Banyan Tree Higashiyama Kyoto

Beautifully designed boutique hotel with natural spring. Unfortunately the rest of our stay was ruined by the poorest f&b. Staff never got our food right either at breakfast and dinner. from simply forgetting cutlery to getting the wrong food and drinks served. Going or asking for food became a huge point of stress. The phone systen did not work and reception staff had to walk to our room to deal with any queries we had. the menu was small and did not change through out our stay. Often they were short of basic ingredients!! Extremley poor and very basic errors. Generally staff highly polite but useless.

Special thanks to Ethan, Miu, and Rin. We had a very personalized service from them and the hotel itself was private, quiet and peaceful. Loved every aspects of it including the onset, little bamboo forest, its location, room layout, the food. I highly recommend their kaiseki dinner. Very much impressed with the stay. Thank you.

Unbelievably beautiful and relaxing accomodations and common soaces, fantastic indoor and outdoor onsen. Attention to detail excellent. When we arrived we were greeted with a delicious matcha and a japanese sweet, in the beautiful and relaxing lobby/living room area. Our room overlooked the bamboo grove and was exceptionally comfortable, clean, and luxurious, with tatami floors, soft lighting, very comfortable beds, and plenty of space. Great coffeemaker and tea setup. We were encouraged to wear our provided yakuta (japanese comfy robe) or japanese pajamas and slippers everywhere in the hotel including the restaurant at any time, which made it feel really homey despite the elegance of the hotel—that was a really special experience. The onsen were fantastic—impeccably clean, beautiful, with spa products you could use and hot and cold tea at your disposal—we were in there every night. Every detail was crafted to maximize relaxation and they achieve it! It felt very Japanese, as well as very modern and spa zen at the same time. It is up on a pretty good hill—recommend walking LEFT out of the hitel to go down to ninnenzaka/sannenzaka walking through a little residential area on the way, as this is less steep than going right or down the stairs. Temples, restaurants, cafes are very close by on the hill so you don’t have to walk down the whole hill though to get to some of the most charming areas of Kyoto. Walking up the whole hill from the downtown Gion area at the bottom of the hill with a 7yo, though, was doable only sometimes on foot, sometimes required a stroller, and sometimes required a cab, but these are super easy and fast to get (use the GO taxi app; they came in 2 minutes for us all the time.) Breakfast (which was included with our room) was fantastic (could get Japanese or Western style breakfast; both were impeccable), and with a view of the bamboo grove and waterfalls was picturesque as well. Dinner at the hotel restaurant was very good, but pricey compared to the excellent and less expensive food you can get elsewhere in Kyoto, so we did not eat dinner there except for 1 night. Given this hotel is so walkable to some of the best areas in Kyoto, it’s so beautiful luxurious and relaxing, and all the staff so welcoming attentive and warm, we highly recommend and would stay here again!

Perfect stay in Kyoto hills. Walking distance to some temples. We had a room with our own onsen that we used every day. Japanese breakfast is a small gem. A zen place to stay.

My visit to this hotel was not for accommodation but a visit to the spa only. It’s a beautiful tranquil location, the place is perfectly appointed, the spa staff were lovely. I think the only feedback I could give on the spa was value for money. The massage was nice but nothing to write home about. I was gifted a small birthday gift on departure which was nice. The tax added $100 aud to my treatment which was a bit of a shock.