It gives me great displeasure to have to write about this place in detail, but I feel I need to warn you if you decide to stay here. I only stayed for one night, but that's all you need to be left with an impression.

PRO:
- Cheapest rate for a single-room near Kyoto Station (believe me, I checked the internet and called around). Price for a single in June 2011: 3500 yen.
- Rooms have their own bathrooms (though they are of course a small modular Japanese one, which a non-Asian may have difficulty fitting into)
- Even a single room is large for its size (estimated 5 tatami mats)
- DEAD quiet at night, as you are in a back alley and surrounded by normal family housing
- No curfew (because the front door is always unlocked; hope nobody steals your shoes!)
- 4 minute walk to the Subway (Gojo Station), not 1 minute like another reviewer here claims

CON:
- Upon check-in, you are presented with a long laminated list of rules for your stay. Some of the more unusual rules:
-- Hot water is turned off at midnight! Uncomfortable if you want to take a late-night bath or shower
-- Kitchen, which is supposedly free to use, is off-limits at certain hours (another reviewer has commented on this)
-- Warning to not hang drying clothes in your room
- No free towels provided! You must pay 100 Yen for a mere washtowel (hence "towels for hire" stated on their hostelworld.com website). You are only given bed linens. I ended up using my pillowcase to dry myself off!
- All toiletries (toothbrush, soap, razor) are extra cost (again 100 yen each).
- Instead of a box of tissue in the room, you get a roll of toilet paper. Looks weird when you have to blow your nose!
- No curtains to keep out the morning sun. Inconvenient for those who are not morning people.
- My bathoom toilet had a broken seat ring, taped together with duct-tape. This indicates a very poor desire by the management to actually upkeep the facilities. Such a cheap item should have been replaced instead of repaired.
- Printed lobby sign showing incorrect password for the room WIFI. I actually had to reset the WIFI server myself to get access at night! Less technical people will not be so lucky.
-Handwritten signs warning you not to use the (one) available Internet laptop once you have checked out (comes across as rather rude)
-Handwritten sign on mousepad of laptop itself (!) saying you cannot used it after 10PM!
-Poor signage in front of hostel. No lighted or metallic sign, only a HANDWRITTEN poster saying "Costa Del Sol"! You could very easily miss the hostel, thinking it was just a normal house!
-5 minute walk to nearest conbini (7-11)

SUMMARY:
Lodging is large and quiet. However, a lack the most basic room features, nickel-and-diming of extras, poor upkeep, and all the obnoxious rules posted in the lobby AND presented to you at check-in destroy any feeling of being welcome at this establishment. Another reviewer also commented that these omniscient rule signs is what bothered her the most about this place. Spend the extra 500 yen to find identical quality lodging elsewhere (it exists, I checked), where you will actually be treated like a guest, not an inmate. You have been warned.

The photos of this place made it look nice and new. But I guess they are old photos, as in reality the place is a bit run down. The stuff looks like it comes from a discount store, so I guess this really is a budget place. The place is clean, though. After reading reviews I didn't want to stay here, but it was the only place available in Kyoto during the Gion Festival.

The thing that bothered me most about this place was the rules. Yes, the hot water is only available in the morning and evening. But also, the kitchen is only available from 8:00-22:00, which meant I had to forgo tea with breakfast a few times. The kitchen has a variety of facilities, but the gas is coin operated, Y10/10 min. You can find the plates in the cupboard next to the fridges... both I and another lady thought it was a fridge and couldn't find the plates!

Washing machines are available for Y150, with a dryer for Y10/10 min. There is a rule about not hanging clothes to dry in the rooms, probably because of the tatami but I don't know if it includes the ensuites. It you want to try it anyway beware the owner will enter your room each day to empty the bin.

The room was spacious but the futon was very thin. There was a spare in the cupboard so I ended up using two, but I still had my body pressing on the floor. There are no curtains in the room. Beware that not all rooms have futons. I was initially put into a room with tatami but a bunk bed. Luckily a futon room was free to change into.

This is not just an ordinary guesthouse, as it has a family home attached like a minshuku. There are two young children living here, whom you will meet at times. I think the address listed is the building number, not the street address. The street address is Kagiyachou-doori, Shinmachi Higashi-iru. There is a Coke machine out the front and a school opposite.

I stayed here in late 2009 with my best friend I was travelling through Japan with. We were in a twin room for 3 nights and had our own bathroom with a shower, toilet and sink. Price was 5500 yen for the room per night.

The room had air conditioning and was quite large. The beds were the standard Japanese type that are not very soft or thick and so it's quite hard to get a great night sleep if you're not used to it. The pillows were also not great (but that is the case everywhere I stayed in Japan).

The hotel was located a 10 minute walk from the main train station into Kyoto, but there are other lines that take you a 3-4 minute walk away. It would have been nicer to stay closer to the downtown area but we had no trouble getting around and even walked home from the downtown area one night! There was no curfew at this place and they had free internet.

There is a communal kitchen you can use but there is no breakfast etc provided from memory. We were on the 2nd floor so had to walk up 2 flights of stairs to our room. Not a problem but if you have heaps of luggage it may be more of an issue.

I've attached a photo of the view from our hotel room.

Kyoto was heaps of fun and in the downtown area we went to this awesome little Jamaican reggae club and met people from all over the world. Arashiyama monkey park is also worth a visit - there are little monkeys all over the mountain on the way to the park and you can feed them!