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Welcome to Tawaraya Ryokan, your Nakagyo “home away from home.” Tawaraya Ryokan aims to make your visit as relaxing and enjoyable as possible, which is why so many guests continue to come back year after year.
Close to some of Nakagyo's most popular landmarks, such as Sacra - Former Fudo Chokin Bank Kyoto Branch (0.1 mi) and Yata Jijoson (0.1 mi), Tawaraya Ryokan is a great destination for tourists.
As your “home away from home,” the ryokan rooms offer a refrigerator and air conditioning, and getting online is easy, with free wifi available.
Guests have access to room service while staying at Tawaraya Ryokan. In addition, Tawaraya Ryokan offers a hot tub and free breakfast, which will help make your Nakagyo trip additionally gratifying.
While you’re here, be sure to check out some of the seafood restaurants, including Kani Douraku Kyoto Main Store, Sushi Kaneko, and Nigiri Goemon, all of which are a short distance from Tawaraya Ryokan.
There is no shortage of things to do in the area, and there are several great attractions that are within walking distance of Tawaraya Ryokan, including Nijo Castle (0.9 mi), Pontocho (0.5 mi), and The Museum of Kyoto (0.2 mi).
Tawaraya Ryokan puts the best of Nakagyo at your fingertips, making your stay both relaxing and enjoyable.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
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Tawaraya is a work of art, a wooden maze that reveals ikebana, gardens, books, and light at every turn. What's more, the service is an art, refined over three centuries of its history. My room had its own garden that I could walk in and out of, a wooden bath, and an ink painting from the Muromachi Period. It was a dream to experience Kyoto's 300-year-old, beautiful ryokan with its impeccable service and breathtaking history. Please reach out to Japanese Guest Houses if you need help securing your reservation, as I did. Tawaraya serves royalty and will make you feel like royalty. Your stay will be a memory of your lifetime. As written in The New York Times, "Here, within Tawaraya, is the world, ordered and perfect, and in the perfection of this inner world we gain the strength to move about in the outer world."
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Date of stay: June 2020
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Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
My daughter and I stayed (1) night at this highly revered ryokan, and enjoyed every minute of our magical stay. This is a wonderfully traditional and historical ryokan, exactly what we were hoping for.
We stayed in "Shorai" on the ground floor, a simple room with a peaceful garden view. We especially appreciated the horigotatsu (hole in the floor below the table), which made sitting at the dining table immensely more comfortable. I don't believe all the rooms have this.
The meals were exquisite, very top quality food and presentation. We enjoyed a large kaiseki dinner that was traditional and delicious. For breakfast. I chose the Japanese breakfast, which was massive... and my daughter chose the Western breakfast, which she was very happy with. Our room attendant Sayo even brought a toaster to ensure the toast was fresh and perfectly toasted.
The turndown service was impressive... Sayo transformed our room into a cozy cocoon perfect for sleeping. She drew the curtains and put up a screen, then set out our bedding.
Sayo spoke some English, but English was not fluently spoken by the majority of the staff. However, it was not difficult to communicate with them, and they went out of their way to answer questions and assist.
This ryokan may seem fairly pricey, but is actually reasonable, considering the quality of the facility, service and food. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
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Date of stay: June 2024
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Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
My husband and I spent one night at what is widely considered Japan’s finest ryokan and we were not disappointed. I have NEVER experienced hospitality at this level. From the moment you arrive, they are waiting for you out front. They know you are coming. There is no check-in process, no waiting. Just being escorted to your room where somehow your luggage already made it there.
A wooden tub with perfectly heated water awaits, after which you don your yakuta and relax with your zen garden view before the most amazing dinner of your life is served in 8 courses over a relaxing 2 hours. There is nowhere to be, and nowhere else you will want to be. It’s like a step back in time.
After dinner, your futons are made up for you, you choose whether you’ll have a Japanese or Western-style breakfast in the morning, and select the time it is served.
At check-out, the staff make sure you are safely in your taxi (the older woman who took care of us even put her arm around me, held my hand, and escorted me safely across the street to our Uber.) I had to use google translate to tell her that she took better care of us than even our own mothers, which made her laugh.
This place is difficult to book, and if you speak no Japanese it can be a bit challenging to communicate, but everyone at Tawaraya does their utmost to make you feel like an honored guest.
It’s unparalleled. Well worth the cost.
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Date of stay: October 2023
Value
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Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:Be prepared for the best hospitality of your life.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
In our 3 weeks self-arranged holiday in Japan this was meant to be the highlight of our accommodation trip. We were expecting an indulgent and luxurious quintessential Japanese experience. We had read that it was the haunt of film stars and European royalty; possibly the best "hotel" in Japan. Apparently this was THE ryokan people craved to experience with its centuries of history and ownership. Everyone in Kyoto knew of it and referred to it with reverence. The reality is that none of them had probably ever stayed there let alone been inside Tawaraya. There's an air of mystique about even trying to get a room in the place. There's no website and we had to book through JapanHotel.net and pay our over $1000, one night bill for dinner, bed and breakfast months in advance. Still, when you are staying somewhere that is reputed to have a staff to guest ratio that would shame most oligarchs on their private yachts, paying in advance seems just part of the package. Arriving by taxi we were excited by what lay ahead but this was delayed as we headed straight off to their nearby tempura restaurant for lunch. The food was good but the very small space lacked any atmosphere and we were very pleased that the only other diner prevented any awkward silences by having a very enjoyable one-way conversation with the chef! But I digress. Let's get back to Tawaraya. On our return it was into the Japanese slippers and up one floor in the lift while the young man who pushed the buttons ran up the stairs to meet us, breathlessly, as the doors slid open. Now, in our minds, we were thinking film stars and royalty have stayed here - how good is our room going to be! Well, there must be other rooms as ours was, quite frankly, a huge, massive, enormous let down. Now Tawaraya is all a bit Zen and about inner peace and tranquility while the bustle of Kyoto happens around it. Now we can do spirituality like the best of you but hey we were seriously thinking someone must be having a far better time laughing all the way to the bank. Our small cases were left by the door in the inner hallway and that's where they stayed as there seemed nowhere else to put them. The tatami matted traditional Japanese room complete with sliding doors, a nice window seat overlooking the garden, the low table and flat on the floor chairs just didn't seem the right place to be rummaging through your case particularly when you had no idea where they would roll out the futon when it came around to bed time. Then there's a knock on the door - the first of many, and your personal maid appears bringing green tea and introductions. She was to serve us dinner and make up the bed. If you want the television then it's hidden in a cupboard in the corner. If you want wifi then someone will come and install a modem in your room. It's all very awkward all these interruptions and just when you are warming up for a Zen moment there's another intrusion - dinner menus, collecting cups etc etc. No walking around in your underpants or less here as you'll be bound to be caught out! The bathroom was an interesting affair but failed to push the luxury button. At one end under the window is a wooden box reminiscent of a coffin that is your personal onsen post shower. Didn't really enjoy the experience and it all felt a bit grubby. I should mention here that we did experience traditional Japanese rooms, futons, onsens and the multi-course meals at other places in Japan including a Budhist monastery so it wasn't all totally new to us. I was exhausted after our travels and as there was nowhere else to lay my head I stuck it on the cushion on the flat chair and fell asleep on the floor - pure luxury I hear you say. Later I found a rolled up mat in the corner which could have made things a little more comfortable. We reluctantly went out for a walk as there are no public rooms at the Tawaraya, apart from a small library; so it's sit in your room awaiting the next knock on the door or go outside the Zen field-force and explore. For $1000 you feel you really want to make the most of it - but the most of what? More tea on our return and then we changed into our fabulous Japanese robes for dinner. Now the linen and robes are just superb quality and can't be faulted. Dinner served in our room was the most uncomfortable eating experience I have ever had as there we were flat on the floor neither able to get comfortable sticking legs under the low table or out to the side. By the last course my back was killing me. Dinner was interesting if you like soy beans, bamboo and tofu - which I do. There were all sorts of strange things and some of them quite confronting - choice is not on the menu at Tawaraya and I just wish I had been a little more assertive about my dietary preferences a little earlier. Verdict on the dinner was okay but nothing special. Then it all gets cleared away while you go and stand in the corner while they make up your bed. So if this was my indulgent, luxurious, quintessential Japanese experience I must have come to the wrong place. Oh, is that a knock at the door?
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Date of stay: April 2013
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Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Since we were only able to get one night at our preferred choice, Shiraume Ryokan (which is perfection in every conceivable way, but that's another review), I guess our travel agent wanted to do us a favor and booked us for two nights in this supposedly "best Japanese ryokan". I could have cried with frustratiion, it was such a let-down! Granted, the staff were excellent and hospitality and service were above reproach, but the inn itself was tired-looking and run-down, without any kind of charm or atmosphere. The room was small by ryokan standards, very drab with none of the usual charming decorative touches you find in other ryokans. It even lacked the traditional recess with scroll and flowers found everywhere else. The bathroom and the coffin-like "onsen" were also very small compared to others, and the amenities were of the small sample kind found in business hotels. The exorbitant price did not even include dinner, which could be had after coughing up another 300 dollars per person. Travelers who waxed euphoric about this place have clearly not stayed in other traditional ryokans. This place is resting on the laurels it might once have had, and it's time to put the word out that it in no way deserves its reputation. It's a rip-off, plain and simple!!!
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Date of stay: October 2014
Location
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Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We have spent a lot of time in Japan but never in a ryokan, so a one night stay at Tawaraya was a wish list item that we are happy is behind us. It is always a red flag to me when a hotel trades on its age and former guest list. This is definitely no exception. Sometimes old is....well, old. And I truly don't care that Marlon Brando graced our tatami mat. As well, the difficulty securing a reservation at Tawaraya and the crazy high price adds allure that, for us, was not matched by the experience.
I get the sense that many ryokans do not like westerners as guests because we just don't "get" the experience. Maybe that is true, but I can't zen out when I am physically uncomfortable. And was I ever.
ROOM
We had a two room suite that could have really used a refresh. The paint was chipping on the door and things looked old and in need of repair. Tatami has a distinctive odor that one may or may not like. There was pretty much no way for us to get comfortable while just hanging around. There was one smallish chair in a corner and we took turns using it. Otherwise, is was sitting on tatami or on a very low chair with feet in a pit. If you are at all stiff or not 100% spry, it can be difficult.
The "bath" was a very old wooden tub and the bathroom in general was tired. There was free internet, which we didn't use as well as a TV on a shelf on the floor - didn't use that, either, as the viewing angle would have been challenging. Otherwise, the room has a small closet, a small desk (foot in pit set up) a dining table and a lovely small garden outside. Minimalist, as is to be expected, but would have preferred fresh minimalism.
The bed is put out during dinner and we found it more comfortable than expected.
Walls are thin, so we could hear some of the comings and going of our neighbor, but it wasn't a problem. Could be, with noisy folks, however.
LOCATION
In a word: fantastic. Right in town on a quiet street.
CHECK IN
I was disappointed at the lack of information on arrival. There are many rituals and rules involved in a ryokan stay and it would have been gracious if someone had explained the drill to us - how to use the bath, how to wear a yukata, meal details, etc. I do know some of the above, so it wasn't a problem for us, but a more complete greeting would have been appreciated. Failing that, an up to date, description in English would have been nice, rather than the 1995 review on offer.
After the fact, I learned that a massage is a nice added feel service. It wasn't mentioned to us, which was a disappointment.
MEALS
We had a kaiseki dinner included - fine and some of the dishes were exquisite both in taste and presentation - but not world class. Breakfast was pleasant, with a choice of Japanese or Western. And it IS fun to eat meals while wearing robes.
DEPARTURE
We were left with the very strong sense that their priority was knowing when we were leaving. Check out was at 11 AM, so we decided to take an early walk and then freshen up and leave at 11. When we returned at 10 AM, our luggage was waiting for us in the lobby and they were clearly eager to send us on our way. We asked for it to be moved back to the room, which was already cleaned and set up for the next guest. While it wasn't a big deal, it felt anything but hospitable.
OVERALL COMMENTS
We are happy that we stayed in a ryokan, and the top of the heap, in particular. However, for those wanting the experience, I don't think spending the money for Tarawaya is necessary, as other ryokans can provide a similar stay at a lower cost.
I would NEVER stay here while jet lagged. If one is waking up at odd hours, there isn't an easy way to get comfortable, room service, food, etc. No Nespresso machine, either! I'd have snacks on hand for such a situation. We felt kind of trapped, waiting for sunrise to go out or for meals, etc.
So, in conclusion, we learned we are not ryokan people. Still, we are happy to have had the experience.
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Date of stay: September 2015
Rooms
Cleanliness
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Tawaraya is a legendary ryokan in Kyoto. It is also very, very expensive. For that kind of money, what you expect is top flight quality. Granted the atmosphere is original, but it is original in a 1960's way. There is charm, but charm of a faded beauty resting on her laurels. The keiseki dinner served in the room ought to have been a memorable three star experience. It wasn't one star. That said, the Japanese breakfast was terrific, but overall: this legend is not worth the price by half.
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Date of stay: April 2014
Value
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Location
Cleanliness
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Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Came back to Tawaraya after 10 years, its amazing to come back and just dive into this experience. I stayed in other Ryokans but the service in Tawaraya is a level of its own. First stayed in a standard room, then 2 nights in a beautiful suite. The details in decration, service, food, am sure as a non-japanese I only can see part of it and still am appreciating it so much. The service is just unmatached by any other place I know. I think "value" and "expensive" are classifications that do not fit for a place like Tawaraya as the effort to deliver this level of service has its costs. People concerned about money just should accept that these kind of places are not for them. The dinner was amazing, we had Kaiseki dinner 3 nights in a row.
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Date of stay: January 2014
Value
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Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
It could have been a really great experience. I came to Japan around 25 times over the last 20 years, so I am very much familiar with outstanding Onsen and Ryokan places all over Japan. Tawaraya was now on the list and what great expectations we had. The price is expensive, but compared to a lot of ryokans and hotels we have stayed not crazy. I actually liked the faded and out of date charm of the property. The food, supposed to be the stand out feature of Tawaraya was good, but not great, standard Kyoto Kaiseki without any surprises. They have unbelievably only two Sake options ( warm and cold ) both their " house brand ". And boy, the Tawaraya branding is everywhere, including the toiletries. Be aware that you get different food and welcoming snacks, depending on your room, as I have witnessed when observing the tablets being carried out of the kitchen. The people are friendly but one can sense, that they would rather have Japanese guests as their customers, making the interaction all the time a little awkward. Our host for the dinner was a very demure and shy girl. Japanese friends have stayed, who were treated in a completely different manner, with much more options like massages and a general warmer welcoming. What made the experience sour though, was us asking on the day of check in for making it possible to arrange a visit to a Kyoto temple, where you need a recommendation beforehand. We thought, certainly Tawaraya is the place to ask. We got as an answer that they cannot help us with this request. Fair enough. But what really made us sad was the next day before check out, we asked again for a favour. We had not booked for the night and wanted to stay at a small ryokan out of town. Nobody spoke English there when we called, so we asked Tawaraya, if they can be so kind to call and ask availability. The answer served with a smile was : " THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE ".
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Date of stay: September 2017
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We spent one night at the Tawaraya in Kyoto. This is a ryokan with over 300 years of history. It has been owned by the same family since it first opened.
The setting of the ryokan is very historic. You can tell the design is from a long time ago. But the inside is very comfortable. It is also sparkling clean.
All the rooms are different. Although the sizes are similar, the decor and arrangement of furniture are different in each room. The four of us went and we stayed in two different rooms. We had a traditional Kaiseki dinner in my room and a traditional Japanese breakfast in my friends' room. The meals were served the traditional Japanese way and the service was great. They can speak basic English but they have a bit of difficulty explaining the different dish and ingredients in English. I speak a little Japanese so I can appreciate more the arts behind the Kaiseki dinner.
There is a library inside the Ryokan. It contains a lot of historical literatures about the ryokan.
The location of this ryokan is right in downtown Kyoto, amongst other high rises. But you won't hear the busy and bustling city noise inside the ryokan. It's a different world inside.
We would definitely return the next time we're in Kyoto, or in the Kansai area. The dinner alone is worth the money we spent in the stay.
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Date of stay: January 2007
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
There are more places to choose from in the Kyoto area.
PRICE RANGE
AU$1,194 - AU$1,696 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
tawaraya ryokan hotel kyoto
LOCATION
JapanKinkiKyoto PrefectureKyotoCity Center
NUMBER OF ROOMS
18
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