Banyan Tree Higashiyama Kyoto

For our 13th anniversary on Japan we closed kyoto and were looking for a Special Place to stay at. After several very good experience at other BanyanTree Hotels we closed this one. Banyan Tree Kyoto is,an incredible Place to stay at! For us a perfect example of how modern luxury can blend seamlessly with traditional Japanese elegance. We loved the location being very close from Kyoto’s most iconic sightseeing spots , including Kiyomizu-dera, Ninenzaka, and Sannenzaka. You can go to the Most famous Streets of Kyoto early in the morning or in the evening without the touristic crowds. The rooms are mine blowing! We loved the design, For us it Seelen like a very modern, luxury but on the same Time City Japanese Home.. For the ultimate Kyoto experience, I highly recommend booking a room with a private onsen. The combination of complete privacy and having a private Onzen for your own is fantastic! Banyan tree Kyoto, as well as the previously visited banyan trees in Thailand, Mexico en Morocco, has an excellent staff. Every member delivers genuine hospitality with warmth, professionalism, and attention to detail. Especially Madoka and Daisaku made our stay feel very special! Whether arranging restaurant reservations, transportation, or local recommendations, the service is exceptional! Although the property is only around 2.5 years old, it already feels perfectly integrated into its surroundings. The design combines luxus with natural materials and traditional Japanese design, creating an atmosphere that is both sophisticated and wonderfully cozy. The breakfast concept is different from most luxury hotels. Guests can choose from several thoughtfully curated set menus, including Japanese, Western, Light, and Vegan options, ensuring a personalized start to each day. Another highlight is the incredibly detailed turndown service. Every evening brings small surprises and thoughtful touches that make returning to the room a special experience which we liked a lot! Also the free activities during the week like matcha experience, traditional Japanese shows, meditation are a very nice plus! Banyan Tree Kyoto achieves something very rare: it combines the warmth and intimacy of a boutique retreat with the facilities and service standards of a world-class luxury hotel. In our case the perfect combination for our 4 night anniversary stay in Kyoto. For us a Perfect stay, we will Return soon hopefully!

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.