Kyoto: where to stay after tour
 

In March 2020, DH & I are going on a G Adventures/National Geographic Journeys: Iconic Japan tour. We are looking to extend our stay for 2 nights after the tour ends in Kyoto.

As part of the tour, we will be staying at Mitsui Garden Hotel Kyoto Shinmachi Bettei. Being unfamiliar with the city, we are not sure if we should just stay at Mitsui Garden or move to another hotel in a different neighbourhood.

https://www.gardenhotels.co.jp/kyoto-shinmachi/eng/

Any insights? Any recommendations?

Thanks!

Have never been to that hotel but the location is very central and near public transportation, so you might as well stay and not waste the time to change hotels....

Mara knows Kyoto much, much better than I, and I'm not disagreeing with her1 -- but I'm a person who doesn't mind relocating, and so might consider moving closer to the river in the Kawaramachi district, even though it would mean moving just a mile or so. But that hotel looks very nice!

Thanks for your replies!

Mara: Good to know that the hotel is centrally located. DH is in agreement with you. He'd rather stay put than move to another hotel.

kja: I think we would look to relocate a bit further … perhaps to the other side of the river? Thanks for the suggestion though. I will check out the Kawaramachi district to get a sense of what it's like.

tt7: This will be our first trip to Asia. At this stage in our lives, a land tour in Japan seems to take us where we want to go as well as meet our needs in terms of comfort & ease of travel. We will find out if this type of travel suits us.

I mentioned the Kawaramachi district because I like it for its restaurants and ease of access by foot or public transportation to many points of interest in Kyoto, but I fully understand that most people would not want to relocate.

Enjoy your trip!

kja: I do appreciate your suggestion to consider the Kawaramuchi district. It's good to know that it is a convenient location and has restaurant choices - both are important to us.

I've heard that sometimes tours book into hotels that are not centrally located. I wanted to confirm whether that is the case with the Mitsui Garden Hotel. With just a few extra days, I wouldn't want to spend a lot of time on transit getting around. Perhaps once we figure out what we want to see/do, it will become clear where we should stay.

The planning continues ….

It does depend on what you are planning to do. According to google maps the hotel is 16 minutes from Kyoto station. If I were going to move and could afford it, I would stay in the Granvia actually IN the station.

am wondering if I should just spend the time looking around myself or should I consider a tour. I see there are 3 or 4 day tours from Tokyo that visit Kyoto, Nara and Fuji but it seems rushed. My original plan was to just explore Kyoto on my own for the 4 days

Tip: Kyoto is a fairly safe city even late at night, but you should avoid walking careselly in the night

@ beenaamsa: If you want a tour, by all means take one, but Japan is very easy to visit on one's own. Spend lots of time with japan-guide.com. Four days is, IMO, the minimum for a first visit to Kyoto. Six days for Kyoto and Nara (combined) is a good first approximation.

Welcome to Fodors beenaamsa: It would be better if you started a thread of your own instead of tacking on to someone else going on a different trip and with different questions. However I am a bit confused - you are asking if you should tour around Kyoto on your own and then offer advice re safety in the city??

Indeed .... I'm usually one who is in favour of staying close to the station but, in this case, it appears that your tour (assuming I'm looking at the correct one) includes Hiroshima, Miyajima, Himeji and Nara so I assume you are unlikely to be doing day trips from Kyoto? In that case, I would stay put. Your hotel's location is fine - it's an 8 minute walk to Karasuma Oike subway station, from where it's just 3 stops to Kyoto Station. From Karasuma Oike, it's one stop to Nijo Castle (or you can walk it in 15 minutes) which is well worth visiting -- great garden, don't miss the 'nightingale' floors in the Honmaru Palace and, if it's open, sit outside the Wakaru-An teahouse with matcha and a sweet. The hotel is about a 10-12 minute walk to Shijo-dori, one of the main shopping streets, and Daimaru - don't miss the basement food hall. If you exit the back of the food hall, go up the steps and turn right, the Nishiki Market will be about 100 metres to the right - it gets crowded but is well worth a visit. Plenty of other places to go in Kyoto (it has 2,000+ temples and shrines) so if you need suggestions, please just ask.

Senility and dyslexia are obviously setting in .... :(. Make that the Ninomaru Palace (the Honmaru is the inner one) and the Waruka-An teahouse.

If you want to stay at Kyoto Station, that's actually a pretty reasonable location, allowing you to get around the city easily. But Hotel Granvia Kyoto Station is great but kind of expensive. The Hotel Kintetsu (also in the station) is usually cheaper and pretty nice. I stayed there when I was in Kyoto. But much cheaper is the Ibis Styles across the street (usually half the price). The only downside of the station area is that the restaurants are not very exciting, though there are plenty of them.

Not to beat this topic to death...lol....Here's a link to the Kyoto Bus Map - your hotel is a few blocks to Horikawa with numerous buses (north-south) as well as Shijo with east-west and north-south buses. Also nearby is the Kyoto subway which I don't usually find that convenient but it can get you over to Higashiyama, etc. As tt7 said above, assuming you have already done out of town places on your tour, there is no need to stay near Kyoto Station. To me it is full of tourists dragging suitcases looking lost...lol....
https://www2.city.kyoto.lg.jp/kotsu/...abusnavi_2.pdf

I appreciate ALL your comments & suggestions!

@ tt7: Thanks for your useful & practical information + recommendations for places to go/see. I have been referring to japan-guide.com during this process. It is an excellent resource.

@ thursdaysd & doug_stallings: I checked out Hotel Granvia Kyoto Station - beautiful but above our budget. I wonder if we would ever emerge from the station itself. There's quite the array of shops & eateries within the station! :)

@ HappyTrvlr: I suppose the question of experiencing a different area of the city is one I have been exploring through this process.

@ Mara: I haven't had the chance to investigate Kyoto's transportation system yet. But from the map, it looks extensive! Thanks for sharing it.

Currently, I am leaning towards staying in the hotel we are booked with the tour. It appears the hotel's location is fine. Transportation throughout the city is good. The biggest advantage as I see it is: we can set out immediately for the day and not spend time packing, checking out, traveling to another hotel, checking in and unpacking. Time is such a precious commodity on a trip!

Makes perfect sense -- enjoy!

Japan-guide.com is indeed an excellent resource. In the interests of providing some more unrequested / unsolicited / gratuitous advice, here's a couple more suggestions of things to do / places to go.... :)

Unlike Tokyo, which has an extensive metro/subway system, Kyoto has just two subway lines - the Karasuma line runs north/south, the Tozai line east/west; they intersect at Karasuma Oike. Although only two lines is somewhat limiting, they can be a quick and easy way to get places (and they're supplemented by the various JR and non-JR train lines and lots of buses). Note that the Karasuma-Oike subway station is not the same as the Karasuma station on the Hankyu train line; that station effectively shares an underground station with the Shijo subway station (which is one stop south of the Karasuma-Oike station).

A couple of suggested things to do (if you haven’t already done them as part of your tour) -

Take the Karasuma subway line from Karasuma Oike two stops north to Imadegawa. When you exit the Imadegawa station (take exit 3), cross the road and walk east along Imadegawa-dori to the entrance on the north side of the (outer) Imperial Palace gardens. Walk south through the gardens until you reach the walls of the Palace compound; turn right and then left, following the wall of the Palace. Previously, to visit the (interior) Palace grounds, you had to join a tour and apply in advance to the Imperial Household Agency. However, the interior grounds (though not the actual buildings) are now open to all so go in and tour the inner Palace compound. There are free English-language tours you can join (we lasted about 5 minutes….) or you can just tour the compound at your own pace. The compound includes a couple of excellent gardens (… it’s good to be Emperor! …). After you exit the inner grounds/Palace compound, continue south through the outer gardens and exit to the south. Turn right (west) and walk along to Marutamachi subway station, from where it’s one stop back to Karasuma Oike.

Take the Tozai subway line from Karasuma Oike four stops east to Keage. When you exit Keage station, turn right on the main road and after about 50 metres, turn right through a small tunnel. Follow the road up to Nanzen-ji. While there, don't miss the Tenjuan Garden - it costs extra but is well worth it. Continue on up the main road to Eikan-do, which will be on your right. At Eikan-do, be sure to climb up to the pagoda at the back of the compound for a great view down over the temple and this part of Kyoto. Once you come back down, there’s a tea house (you’ll see the red-covered benches for you to sit on) so, if you’re so inclined, stop for tea and admire the view. From Eikan-do, continue on the road a short distance before turning right on Reisen-dori and walk up a few hundred metres to the beginning of the Path of Philosophy. Turn left and walk all the way up the Path (alongside the canal, about 30 minutes). At the top, turn right up the approach road to Ginkaku-ji. At Ginkaku-ji you follow a prescribed route around the gardens, which will take you up to the back of the compound, for another great view of the temple and out over this part of Kyoto. After visiting Ginkaku-ji, go back to where you turned right at the end of the Path and go straight over - the bus stop for the #100 bus is about 50 metres along on the left. The bus runs every 10 minutes or so and heads towards Kyoto Station but you can get off at Heian-jingu (by the massive torii gate) opposite the Museum of Modern Art. The Museum is worth a visit - the permanent collection is free and from the upper floors there’s a great view of the Torii gate (as it’s right there in front of you). Walk back up to Heian-jingu. Don’t miss the Heian-jingu gardens, which wrap around the sides and back - the entrance is on the left if you’re facing Heian-jingu. Again, there’s a tea house (you’ll see the red-covered benches) if you’re in need of refreshment (and an excuse to sit and admire the view). As you continue round the gardens, you’ll head back over the covered bridge (where, if you’re lucky, there may be a wedding party taking photographs; that’s happened to us twice though on another occasion the place was deserted and we just stopped on the bridge to feed the fish….). Continue on the #100 bus four stops further south and then walk east to visit the Sannen-zaka / Ninen-zaka areas, from where you can walk to Kiyomizudera. Walk back down to the main road through the cemetery, turn right on Higashioji-dori to the bus stop and catch the # 100 bus back towards Kyoto Station.