granvia kyoto hotel

we never stayed in kyoto, so i totally had no idea where to stay in kyoto. but there are some websites that you can read about all kyoto hotel recommendation like here, here, and here. i bet there are other recommendation, but for me, if i'm reading too many recommendations, i would get confused, so i decided to just read a few and understand about what they're talking about. basically, they didn't give certain recommendation, but they would categorize based on kyoto districts. they will lay down the pros and cons for each districts and even break it down to budget, mid range to top level hotel. and when i read some recommendation, people say that kyoto was the best place to enjoy some authentic japan tradition, and one way to enjoy it was to stay at ryokan. some people mentioned about kyoto authentic cuisine which came in courses. you could eat them in restaurants, but paolo mentioned that the easiest way to enjoy it was staying at kyoto machiya. honestly, i was intrigued at first, considering that we only went by ourselves, without kids. so i thought about giving ryokan or machiya a try. but most ryokan that i read about was totally traditional, even some only had sharing bathroom, which was not comfortable for us. and the price of machiya was totally expensive. so i decided to just stay at usual hotel. but if you wanted the experience and you had the budget, then you might want to try staying in ryokan or machiya.

okay.. so when i saw the recommendation, basically two famous area to stay was kawaramachi area and kyoto station area. both for different reason. kawaramachi was near nishiki area, so it was near dining options and shopping options. it was even close to gion which was famous for geisha sightings. but you need to take public transportation to go to places and obviously you need to walk from the station to your hotel. while kyoto station was basically the biggest station in kyoto, so almost all lines go through kyoto station. if i wanted to go to fushimi inari or arashiyama, i could go there from kyoto station straight. we could also go to kyoto from kobe and to nara from kyoto (since our plan was to go to kobe and then kyoto and then nara before ending it at osaka). dining was not a problem since kyoto station had 3 dining places and 2 department stores, but shopping wise, there were not that many stores. but we didn't mind about the shopping. for us, accessibility and dining were higher priority for us. so... i turned to tripadvisor and looking for affordable hotels around kyoto station area.

i had two or three options and then i told my husband, and he decided to pick granvia kyoto hotel. so, basically, this hotel was on the second floor or kyoto station, so even though you arrived super late or super early, with big baggages, you didn't need to drag all your bags all the way. you just need to take the escalator and you will arrive at the hotel instantly. you also didn't need to walk too much when you want to go somewhere else. cutting the travelling time. price wise, it was not the most affordable option, but it was within reasonable price range. when we compared the price on their website (here) and from agoda, the price on their website was cheaper, so we made the booking ourselves on their website.

since we wanted non smoking room, apparently the only bedding option available during our stay was twin bed (we chose the cheapest one, standard twin room). we hoped we could get a double bed or queen bed room when we arrived, but we didn't. anyway.. the room was pretty spacious for two people. it has cupboard to hang your clothes, small safe deposit box, several drawers and pajamas for two (but we didn't use it), big mirror and a long table, two chairs and decent window. the bathroom was quite nice too. it had bathtub. the toiletries was decent, but not super luxurious. i was quite impressed that the housekeepers left note on the sink saying that for today, (his/her name) was our housekeepers for the day and we could ask for his/her help by phone. how personal! and the bellboy that helped us with our baggage even explained to us in standard english about their sheet and towel changing policy.

we didn't booked the room with breakfast as we thought we wanted to try as much food as possible, including supermarket's food, but they did have several dining places scattered in the hotel. there was this cafe near the lobby and it was always full after office hours. we totally happy with our choice. it was totally easy to go anywhere since it was on top of kyoto station, and it was pretty near to places that we wanted to visit. fushimi was slightly south and arashiyama was about northwest from the station, so it was almost in the middle of our trip. we didn't have any difficulty in shopping as well. there was a nearby yodobashi which had wide beauty selection and it also had uniqlo. we could find another shopping mall that had GU or uniqlo or donki and even daiso. all within walking range. i was not sure whether or not they had family room or connecting room, but i've seen some families with their kids in this hotel. so probably you could bring your kids. and don't worry about hearing the train's sound. we didn't hear anything during our stay there. fyi, the pictures on their website are really true. our room pictures were exactly like the room we stayed in.