Where to Stay in Kyoto

When considering which place to stay while traveling in Kyoto, you need to think about many factors: traffic, distance to attractions, and where to find some nice food. Based on these, Gion, Kyoto Station, and Shijo Kawaramachi are 3 best places to stay. They have different advantages:

Place	Advantage(s)
Shijo Kawaramachi	Walking distance to historical Gion
Gion	It is surrounded by a lot of attractions like Yasaka Shrine, Kamo River, and Kiyomizu-dera Temple within minutes’ walk.
Kyoto Station	It is Kyoto’s transportation hub from which you can go almost everywhere in Kyoto.

Best Choice - Shijo Kawaramachi

Advantages:

1. There are many shopping malls and restaurants here.
2. Colorful nightlife for its various entertainment places.
3. Walking distance to Gion - the historical district, from which many tourist attractions are close.
4. Compared with Gion, hotel rooms are much cheaper.
5. Traffic here is good as there are subways and trains running across the area.

Shijo Kawaramachi

Disadvantages:

1. The size of hotel rooms may not be large, and this means some hotel rooms don’t provide cabinets for visitors to place their clothes in.
2. Various modern buildings here make the area noisy at night, and also lack a historical atmosphere.

Tips:

1. It is wise to stay next to train stations or subway stations. 
Kyoto’s buses are crowded, so taking train and subway are the main ways to go to remote tourist attractions. You can save a lot of time on traffic if you stay by stations. The best stations to stay nearby include Shijo Station, Kyoto Kawaramachi Station, and Sanjo Station.
2. You can go to Kyoto Station in 7 minutes by subway.

For Traffic Convenience - Kyoto Station

Advantages:

1. Convenient traffic net

Kyoto Station is the most important traffic hub where you can take Shinkansen, JR & private trains, Kyoto Subway, and local buses. Starting from the Station, you can either go to remote attractions like Kiyomizu-dera Temple and Kinkaku-ji Temple or continue your journey to Osaka or Tokyo after visiting Kyoto.

2. Various restaurants and stores inside the Station
3. Comparatively speaking, there are more affordable hotel rooms inside or near Kyoto Station.

Kyoto Station also works as a huge mall where there are restaurants, supermarkets, clothes shops, and theaters. In addition, the prices of having a meal is not as high as in Gion. Outside the Station, there are post offices and places to exchange currencies.

Kyoto Station

Disadvantages:

1. Compared with Gion and Shijo Kawaramachi, Kyoto Station is a little far from attractions.
2. There are not many tourist activities or colorful nightlife as in Shijo Kawaramachi.

Tip:

It is wise to live inside or to the north of the Station. There are hotels both inside and outside of Kyoto Station. Staying inside can help you save your time on traffic. In addition, the bus terminal is on the north side of Kyoto Station.

Close to Attractions with Enough Budget – Gion

Advantages: 

1. Gion is an ancient district with strong historical atmosphere. Here, you can stay traditional Japanese inns – Ryokans rather than western hotels. Also, there are many local residences here, which helps you experience local people’s life.
2. The district is very close to most tourist attractions in Kyoto. 

Stay in Gion, you only need to walk for minutes to many tourist attractions like Yasaka Shrine and Kiyomizu-dera Temple. Below are some other attractions that can be reached on foot: Kamo River, Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka, and Kennin-ji Temple

3. Geisha street is in Gion. 

From 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., you can come across Geisha performers in the street of Gion.

Gion

Disadvantages: 

1. Prices of hotel rooms in Gion may be the highest.
2. The nightlife in Gion is not abundant. 
As a historical district, there are not many entertainment places as in Shijo Kawaramchi. Comparatively, it is a little boring at night.
3. Early-closed restaurants and stores.
Shops and restaurants would close at 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. After that, to have dinner, you can only walk to Shijo Kawaramachi in the west.

Tip: 

For hotels closer to Kamo River, their prices are generally higher than those far from it.

Go to Osaka by Train if Hotels in Kyoto are Fully Booked

During Sakura season or maple leave season, it is very hard to reserve a room in Kyoto, then you can consider staying in Osaka. It will take you less than 1 hour to go to Osaka by JR train. In addition, staying in Osaka is also convenient for many restaurants and shopping malls there and nightlife in Osaka is more colorful.

Western Hotel

Standard Twin Room

Other Tips:

1. Kyoto is a popular traveling city, so reserve rooms in advance, especially during Sakura season or maple leaf season when reservation is hard.
2. Staying in Kyoto on weekend means an extra charge for hotel rooms for local weekend tourism.
3. With a limited budget, you can go to Karasuma-dori Street where there are more affordable hotels.
4. Tell the hotel staff the right number of guests who will check in to avoid paying extra fees.
5. To experience traditional Japanese inns, there are more choices in Gion.