fot the 15000 Yen rate, which is very good for that hotel, as it is a 5 star hotel.

asykes1

There are not any rooms in the granvia for 150 Yen (at least not right now). I booked through my travel agent and the cost of 200 Yen a night - the lowest on Hotelbook.com was $260.

laurieco

I guess I went at a good time. We were there about 2 and 1/2 weeks ago and paid 15000 Yen (about $141.00 per night at the then current exchange rate). We spent four nights there and were very happy. It's a very nice hotel.

ngee

I will be Kyoto for 3 nights next week. I got a rate of 13,000 yen at the Westin Miyako by booking directly on the Starwood Web site. I booked this about a month ago. I notice that the rate for a week later was even a bit lower. A couple days before arrival I can even call and see if I can be upgraded because I'm a Starwood preferred member. I think this is a very good rate for a hotel of this level.

birder

We also stayed in the Granvia Kyoto and just loved it. We used the subways everywhere and had a great time. If I were staying a long time in Kyoto, I might want to stay a little closer in by the gardens and temples. But I guess if you are taking day trips via rail, then you also might want to be by the station. I forget what our rate was when we stayed - I think around $150/night or close to it (plus tax), and it included breakfast each morning. I don't have a single bad thing to say about this hotel - it was truly wonderful in every way. I had such a great time that I booked a stay in the Granvia Hiroshima but it was not nearly as nice, I checked out after one night and moved to a hotel closer into town.

birder

By the way, make sure you take a trip to Nara. It was fantastic -- feeding the tame deer, the incredible temples, etc. We went into the local grocery store to buy food for lunch, and then ate it outside by the train station listening to local musicians play. Fabulous! I envy you, wish I were going back soon!