This is a polished, packed yet somehow tranquil property in the red hot epicenter of Kyoto’s go-go tourist action. Service is at once professional and friendly with equal facility communicating in your choice of Japanese, English, Spanish, Mandarin… or more. There’s only one major (seasonal) drawback: lack of a pool and limited accessible outdoor space for dining, recreation and relaxation.
First, a note about the neighborhood: it is jam-packed with humanity of every conceivable variety. Think Piazza San Marco/Trevi Fountain/Eiffel Tower/Sagrada Familia/Great Wall/Taj Mahal/Machu Picchu/Times Square/Statue of Liberty-level tourism all crammed into streets about 20’ wide that accommodate both pedestrians and vehicles. And here is the kicker: the staff at the hotel informed me that I was lucky to be visiting in the off season vs. the cherry blossom, Golden Week and fall foliage peaks. The hotel helpfully suggests guests arise “a little earlier and witness the atmospheric streets of Higashiyama touched by the first light of dawn, not yet encumbered by the day’s eager visitors.” This is sound advice. Of Kyoto’s 1,600+ Buddhist Temples and 400+ Shinto shrines, inter alia, most eager visitors to the city have the Yasaka Pagoda have Kiyomizu-dera Temple located in this precise location on their must-see lists. The only challenge to executing the recommended strategy of getting a jump on exploring the stone-paved streets and staircases is that “a little earlier” = 4:45 AM sunrise this time of year.
The standard “Garden Terrace” room I was assigned can be configured with two beds or a single “king” bed. The hotel creates the “king” bed by pushing the two existing beds together, resulting in a comically wide expanse that could comfortably fit four people… or more! The main downside to this massive mattress is the amount of room real estate it occupies. My room also featured a fairly expansive patio with curiously non-functional furniture (two backless stools and a small table with a sign reminding that smoking was prohibited). I suspect this furniture selection is not only an aesthetic homage to clean lines but also a way of encouraging guests to admire, rather than use the patio lest al fresco conversation and spirited carousing disturb the quiet enjoyment of the guests adjacent and above.
Housekeeping deserves singular recognition. Upon arrival, I was gifted a delicious bowl of Sato-Nishiki cherries. Not only was the room (and public areas of the hotel) immaculate upon arrival, the housekeeping staff maintained it in pristine condition throughout my stay. Not only was everything clean, all random travel jetsam from curios to charging cords was immediately straightened, wound, folded, tidied and organized with ultroneous coasters, bookmarks, even mouse pads spontaneously appearing. It was as if Marie Kondo herself were looking after my room. The room itself is tastefully designed and features local Tamo ash wood and handmade ceramics hand made by Master Potter Matsubayashi Hosai XVI for the in-room coffee and tea service (they also use the handmade pottery in the restaurants, an inventory infrastructure so complex and colossal that they had to start firing the pottery before they actual started construction on the hotel). While Japan is known for Macha, make sure to try the roasted Houjicha green tea. Delicious with a delicate roasted quality. These small touches are emblematic of the attention to detail and precision with which this hotel operates. The enormous bed, while a bit lonely, was exquisitely comfortable and the 100% blackout shades and superb sound insulation add to somnolent bliss.
The incongruously-named “Tea Lounge” (it serves no tea, in fact there is no service at all, although there are some bottles of water) can be a great place to work with views overlooking the scenic grounds. One day, however, a bellowing tech/crypto bro on a Zoom speakerphone call made it impossible to enjoy the space at all, let alone concentrate. Alternatively, there’s the Library next door where I never saw anyone, although it lacks desks. When I inquired why the space was named the Tea Lounge when it had no tea, I was told, “it is just a name.” Hmmm.
For the venues that do serve food and drinks, I found both local and international cuisine consistently tasty. One of the items I enjoyed most is among the simplest: a Club Sandwich. You can tell a lot about a hotel in its club sandwich. Some approach it as an obligatory after thought. Others use it as an opportunity to, as Coco Chanel put it, “make simplicity striking.” This one happily fell into the latter category. Unfortunately, I only found it available through in-room dining (although you may be able to order one in the Living Room); it would make a welcome addition to the casual Bistro restaurant. Another culinary highlight was among the most complex: the 17-course Japanese breakfast. I’m quite sure I will never have a breakfast quite like it again. I encourage everyone to try it at least once. The splendid coffee is from the % Arabica shop down the street with the added advantage of being able to skip the perennial line and enjoy another handmade pottery cup.
For those who enjoy a drink with a view, head to the Kohaku Bar for precision-engineered cocktails. While the atmosphere in the downstairs Living Room and Kyoto Bistro are lively and informal, often featuring live music, visiting the Kohaku cocktail bar is like visiting a combination of a sepulchral church and a scientific clean lab, with a Japanese design twist. The hotel describes the tavern as a “calm, refined, effortlessly atmospheric bar space” and a place to “seek a quiet drink in your own company or a romantic spot….” I’ll say. Guests either speak in whispers or not at all. Perhaps they are so entranced by the view of dusk falling over the city that they are struck dumb. Or maybe they forget they’re in a bar vs. a library. Or they just might be too intimidated by the silence to break it. Finally, I could take it no more and struck up a conversation with the fellow sitting at the bar next to me. It turned out he was a literal brain surgeon visiting from the US who proved to be a singular raconteur (e.g., a man walks into the ER and it turns out he has a nail in his head). You could never imagine the situations a brain surgeon has seen. As much as the doctor was enjoying his stay in Kyoto, he couldn’t wait to be back in the OR. More power to him. You’ll encounter guests from all over staying at the hotel, but if you don’t care for Americans, this is probably not a good choice as you’ll find a lot of us! It seems to be an especially popular choice for families with children despite the elegance and refinement of the environs.
The property maintains expansive lush gardens; the problem is that almost all of them are inaccessible. The hotel is built around the historic Kyoyamato ryokan built in 1877 that now operates as a Michelin Two Star restaurant. Although it is at the Park Hyatt, it is not part of the hotel. Only restaurant guests can access the grounds. There is an area between the hotel’s Yasaka restaurant and Kohaku with two benches that offer commanding views of the Yasaka Pagoda and the Higashiyama district, but that’s about it for outdoor areas guests can use. Instead of an outdoor dining area or a pool, the entrance courtyard features the “Pritzker Garden,” an installation of 31 igneous and metamorphic boulders excavated and shipped from former Hyatt Executive Chairman Thomas Pritzker’s house in Aspen. Setting aside the wisdom of undertaking a 6,000 mile journey in sedimentary rock diplomacy to a location with a surfeit of its own “resident” stones, the Park Hyatt describes the megaliths as “guests in the historic city of Kyoto.” Presumably like all guests, the rocks will eventually repatriate to Mr. Prizker’s residence in Colorado to allow for a more functional use of the outdoor space.
If you haven’t worn yourself out exploring the city, there is a small but well-equipped and immaculately clean TechnoGym fitness facility. I never found it to be oversubscribed despite its compact footprint. You’ll also find the compact onsite bathhouse (steam room, sauna, hot pool, cool pool) with separate men’s and women’s facilities given the requirement that you use them in your birthday suit. Not quite the same as a spacious communal pool, but when in Rome…. It’s a perfectly fine facility for a private retreat but may feel a bit too cheek-by-jowl, so to speak, in the company of clothing-free strangers.
At times I found myself a bit overwhelmed by the incredible popularity and phalanx of omnipresent tourists visiting this enchanting ancient capital. As part of the problem myself, however, I’m in no position to complain as my surprise was due exclusively to my own naivete . Whenever I needed a moment of respite, refresh and repose, the Park Hyatt Kyoto delivered with alacrity.
