HARUYA Higashiyama - Hostel

I truly felt like I was living in an old Japanese house. I truly felt like I was living in an old Japanese house.

The convenience is also unbeatable: convenience stores, a coin laundry, and the metro station are all within a 1 to 3-minute walk from the property. It's also right by the river, which is lovely for morning and evening strolls. Highly recommended! The only minor issue was that the lock on the female restroom was broken. We didn't mention it to the host during our stay, but it is worth noting for future guests

A very nice machiya-style hotel with a wonderful atmosphere - we really enjoyed staying there. The place follows a unique etiquette focused on being quiet and respectful, which worked perfectly for us and added to the peaceful experience. There is a shared area where you can make hot beverages and prepare simple meals, as well as a very cozy living room and a small outdoor space. We stayed for 3 nights and truly enjoyed our time there. The location is very quiet, with many nice local shops and great places to eat nearby. There were almost no tourists around, which was a huge plus for us. Just a 2–3 minute walk away, there was a small river and a temple, making the area even more charming. Overall, it was a lovely place to stay - if we ever return to Kyoto, we would definitely stay there again. Conveniently located close to the station, coin laundry and convince stores. The only small downside was that towels were not included and had to be rented for an extra fee.

Great atmosphere and a cool location. They even went above and beyond and mailed me my necklace that I left behind! A great place to stay and close to a subway as well! Shower room needs updating

Very dusty. No staff to interact with.

Beautiful old building. Walkable to anything but tucked away in my favorite quiet neighborhood. The room was spacious and soft beds. Common area creates a good communal feel. Nothing

It was a good self check in, but never saw the staff. The buiding was good The room was freezing at any time of the day. Sure thay have a hot mattres, but the room was looking outside no isolation, you could hear noises all night. Beds where just "ok", almost like camping?

The ryokan is in a great location. It's not far from metro stations. There were clear instructions for using the space. I liked the cute decor & interior elements in the room and the whole ryokan--great way to experience Japanese traditional housing. The room we got was right at the entrance--literally next to the reception, so we heard every step others made, their loud convos, and the sound of their luggage, etc. The "walls" (if you can call them so; they're made of paper?) had no insulation and the room had no heating although we visited in late October! My friend and I got a bit sick after the first night... Be ready to freeze at night... There was no staff we could reach out to resolve the temperate issue. They didn't have any staff at all both days we stayed there.

The atmosphere was cozy and traditional japanese style. The room was very basic but comfortable. Most things had english instructions. It was as clean as an old building like that can be. I didn't expect anything fancy for the price, and it wasn't but met our needs. The location near the gion area was nice for walking around the night we arrived. We stumbled on a beautiful botanical garden we hadn't planned on (don't remember the name). There is a train station and bus stop close by. Also, this wasn't an issue for us and not a complaint, but hopefully helpful if deciding to book. This isn't the place if you have limited mobility because the stairs are extremely steep, and you need to tiptoe around because you can hear everything. The bathrooms are downstairs, and the rooms are upstairs. Also, it's not the place if you want to socialize as everything can be heard across rooms. Most things had english instructions, but I couldn't find anything on the laundry machine, only that it was available and gave a price for using it that specified it included laundry soap. I couldn't find any soap, and the buttons were in japanese so ended up not using it. Some english instructions on the laundry procedure would have been nice. It wasn't a big deal not to have it, but I had planned on it because I saw that it was available. There is a laundry mat less than a block down the road.

The hostel is in a beautiful passage and in a quiet location. It's a lovely old building with a relaxing atmosphere. It's a bit tricky to get upstairs to the sleeping rooms. Very steep stairs are quite typical in Japan, but if you have mobility issues, you might struggle. It's also not ideal if you're carrying a lot of luggage.

Enjoyed my stay here ?? The location is pretty good, 15-20 min’ walk from the crowded area, and also close to some of the know temples. There is a kitchen, and every morning after 6 AM there is a nice rice porridge ready (but limited and not enough for everybody), for free. There’s a washing machine but I used the one that’s 1 min’ walk from the hostel and it’s pretty great. There are 2 bathrooms downstairs (outside) and 1 shower. I never had to wait luckily so it was fine. Stayed in the mixed room and we were only 2 people there which was really awesome !! And each had its own extra space for reading/working. There are 4 bicycles if I remember correctly that you can rent. It’s possible to leave luggage after check out (not sure for how long). You can pay to use towels if you need. It was clean except underneath the thin mattress (many hairs and dust). The area is quiet. There is a metro line just 2 min’ from the hostel which was very helpful. Thank you!!! ??? The WiFi was not good, many problems with it and I wasn’t the only one experiencing it, no staff at the property so couldn’t speak to anyone (there is a phone but no one answered). Not vacuumed properly underneath the mattress (I thought it was part of the blanket so accidentally saw it).

The price was unbeatable It's very old and needs to be updated, the stairs were very rickety, I was worried I'd break them and they made a lot of noise The shared bathroom was on another floor, I felt like I'd wake people up going to the bathroom

The hostel was really close to everything, specially to the old Kyoto. The zone was peacefull and it has a lot of stores for late snacks or similar. The metro was also really close by. About the facilities it was nice to sleep on a futon and be in a traditional tatami room. Of course, the price was really good and my opinion you´re geeting what you´re paying. For me It was a nice experience but I would not repeat the hotel if I come back to Kyoto. I notice that the room needed some deep cleaning (roftop and upper part of the walls) but for me it was not a big deal. It was lacking some fresh air at some moment (we open our door to fix it). The main area (where the recepcionist would be, because there isn´t one) had many items that needed to be removed from there to avoid generatin this "lack of order". You can heard the other guest (is an old house!) but we had luck and everyone respected the silent hours ;)

The environment, the silence, the facilities like rent a bike and self checkin checkout. They changed my second night in a another hotel.

excellent location…. lots of restaurants and subway stations nearby, and walkable to many tourist sites… stairs to upper rooms are steep, but there are not many to climb. if you’ve got bulky bags, it will not be fun. also, all bathroom facilities are on the lower floor…