Will visit Kyoto in early July and want to stay in a Machiya for 3-4 nights. Looking for recommendations. There are three of us.
We are also thinking of going to Koyasan to experience staying in a monastery for 1 night and hike around the area. Looking for recommendations on the best ones there also. Thanks!

For Koya-san, I was very pleased with Shojoshin-in:
https://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/...n=Shojoshin-in

The other Koya-san temple that I've seen receive consistently positive reviews is Eko-in.

Do consider roaming around Okuno-in, particularly around dusk or dawn:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4901.html

(BTW, I think they are considered temples, rather than monasteries.)

There are TONS of machiyas available on airbnb, vrbo/homeaway, similar rental sites. Kyoto is shot full of them. The question is what area you want. Anything west of the Kamo River, east of Kawasuma, north of Shiokoji and south of Shijo would be a good location from which you could walk to a lot of what Kyoto offers.

We stayed at Koke-An machiya and could not have been happier. Fantastic location on the corner of Sanjo Dori with restaurants, 7/11 and gift shops right outside their driveway. Wendy or Avi will help you

https://www.kyotomachiyastay.com/index.php/en/

Aloha!

I have narrowed down to four machiyas in Kyoto: Looking for opinions on best location.....
-First is close to Nishiki Market and a 10 minute walk from Shijo station (i think that is considered downtown?)
-Second located in Gion 5 minute walk from Keihan Subway
-Third is Kamo riverfront (unsure of nearest station but told close)
-Fourth located in Gion with south facing view of inner area of Kenninji Temple

They are all comparable in pricing. But from my research it seems there is much more to walk/see in the Higashiyama area (last location area) so that seems good to me? We plan to rent bicycles for majority of our stay as a means of travel.

@bigruss -you gave great suggestions on areas, problem is looking at a map of kyoto i don't understand which way is north/south etc. yes i am blonde

Standard Kyoto maps have expected direction - north is up, south down, east to the right, west to the left. (Most cities follow this, but Barcelona maps tend to be turned 90 degrees --.

O wow, didn't even realize I threw an alien in there. Meant Barca maps turned 90 degrees clockwise.