Of the luxury hotels in Kyoto, I have chosen 4, each for a different Kyoto. Park Hyatt is for the lanes of Higashiyama at dawn, 4 minutes’ walk from Yasaka Pagoda; Aman Kyoto for sleeping in a forest with an onsen, a 22-minute walk from Kinkaku-ji; Hotel The Mitsui for the centre, opposite Nijo-jo Castle, with a hot spring under the building; The Ritz-Carlton for the bank of the Kamo River and the only pool you can swim in, 20 metres long.
In Kyoto you choose the district first: the temple hillside of Higashiyama, the Takagamine forest to the north-west, the centre by the castle, the bank of the Kamo. After that it comes down to the water, onsen or pool, and how far you want to walk.
| Hotel | Suits | The trip | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Park Hyatt Kyoto | Couples who want to walk old Higashiyama at dawn and dine at a 2-Michelin-star ryotei next door | 70 rooms on the Ninenzaka slope, 4 minutes’ walk from Yasaka Pagoda | The lanes are crowded by day, rooms start at 45 m², and there is no pool. |
| Aman Kyoto | Couples who want to sleep in a forest with an onsen, tea and kaiseki, a 22-minute walk from Kinkaku-ji | 26 rooms and pavilions in a secret garden at Takagamine, on the city’s north-western edge | No pool or gym, the centre 30 minutes by car, and a bill among Kyoto’s highest. |
| Hotel The Mitsui Kyoto | Travellers who want central Kyoto and a hot-spring retreat at the same address | 160 rooms on the Mitsui family’s old estate, opposite Nijo-jo Castle, with a garden and an onsen | The lodging tax is extra; for the castle or the garden book the room that faces it, as city views look onto streets and roofs. |
| The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto | Couples and families who want a calm riverside base, a pool and downtown Kyoto’s restaurants on foot | 134 rooms of 50 to 212 m² on the Kamo River at the Nijo bridge, 8 minutes from the subway | It is one of the city’s dearest hotels, and only some rooms face the river. |
4 hotels opened between 2014 and 2020, each on ground with a past: Park Hyatt’s low pavilions beside Kyoyamato, a family ryotei of 1877; Aman’s garden, where the calligrapher Hon’ami Koetsu founded an artists’ village in 1615; the house the Mitsui family kept for more than 250 years, whose gate survives; and The Ritz-Carlton’s long, low building, which keeps a townhouse of 1908 inside it.
Kyoto, Japan
70 rooms and suites on the Higashiyama hillside, 4 minutes’ walk from Yasaka Pagoda, beside the 2-Michelin-star Kyoyamato
Kyoto, Japan
26 rooms and pavilions in a garden in the Takagamine forest, with an onsen and Taka-An, a 22-minute walk from Kinkaku-ji
Nakagyo, Kyoto
160 rooms on the Mitsui family’s old estate opposite Nijo-jo Castle, with a 1,300 m² garden and a hot spring beneath the hotel
Kyoto, Japan
134 rooms of 50 to 212 m² on the Kamo River, a 20-metre pool and Mizuki’s 4 kitchens, in downtown Kyoto
Loading map…
Recommended for you
2 of the 4. At Aman Kyoto the onsen has one bath indoors and one outside, with men and women apart, and you bathe without a swimsuit for no more than 30 minutes. At Hotel The Mitsui the water rises from Kyoto Nijo Onsen, about 1,000 metres below the hotel: one large mixed bath, in swimwear, open from 7am to 11pm. Park Hyatt has no onsen but a Bath House with a sauna, a steam room and hot and cold baths; The Ritz-Carlton has its pool, saunas and the hot tubs in the changing rooms.
It depends on the hotel, and not all of them say. Hotel The Mitsui’s house rules state that guests with tattoos may be asked to cover them before entering the spring and the gym. For The Ritz-Carlton it is Booking.com that warns guests may be refused in the bathing areas; the spa’s official rules do not mention tattoos. Aman Kyoto and Park Hyatt publish no rule, on their websites or in the spa menu.
Only The Ritz-Carlton: a heated indoor pool of 20 metres, beside the spa. Park Hyatt and Aman Kyoto say plainly that they have none, and Aman has no gym either. The thermal bath at The Mitsui is for soaking, not for lengths.
Park Hyatt, on the Ninenzaka slope: on our routes Yasaka Pagoda is 307 metres away, 4 minutes on foot, Yasaka Shrine about 10 minutes and Kiyomizu-dera 12. From The Ritz-Carlton it is 13 minutes to Pontocho and 21 to Hanamikoji, the main street of Gion. Hotel The Mitsui has Nijo-jo Castle 4 minutes away and the Karasuma Oike subway 11. Aman Kyoto is out of the centre: Kinkaku-ji is a 22-minute walk, and Gion about 18 minutes by car without traffic.
It depends a great deal on the date. On Google Hotels, read on 7 October 2026 for 2 adults, the cheapest night was 124,270 yen at The Ritz-Carlton on 22 January 2027, 141,551 yen at The Mitsui and 165,920 yen at Park Hyatt on 21 January, and 378,972 yen at Aman Kyoto on 4 January. In the weeks of the autumn leaves prices climb: on 21 November 2026 Park Hyatt asked 548,451 yen and Aman 951,456 yen, and on 14 November The Mitsui 583,188 yen. Kyoto’s accommodation tax is not always inside the total: at The Mitsui it is paid at the hotel.
The Ritz-Carlton and The Mitsui are the best equipped. The Ritz-Carlton has its Ritz Kids programme, the pool and a rollaway bed at 13,800 yen a night; at The Mitsui children of 4 to 12 may use the thermal spring from 9am to 5pm with an adult. Park Hyatt has children’s menus and a Little Chef class for ages 6 to 12, but its restaurant Yasaka does not seat under-10s at dinner. At Aman Kyoto, according to the MICHELIN Guide, rooms take no cots or extra beds: for a family there are the 2-bedroom pavilions.
No. No hotel pays to be in the guide or for the verdict it gets, and Lumina earns nothing from bookings.
Written and checked by Lumina, independently of the hotels it names. Lumina sells no rooms: every link leads to its source.
This guide is written with Lumina, the marketing system for hotels.
