Beautiful! Great experience.

Most amazing ryokan in Kyoto

Romantic place, surrounded by beautiful trees and next to a river... Birds singing at no extra charge

One of the best places i’ve been to in Japan. Great atmosphere, lovely scenery and people

Gracious service, fairytale setting, pure relaxation

We stayed here for two nights recently. Excellent location, lovely staff, great inclusions (such as morning stretch) and excellent restaurant (do not miss the kaiseki).

I've stayed at many luxurious resort/hotel chain properties (ie. Ritz, Four Seasons, Rosewood, Fullerton, Wynn, Mandarin Oriental, Relais&Chateaux, etc) and even during this 7 day japan trip alone staying at Ritz Tokyo and Kyoto and two of most luxurious rokyans in Hakone (Gora Kadan and Madoki no Mori), yet I can confidently say that my one-day experience staying at Hoshinoya Kyoto was one of the absolute best among them all! First things first, this welcoming you to the hotel thing after meeting you at some meeting point thing is much more seamless, luxurious, convenient and comfortable than what I was made to think initially. The taxi drivers know exactly where to drop you off and you're escorted into a building facility at welcome rather than straight to the boat. Here, you're invited to the most amazing check-in experience involving a delicious ginger tea, hot towels, paperwork and the famous indoor boat ride along a gorgeously quaint river. Once we arrived at the resort proper, we were immediately taken back by the beautiful and scenic resort grounds that looked just beautiful as they were in the photos. We felt immediately relaxed just standing atop the gorgeous resort grounds and the upon entering our spacious room with warmly heated floors, a large window overlooking the river and the train pathway and the painstakingly modern bathroom readied with Hinoki style hot bath. Contrary to other reviews, I did not find that the resort was too inconveniently located or isolated from rest of Tokyo as you are allowed to freely roam back and forth between the main resort and the original welcome dock right near the bustling downtown Arashiyama area. And even in our one night stay where we chose not to venture out after check-in, we felt plentifully entertained and busier with various activities available at the resort available: drinking tea/coffee at the library, participating in morning stretch group class, enjoying small occasional treats at the salon (basically its Club Lounge), enjoying the inroom dining options and just relaxing sitting by the River admits it's gorgeous scenery.

Highlights
-The food! Both the mini kaiseki dinner and the morning hot pot was DELICIOUS and one of the best meals in our entire 7 day japan trip. Every ingredient tasted fresh and all seasonings done just right with lots of attention to details of the flavors. It was expensive and (probably) overpriced, but tasted very good

-The thoughtfully laid out rooms with great nature views

-The very friendly, warm and uplifting staff members

-The AMAZING food

-The irreplaceable feeling of relaxation and peace that you'll find immediacy taking a step into this resort

-Fresh air quality and closeness to the nature without inconvenience

Lowlights
-it was hard to book using their website and price varied too much
-this is a middle ground between a ryokan and a hotel, but wish it was just a ryokan where the food was included in Your stay. Otherwise the dining options was (although very good) very limited.
-as others have noted, the staff there were indeed skewing young and did make a few small mistakes ie. Confusion over my luggage delivery service and booking wrong number of people for the morning exercise. However the staff here also were the most welcoming, genuinely friendly and kind people I got to meet and that far outweighed the negatives.

Can't wait to try out other Hoshinoya properties!

Perfect service, superb food.

The place is great for relaxing..

Lovely place

Really nice surroundings for a relaxing stay.

Amazing experience

Very helpful and friendly staff, fanstastic location by the river, very large suites, very quiet

EXCELLENT fusion cuisine !!

The dinner was expensive, but well worth it. Inspiring interpretation of famous Japanese dishes with a fusion twist.

Meditative villa oasis located deep in the forest, great for a one night respite from the city. You'll sleep a lot and well with unobstructed views of the river. Not much in the way of programs or facilities. Excellent kaiseki dinner albeit inflexible once you specify a time. Hot pot breakfast in room is very good.

Go mi ji Zai sooooo Good food

Amazing getaway

In one word 'unbelievable'. And a serene experience with superb hospitality.

Paradise.

Wonderful and relaxing out of the way place.

Great!

Renovating, subtle experience.

京都の豪商、角倉了以の私邸に由来する築百年の建築。市街の喧噪とは別世界がひろがっています。 季節毎に四季の移ろいを感じられ、特に紅葉の時期は素晴らしい色合いを体感。 手入れの行き届いた庭や草木、全室離れでリバービューのお部屋が左右に続き、 そして、客室の奥へと進むと、斜面の中腹に浮かぶ切り離された方丈庭園「奥の庭」にて、鮮やかな紅葉が出迎えてくれます。 出入りが自由なライブラリーラウンジでは、書棚、dvdやcdなどが用意され、 好きなドリンクを飲みながらソファに腰掛けゆっくりと過ごせます。 食事処では、旬の素材をふんだんに活かした京懐石に舌鼓。贅沢な一時！！ 京料理にフランスをはじめ海外の洗練された調理法や食材を組み合わせた、新しいスタイルはお見事！ 季節ごとに厳選した旬の素材に、華やかなエッセンスを加えた素晴らしいコース料理でした。