How is Yuhara Ryokan in Kyoto?
 

Hi,

My husband and I are planning to stay for 4 nights at the Yuhara Ryokan. Heard it's mentioned in several guidebooks, but is it a good place to stay for a couple? Are the rooms nice? There's no private bathroom.

Would it give me a good ryokan experience (at an affordable price)? Heard the location is nice.

Is 4 nights too much there or should we move to somewhere else?

Please recommend any other convenient, nice, affordable places in Kyoto.

We'd like to experience the ryokan but not at the price of an arm and a leg!

Please advise.

Thanks.
JC

It certainly is affordable, and the location is fine. I haven't seen it in person, but a friend did stay there a few years ago and said is was clean and reasonably friendly. It will give you a place to sleep.

It will not give a "ryokan experience." The ryokan experience is very luxurious, includes dinner and breakfast served in your room, tea and a small sweet upon arrival, a lovely bath, yukata to wear in the ryokan while you relax, and many other small details that add to the experience (like personal service, outstanding decor, local specialty foods...).

If you want a real ryokan, but at a more affordable price, perhaps look outside of Kyoto, where the real ryokan are very expensive. You can count on at least 15,000 yen per person per night, though you can easily pay more. japaneseguesthouses.com has a pretty good selection of places, and it's all in English.

My wife and I stayed there two years ago
It was one of the highlights of our trip
to Japan. The owner and her son were
really charming and it was affordable
and centrally located. We spent 6 days
there (5 in Kyoto and a day trip to Nara)which was enough to see most of what we wanted to see.

Thanks for your replies. We just came back from Japan and stayed in the Yuhara Ryokan in Kyoto for 4 nights. It was a good choice. The first 2 nights we got a very small room but the next 2 nights we were moved to a bigger one w/ a sitting area and a nice view of the canal.

It's located in a quiet residential neighborhood w/ a narrow canal lined w/ trees and flower bushes in the front. But I think it's kinda far from the Gion and the Kyoto train station--not 10-15 minutes by walking as stated in my guidebook. More like 40 minutes to Gion and 25 minutes to the train station, and we're in our early 30's too. :)

It's good to buy a $5 bus pass for the day and you can catch the bus close to the ryokan to go all the major sights.

Mrs. Yuhara is very nice and gracious, so our stay was quite pleasant.

JC

Hi, everyone:
My husband and I are just starting to plan our trip to Japan, and we're going to be flying into Osaka and making Kyoto our first stop.
I'm thinking we'd like to stay at this ryokan. I've been looking for an email address so I can make a reservation request, but haven't found one. How did everyone make their reservations here?
Thanks,
RL

Check a guidebook like fodor's or frommer's for their phone or fax #. I think we called Mrs. Yuhara and she held our reservation.