During our time in Kyoto, we decided to check out three different hotels — the Ritz-Carlton, the Park Hyatt, and the Four Seasons — all of which are regarded as among the best hotels in the city. All of these hotels are great, though they offer surprisingly different experiences, each with their pros and cons.…
Continue reading: Review: Ritz-Carlton Kyoto, Japan
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Our breakfast experience in July of this year was entirely different: all breakfast was in the Italian restaurant. We received detailed explanations of the Western and Japanese menus. For both, any guest was free to wander over the the croissant station, which are made fresh by the Pierre Hermes bakery in the lobby. If you enjoy such things (sweets) at breakfast it was a huge treat. The flavors - orange blossom, rose pistachio, plus more typical almond, chocolate, etc. were amazing. They'd even deliver them to your room as a mid-morning treat (free of charge). The downside of the way we had breakfast was the crowding. I would imagine having the Western and Japanese meals divided into different locations would make for a more peaceful experience.
Hey Ben:
Great review - really enjoyed it. One little note - and sorry for being a stickler - but the name of the hotel is The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto. You put a great deal of effort into such a comprehensive review, might as well get the capitalized T and the comma before the city correct 😉
Great review and funny to see your take on these 3 properties. Everyone I know who has been and stayed at a combination of them prefers the RC. That's why these things are always so subjective. Sounds like it does need some updates, though.
Hoping to get there in 2024, so I greatly appreciate these write-ups!
You can actually push the wall part of the TV to an angle facing the bed. I think it can go up to 45 degrees. Another note, despite not having an onsen (you should go to a real onsen anyways), RC does offer many cool free activities (e.g., hikes, cycling tours, awesome "free" kids programs = free babysitting for 1+ hour). My kids loved it and we got to sip tea in bliss!
I stayed here in August. There was an onsen in the men's (and women's) changing room that was attached to the pool area. It was very easy to miss and I guess Ben missed it.
The croissants are what I remember most about this hotel! Honestly the best I've had anywhere in the world. The wait staff did Ben a disservice by not highlighting these.
I think that plus a nicer room (I had a very nice river facing room that was framed by cherry blossoms in spring 2019) would have given a much better impression of the hotel overall.
Back in mid September, I was excited when you solicited suggestions on what to do and see in Kyoto. I lined up air tickets and accommodations for 7 nights in Kyoto and 5 nights in Tokyo. Well, I will fly home on 11/20 after waiting and hoping to read your report before I left Kyoto on 11/15. In the next two reports in Kyoto, will you include what you did and where and how you visited sight seeing in Kyoto and its surrounding cities? Japan's transit system marvels me so much. I took the bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo and watched them pass by three times while waiting on the train platform in Kyoto. Such an unbelievable experience. The transit system is so efficient, clean and punctual to the minute. Sea of commuters and visitors pass thru every day in orderly fashion. So many Americans are in Japan now due to the high exchange rate , 50% higher than usual. Thanks for the report
Just a note about cocktails in Japan - (to generalise) Japan has an extremely strong cocktail culture. Many bartenders in Japan will be extremely well trained on making cocktails, both classic and contemporary. I would say the ratio of this being the case in Japan is higher than in the US. So it comes as no surprise you got a great martini!
@Ben, The Four Seasons and Park Hyatt does not have an onsen. Onsen is very specifically natural hot springs, geothermal heated water. What FS and PH is just heated tap water. A traditional style Japanese bath, ofuro or sento. The word onsen has a very specific meaning, and there are legal requirements for something to be called an onsen.
The Ritz Carlton, Kyoto is my all-time favorite hotel. Service always is outstanding and breakfast always takes my breath away. I still keep a handwritten note given to me by staff upon check out - it was so beautiful that I almost couldn't hold back my tears while driving away. I stayed there 3 times in the last 5 years. So another reminder that our likings are so subjective.
Thank you for your review.
Next time you're in Japan, I'd suggest staying in a proper ryokan. Think of a fine bed and breakfast back home. No, it won't fill the bill for hunting points, but it is a traditional experience. Mine was happy to provide the International Herald Tribute at breakfast, and they were happy to serve me Japanese breakfast, which was so well-presented I almost didn't want to eat it. It tasted as good as it looked.
Nice review, but some small corrections:
As someone else had said, onsen specifically refers to natural hot springs, which none of the reviewed properties have. Roku does have onsens in both the public space and some of the garden rooms (which Diamonds often get upgraded to).
The -gawa in kamogawa means river, so saying kamogawa river is sort like saying Kamo river river 🙂
Great report! I wasn't impressed with the room though, especially not for $2,000/night. And the view from your room was awful. I stayed at the RC Nikko last December and it is waaay nicer than the RC Kyoto. The service at the RC Nikko was also exceptional - one of the very best that I had the pleasure of experiencing.
Yeah, Ben, you missed the best part of the Western breakfast - unlimited Pierre Hermes croissants!! Well, unlimited in theory, in practice, 2 is like the maximum I had at breakfast :-). And since this is Japan, the quality is as good as what you'd get at the Pierre Hermes shops in Paris. His Ispahan croissant are justly famous.
The set-up you describe for breakfast must be a post-covid thing. It used to be a buffet and you could order main dishes off the menu. In fact, I preferred the western breakfast over the Japanese breakfast here - due to the fabulous croissants, and because the Japanese breakfast didn't stand out in the same way as the PH Kyoto Japanese breakfast.
Never skip anything that says Pierre Herme on it. Not chocolate, not macarons, not croissants, not potato chips. I don't know how many of his shops I have been to around the world, and I think all of them in Paris, and not one thing was even "disappointing." The macarons put him on the map, but I think his chocolate is even more outstanding. I would have taken one each of those croissants and not even considered the calories.
Lucky's blog is very good for some things, but actual travel reportage is not one of them. Plenty of decent Japan travel (and general travel) resources available online; this site is not one of them. Lucky literally just flies places in the pointy end of the plane, and stays in luxury accommodations cut off from 99% of the people who actually live there.
honestly the other marriott around the corner is a fantastic alternative to this. (The Chapter Kyoto)
Most of the rooms are meh but if you book ahead and snag one of the two (!!) suites / they are suburb and 1/3 the cost of the cheapest room at ritz.
And when I say it’s around the corner I mean it’s 100m away.
We stayed there in 2017, and 80% of the staff was foreign. The vast majority were well-meaning but ill-equipped hospitality interns, most from the University of Central Florida. There was an abrasive Disney feeling to having an American confront you at the lift at breakfast to say, “Good morning! What are you going to do today?” We were surprised she didn’t offer a park map with times for the character lunch and the parade… but she did shout at us as she paraded us to our table. Absolutely never again.
my wife and i stayed here last month a couple weeks after you guys and i echo most of your comments about the hotel. we stayed using points (94,000) as the cash rate was about $1,750 on the night we stayed which is bananas. it's a perfectly nice hotel for sure but not at all memorable except for the notably excellent service (didn't it seem like all the staff are so young??) as other folks have mentioned, the TV does indeed pull out from the wall and angle towards the bed but it needs a solid yank. actually, there was something really memorable about the hotel: the croissants at breakfast; too bad you skipped them as they are without a doubt the best i've ever eaten anywhere in the world. given the high cost i'm not sure we would stay here again next time we're in kyoto but we would definitely drop in to buy a pain au chocolat and a chestnut and pear croissant. 🙂
I may be mistaken, but the view from the room may be of the cemetery at the adjacent Zendoji Temple
My son and I stayed in the intercontinental for about $400 a night. It’s a walk from the main station and we really loved it. Just one night stay unfort.
You really missed out on the Mitsui. I like the Ritz-Carlton here, it's a nice enough hotel, but the Mitsui is truly special and embodies the Kyoto experience and sense of peaceful escapism so well. Give that a try next time!
The spa area there is literal heaven on earth. Not to mention the internal courtyard is beautiful, and the service also being excellent.
“ What I found strange is that while the hotel invested in an impressive pool area, there was no whirlpool of any sort.”
There a nice one in the men’s locker room. I assume it’s the same for the women’s locker room.
When in Kyoto, we stay here:
https://www.shiraume-kyoto.jp/english/
You can't book with points, there's no loyalty program, and no spa, but the service is other-worldly.
Funny. I stayed at the Ritz Carlton Kyoto in late October, also in room 427. I really enjoyed it. By the way, we had both luncheon, and supper at La Locanda; the food was great on both occasions, but the service was certainly slightly chaotic.
You found the presentation a little weird because you compare it to Western standard. The whole world is not Western standard. Stop comparing the standard apple to apple.
After reading the other reviews, there was not an onsen but there was a heated Japanese bath in the changing rooms attached to the pool area.
You missed the best part about the Ritz Kyoto. The river view rooms and suites. Neither the Four Seasons or the Park Hyatt can match the Grand Deluxe Kamogawa rooms or any of the river view suites. Having that panoramic window looking at the river and the mountains is unmatched by the other two. There are very few Grand Deluxe Kamogawa rooms in inventory so you will likely never be able to book with points. But for view they have been and still are the best of the top luxury hotels in Kyoto.
And I think the RC has the most central location. The FS is kind of isolated near the JR station and Sanjusangendo temple. Near the old Hyatt Regency. The Park Hyatt is in a very charming area on Ninenzaka near Kiyomizu temple. But on the outskirts of the city. But the RC is the most centrally located. Its just a couple of minutes walk to the dining alley street Pontocho. And is the closest to central Kyoto and
Ben are you using ChatGPT to write your articles now? Noticing more and more that some of the sentences really don't make sense. For example the first two paragraphs of the service section are contradictory.
Anyway, Asia's luxury hotels are always better than all of the hotels in Europe and North America, in terms of design, size of room, construction standards and hardware.