Very desirable location, traditional inn with attentive service, large room space with private bathroom, different kinds of Japanese tea biscuits to accompany your お茶every day, public onsen. Downsides: No refrigerator in the room. No Wifi connection no internet access.
I wanted to experience a traditional Japanese hotel room (ryokan), and for that, it was a good experience. The hotel is in a great location, walking to distance to very lively shopping and nightlife area, and walking to distance to subway stations. The wifi is a public wifi offered by the city or a cellular provider, but I couldn't get a signal in my room. The biggest unfortunate surprise was that they expected guests to be in their rooms by midnight; i.e. they imposed a curfew... That resulted in a particularly bad situation for me, but I think, in general, the traveler should be warned about these hour restrictions before booking.
We were so looking forward to our stay in Kyoto and at the Ryokan Sanga. Firstly I have to say, the area is fantastic, close to lovely shops and cafes. The Ryokan itself looks the part too although a bit shabby and run down. There are a few things you need to consider if you want to stay there:
1- Dont book through Japanican agency, they are much more expensive than the rate advertised on the Ryokan's own website.They are not very good at replying to questions and complaints. We would not book with them again.
2- We knew we had to use communal bath but there was no mention that the bath was only available in the evenings until 11 pm. We missed a couple of bath times as we were touring around till late. I like to take a shower/bath in the morning before I go out.
3- There is no wifi, only Kyoto free WIFI that was very intermittent and didnt work in the room.
4- The Japanese breakfast was mostly quite poor. A couple of days our fish looked like a gold fish run over by a car!
So glad we had not booked a dinner.
5- The staff are very friendly but speak very very little English which is inconvenient when in my case I was sick and they couldn't find an English speaking doctor.
All in all, I wouldnt go back there if I have a choice. At £170 a night for bed and breakfast, I am sure I could have done a lot better.
Acceptable for a first time experience of a ryokan but I think there are better ones around. First the pros: staff were extremely efficient and helpful, the place was clean, the beef sukiyaki dinner was substantial & delicious, the room had air-con or heater, there was an attached toilet, the blankets were thick, warm & comfy, and there was ample toiletries provided. The cons: There was no attached shower. We had to shower sitting on low stools in the public bath area which had no cubicles, along with other strangers (single gender of course). This is the only shower area, even if you do not wish to dip in their hot tub. We had to brush teeth in another common area upstairs. The mattress was thin & heavier persons may find the hard floor uncomfortable. The dinner was served in the room we were to sleep in, and the smell lingered for a long time. We opened the window to air the room, but inevitably let in a mosquito that buzzed & bit us. The room was tired, with stains and holes on the partition door. The Yakutas provided were faded. We were glad we only stayed for a night. But the place is well located, only a short 5 min walk to Nikishi market, and about 15 min to Gion. Good if you wish to start at these places in the morning.
We stayed here for 2 nights in April. We had wanted to stay 3 nights, but as it was Sakura season and we were late in our booking, it could only accommodate us for 2 nights, and at an extremely expensive price. But we had no choice then as all other places were fully booked. Nearer our trip, I found out during a random search, that it was available for the third night, but by then we had booked another nearby ryokan for our third night and decided not to change our plans since the second ryokan was better rated.
We were given a huge room with an attach small dressing room and were served our breakfast and dinner at a ground floor private room overlooking a beautiful zen garden. First night, we were served a Kaiseki dinner and second night, a beef sukiyaki dinner. We have stayed in many ryokans in different parts of Japan. The food here is so so and not every refine for the price we pay. The second ryokan we stayed at in Kyoto had more refine food and was cheaper.
We paid ¥56000 per night which is very expensive for the quality of accommodation and food. They probably took advantage of the high season to charge more. Probably worth staying here only is you pay ¥30000. I gave a 3 star rating because it was not good value for what we paid for. I had no issue with their service.
Location of ryokan is near the subway station and shopping. Convenient if you do not have a dinner plan and need to go outside in search for food.
