The Watazen Ryokan is the perfect choice for those looking for a Traditional Japanese accomodation with the comfort & convenience of a modern hotel.

After our tiny room in Hiroshima we were blessed to find an enourmous room with large main living area separated by doors to a sun room balcony on one side and large luggage & wardrobe area on the other. In the entrance area were decent bathroom facilities.

The hotel facilities are excellent - no curfew (unlike many traditional home owned ryokan) - extremely polite and hospitible staff as you expect in Japan - umbrellas at the ready if it is raining, provided an electric socket adapter on request - and your room is serviced twice a day to change the room for lunchtime meals, then beds made up for evening - so a nice idea is to go to the Food Market and bring back a traditional lunch to break up your day. We did not get the traditional breakfasts & dinners provided by hotel (the cost was the same as room charge again!) but from what we saw it looked good.

The location is excellent - right in the heart of Kyoto very close to the Nishiki Food Markets and close to the both busy Shijo St and Takashimaya Shopping mall - as well as the best part of Kyoto around the river & canal areas leading over to Gion. The surrounding streets are nice and relaxed with a number of cool bars & restaurants dotted around before you get to the busier main streets.

Access is reasonable - 2 stops from JR Kyoto on Karasuma Metro Line to Shijo from - then a decent walk on foot - look out for escalators in the stations to minimise the number of steps hauling luggage. Exit 13 from underground at Shijo puts you at Starbucks and your hotel though the Daimaru before it has an escalator part of the way - if you have as many bags as we did you'll appreciate it ! The location is worth the walk anyway.

Back in the hotel, the Japanese Baths in the basement were well worth trying after a long day out, also note wireless internet is free with your own PC but need to bring it to the lobby - could not get it in the room only 1 level up. There are also vending machines in and outside the hotel though convenience stores are within 2 short blocks. A good liqour store is also found in the Food Market

So all up a highly recommended stay for those looking for the traditional japanese experience without going overboard on cost or sacrificing privacy & hotel convenience. We would definately stay at Watazen Ryokan again !

Just came back from a 2 weeks trip in Japan and we stayed at the Watazen Ryokan for 4 nights in Jan 09.

Our room was huge by Japanese standard with green tatami mats, traditional Japanese decorations and fresh flowers! When we first checked in, a nice lady in Kimono served us green tea and offered us traditional Kyoto sweets. In fact, throughout our stay, we had fresh Japanese sweets (different kinds!) placed in our room together with traditional teacups, pot and hot water to brew green tea.

We chose a room with attached toilet w/o showering facilities, so we had to use the public bath located at the basement. It was a great experience to use the public bath and soak ourselves in soothing hot water after a long day of walking. Although do note that the attached toilet in our room was really, really tiny.

The staff was extremely helpful; the futon beds were really soft and comfortable, except for the flat pillows. I had to use a cushion to prop up my pillow.

The location of Watazen was fantastic, it was within walking distance to Gion and Ponto-cho, Takashiyama, Daimaru and many cool, little shops. There were also many fantastic restaurants within the area and not forgetting the Nikishi market was just a stone throw away!

I highly recommended this Ryokan, given it’s location and price. It was a great deal!

We were looking for a ryokan to stay in closer to the Gion area of Kyoto. The ryokan we had stayed in the night before had been disappointing, the room was okay, but the staff was rude.

We called the Watazen Ryokan directly. The desk clerk was extremely helpful with directions to the area, letting us know exactly how to find the property. The taxi from Gion cost only Y730. The staff was waiting for us at the front door to take our bags in, check-in went really quickly. The staff were all very, very friendly. We were taken up to our room where our maid prepared us fresh hot green tea. It was wonderfully welcoming and relaxing. Our room was quite beautiful with fresh green tatami mats (smelling so sweet), The room was clean and welcoming. A large flat screen TV (although we never watched it, we appreciated it).

There is wireless and wired Internet available in the lobby. It's a great chance to chat with the staff and other visitors. Also they have a small gift shop in the lobby. The staff was very helpful in assisting us with finding a great restaurant for dinner (okonomiyake) and for breakfast the next day (Ikuna coffeeshop, very good).

Our stay was very restful and pleasant. We highly recommend this ryokan. Next time I visit Kyoto I will definitely stay at this ryokan again.

I booked the Watazen based on the reviews on trip adviser and was not disappointed. The room was fantastic, the food was great and the staff were really helpful, even assisting my travel companion in securing soccer tickets to a game in Osaka.
The futons were incredibly comfortable and even though our room was on the second floor - or first floor for UK speakers - we were not woken up by street noise at all. We had a room without a bathroom and quickly developed an addiction to the onsen - bathing up to 3 times a day. Very relaxing after a hard day and night sightseeing.
Like the reviewer before me we had a few issues finding the place as the directions on their website are fairly confusing. People we stopped also had no idea and finally we stumbled across it by accident. The easiest way to find it is to take exit 13 from Shijo Station. Walk about 5 minutes until you see Daimaru department store. 2 alleys after this you will come to a Starbucks and need to take this left. You will see the signs for Nishi (??) food market (sorry cant remember the name) and need to pass through this. Around 3 blocks up from the food market you will see Watazen on your left. It has a small sign in English which is obscured by lighting so you won't see it until you are nearly outside. There are also no signs on the door so we had walked past it a few times - make sure you are looking up! Besides the difficulty in locating it, Watazen is a great place to stay and is within walking distance to many of Kyoto's sights. This is not a traditional ryokan, but the only one I could find that actually charged per room NOT per person, making it great value for money. If you are interested in experiencing a Japanese guesthouse without the hefty price tag, Watazen is a good option.