The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto

A 5-star city hotel of The Ritz-Carlton, Marriott’s luxury brand, with 134 rooms and suites, 4 restaurants and bars and a La Prairie spa, as the official overview describes it. The Forbes Travel Guide has given it 5 stars for the 9th year running in 2026, and the MICHELIN Guide gives it one Key.

It opened in February 2014, according to Booking.com, on the riverside site of the old Hotel Fujita Kyoto, as a Japanese guest recalled in 2025; the building is kept low and long, and La Locanda keeps the 1908 Fujita townhouse inside it.

The official rooms page, every details panel opened on 7 October 2026, lists 16 listings: rooms of 50 m² (Deluxe, Deluxe Kyoto King), 62 m² (Deluxe Kyoto Twin), 50 to 62 m² (Deluxe Garden) and 55 m² (Grand Deluxe Kamogawa, on the river); garden suites of 62 to 70 m²; corner suites of 100 and 115 m²; the Suite KAMOGAWA at 126 m², the Suite TSUKIMI at 140 m² and The Ritz-Carlton Suite at 212 m².

2 suites are Japanese in style, with futons on tatami. Every type sleeps up to 3; the MICHELIN Guide lists the Deluxe at 45 m² against the official 50, and the rooms page warns that all sizes are approximate. The accessible-room filter says there are none, while the Deluxe Garden card lists rooms with roll-in showers.

At Kamogawa Nijo-Ohashi Hotori, in Nakagyo-ku, on the west bank of the Kamo beside the Nijo bridge, according to the official page, which puts the Gion and Teramachi districts within walking distance. A footpath runs along the bank below the rooms.

Guests describe it as calm for central Kyoto. Tripadvisor rates the area 97 out of 100 for walkers, with 471 restaurants within half a kilometre.

On our routes, measured on OpenStreetMap: Pontocho 13 minutes (995 metres), Nishiki Market 19 minutes (1,439 metres), Hanamikoji in Gion 21 minutes (1,581 metres), Heian Shrine 21 minutes and Yasaka Shrine 24 minutes.

The Imperial Palace is 29 minutes away and Nijo Castle 36, or 5 by car. Kiyomizu-dera is 9 minutes by car, Fushimi Inari 15 and Kinkaku-ji 12, before traffic; the hotel lends bicycles.

The official page gives Itami 60 km and Kansai 100 km away, with no hotel shuttle: the Airport Limousine bus, booked ahead, or the hotel’s private car and limousine service.

From Kyoto Station it is 3.9 km by road, 10 to 15 minutes by taxi according to Expedia. By subway, Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae station on the Tozai line is 8 minutes on foot from the hotel.

Yes. The official page lists on-site parking at 1,200 yen an hour or 6,000 yen a day, valet parking at 4,000 yen a day and electric-car chargers; its additional note gives ground-floor parking at 6,000 yen a day, by reservation.

No: Kyoto is inland. The water here is the Kamo River, which runs past the hotel’s garden, with walkers on the bank below the rooms; the hotel’s daily activities include cycling by the river.

An indoor pool, heated and 20 metres long, according to the wellness page, which sets it beside the spa’s waterfall; a Tripadvisor review places it in the basement, and the hotel’s photographs show water running down a stone wall along one side. Guests in 2026 describe it as small but calm, and a family in August found it busy with children in the summer holidays.

Heated, every day from 6.30am to 10pm, with towels, according to the wellness page; no temperature is published. Swim caps are compulsory and lent free, floats and fins are not allowed, and children aged 4 to 15 must come with a parent.

According to the dining page: Mizuki, with kaiseki, sushi, tempura and teppanyaki, for lunch from 11.30am to 3pm and dinner from 5.30 to 9pm, closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; La Locanda, Italian, for lunch from Tuesday to Sunday and dinner from Tuesday to Saturday; the Chef’s Table from Tuesday to Saturday evenings; The Lobby Lounge daily from 11am to 6pm; and The Bar from 5pm.

Room service runs 24 hours, and a Pierre Hermé Paris boutique sells cakes and macarons; the dining page’s prices include service and consumption tax. The site calls Tempura Mizuki Michelin-starred on one page and lists it in the MICHELIN Guide’s 2026 selection on another.

Breakfast is served at La Locanda from 7 to 10.30am, according to the dining page. Google Hotels lists it at an extra charge and Expedia as a surcharge, while Tripadvisor’s amenity list says it is free; the official pages read do not price it.

Guests choose a Western plate with eggs to order or a Japanese tray, each with the buffet, and remember the Pierre Hermé croissants; a guest paid 7,000 yen a person in 2024, and Marriott Bonvoy Platinum members describe it free.

The La Prairie Spa, which the hotel calls Asia’s first hotel spa of the brand, has 7 treatment rooms including a private spa suite and a relaxation room serving matcha, according to the wellness page. Beside the 20-metre pool are a dry sauna and a steam room, mixed and in swimsuits, and each changing room has a hot tub; the gym is open 24 hours.

The site gives no total floor area. Guests praise the pool and the saunas.

For hotel guests the pool, the saunas and the gym are free, according to Booking.com and to guests in 2026, who were also lent swimsuits; treatments are paid for and booked ahead.

Outside guests can book a treatment, but the spa rules say day-spa guests may not use the pool, the saunas or the hot tubs. The hotel sells a spa and fitness membership; no day pass is published.

Treatments from 9am to 10pm every day, by appointment, according to the wellness page; the pool from 6.30am to 10pm and the gym round the clock, with no staff between 10pm and 6.30am. Arrive 15 minutes early; cancelling within 24 hours costs half the price, within 12 hours all of it.

La Prairie rituals: the Harmonizing Stone Journey with hot basalt stones and a facial, the Bamboo Vitality Ritual with heated bamboo, and the Swiss Energizing Leg & Scalp Ritual, plus massages, scrubs, facials and treatments in the room, according to the wellness page.

The official pages read publish no prices; bookings are made online or on +81 75-746-5554. There are treatments for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, and a morning of temple chanting followed by a treatment.

There is no onsen: the bathing areas are the pool, the saunas and the hot tubs in the changing rooms, all in a swimsuit, according to the spa rules. Booking.com’s fine print warns that guests with tattoos may be refused in the bathing areas; the official rules say nothing about tattoos.

No under-16s in the saunas, and no photographs or phone calls anywhere in the spa. Under Kyoto’s rules children up to 6 may go into the other sex’s changing room.

Yes: the experiences page runs Ritz Kids, with a treasure hunt round the hotel, balloon modelling and origami. Cots are allowed in most rooms, and a rollaway bed costs 13,800 yen a night on the official panels, though not in the Grand Deluxe Kamogawa or the tatami suites.

Booking.com charges 15,180 yen for an extra bed and counts children from 13 as adults; Expedia gives 12,000 yen, says cots are not available and lists babysitting at a charge. Families in 2026 were brought a cot, a nappy bin and a bottle steriliser.

According to the official page: the spa with pool and gym, a business centre, 5 event rooms, bicycles, same-day dry cleaning, turndown twice a day, 24-hour room service and free Wi-Fi.

Google’s listing says hiking, cycling, art tours, craft workshops and the children’s treasure hunt are free; the official pages give no prices for the signature experiences, such as the samurai class. Pets are not allowed, and service animals are welcome without a fee.

The official overview, read on 7 October 2026, listed 4: the Premium Room Promotion, for Marriott Bonvoy members, from 1 September to 17 November 2026; «Savor every bite and delight in Kyoto’s hidden gems» until 30 November 2026; More to Your Stay until 18 December 2026; and A More Timeless Stay until 28 February 2027. The pages read do not give their prices.

The Luxury Dining Series 2026 pairs a stay with dinners at Mizuki and a 4-hands lunch by the hotel’s chefs.

Yes. The weddings page offers 3 venues, among them the Kocho chapel and the Takane banquet room, a Shinto ceremony at a shrine, pre-wedding photographs and honeymoons, and welcomes destination and LGBTQ weddings. Takane seats 100 at a banquet and 120 standing, Kocho 30 at table.

No prices are published; couples fill in a request form.

The official pages read on 7 October 2026 publish no New Year’s Eve dinner or programme. A guest who spent the end of 2020 at the hotel, in a pandemic year, recalls no particular event that night.

On Google Hotels the night of 31 December cost 504,288 yen for 2, and the nights of 26 and 27 December were the dearest of the winter.

The hotel publishes no golf package; its experiences page names Kyoto Golf Club and Ohjiyama Country Club, 8 km away, and the Seta course at 14 km.

Yes: no official page announces a seasonal closure. Some restaurants rest on set days, Mizuki on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and Booking.com recorded spa maintenance from 26 to 31 January 2026.

On Google Hotels, read on 7 October 2026, 5 of the 116 nights to 31 January 2027 had no price, which does not mean the hotel was closed.

Google Hotels, read on 7 October 2026, for 2 adults and one night, with the taxes and fees each seller puts in its total: 304,721 yen on 8 October 2026, 624,210 yen on 17 October, 267,184 yen on 2 November, 251,986 yen on 14 November, 180,062 yen on 9 December, 750,307 yen on 26 December, 503,629 yen on 31 December and 124,270 yen on 22 January 2027.

Of the 116 nights to 31 January 2027, 111 had a price, from 124,270 yen to the 754,189 yen of 27 December; each is the lowest seller’s figure and names no room. For 8 October the official site and Booking.com asked 336,240 yen for a Deluxe Kyoto with a king bed, Kyoto’s accommodation tax inside it, and Expedia and Hotels.com 316,240 yen for a Deluxe without that tax. There was no price on 13 and 14 October, 11 November and 13 and 14 January.

On 7 October 2026 Google showed 4.6/5 from 2,532 ratings, Tripadvisor 4.7/5 from 1,748, 20th of 355 hotels in Kyoto, Expedia 9.6/10 from 260 and Booking.com 8.6/10 from 49, with value for money at 8.0.

Guests praise the staff above all, then the calm, the river views and breakfast. The price is among the highest in Kyoto, there can be a wait at breakfast and in the restaurants, and the televisions have no streaming apps.

The official page says Kyoto’s accommodation tax is included in the room rate: since 1 March 2026 it is 4,000 yen a person a night on rates from 50,000 to 99,999 yen per person, and 10,000 yen from 100,000. Booking.com’s fine print says it is paid at the hotel.

The sellers’ own links on Google Hotels for the night of 8 October show the difference: the official site’s and Booking.com’s 336,240 yen held 86,240 yen of taxes and fees, Expedia’s 316,240 yen held 66,240. The gap of 20,000 yen is the accommodation tax for 2 at that rate, so the cheaper figure is the one that leaves it to be settled at the desk.

Restaurant prices include service and consumption tax, the dining page says. On points stays every tax is included; on stays paid partly in cash and partly in points the accommodation tax is charged separately.

Check-in from 3pm and check-out by noon, according to the official page, which sets 18 as the minimum age to check in; Expedia says 20 and Booking.com sets none. Guests in 2026 describe check-in done in their room.