Ranzan Hotel

We booked this hotel because of its close proximity to the bamboo forest and our desire to see it at dawn. The hotel is very quiet and peaceful but it is relatively expensive for the experience. We had a western style room and it was the largest of any we’ve had in Japan. Our view outside was quite lovely. The town is mostly for day trippers from Kyoto. As a result the village shuts down around 6:30. We had great difficulty finding a place to eat dinner. A highlight, however, was experiencing the kimono forest at night. It was quite magical.

A tranquil are on the outskirts of Kyoto in beautiful arashiyama. Well connected to public transport and in a quite area of Kyoto in walking distance to the bamboo forest. Nice, relaxing Japanese bath after a day of sightseeing. Please book dinner in the hotel in advance, since all places in the area close early at around 19.30, last order.

If you expect Ryokan style hospitality, they are not planned to offer that. One upside is a public bath reminds you onsen atmosphere. Breakfast is strictly served with good standard quality of ryokan but wouldn't amaze you either. If you pay more, you will get Tatami room with Onsen dinner but I wasn't intrigued to try some more.

We stayed only one night but the quiet and calm atmosphere and the ground level room with a view to the garden was very nice, clean, and the brds were comfortable. A nice sitting area with a table right by the large window provided a welcome respite from the busy streets

Average hotel in a beautiful area. Room was fine, typical Japanese hotel, bed was very comfy. Loved the mattress. My number one pet peeve at hotels is a lack of good functioning wifi. This hotel has no dedicated wifi, however the city of Kyoto does, as does Arashiyama, and they are free and work well. So what's the problem? You get knocked offline every half hour or so, seemingly randomly, and need to reset. Now let's get to the lack of guest relations. Most hotels in Japan feature top notch care and concern for the customer, the only exception being when a hotel mostly caters to tourists, as this one does. Having gotten to sleep late, I was really hoping to sleep in and enjoy the blooming sakura the next afternoon. BUT, breakfast stops at 8:30AM! You MUST be seated no later than 8:30AM. That's just insane. Ever heard of jet lag?? Turns out it wouldn't matter because bright and early at 6AM I was shocked out of my sleep by the TV coming on, loud and obnoxious! Obviously the previous guest had set the TV timer to start up at 6AM. Most hotels check alarms and turn them off for this very reason, apparently this hotel doesn't, and that really messed up my entire day. Getting back to breakfast, there really isn't a buffet, it's a set meal each day, which was a major problem if you don't eat certain things. There is ZERO fruit. None. The first day the waitress said they couldn't get me any fruit, but after huffing and puffing a bit, a nice bowl of fresh fruit arrived at my table. Was that REALLY so difficult, Ranzan? The next morning, I figured I could have the same bowl of fruit at my table since the dead fish on my plate with its eye staring back at me wasn't really appealing to me. Different waitress on this morning, and she was very adamant and rude -- NO FRUIT! I asked again, to other staff. "No, so sorry. No fruit" Really? In the entire hotel? Not a banana? I pushed the plate away and gave up on the very disappointing breakfast. It all feels very controlling. You can't control the room temperature common in Japan hotels -- they very annoyingly go by the calendar and NOT the weather. When April 18th or so rolls around, finally they turn on the AC, before that date, it's only heat. So frustrating and uncomfortable. I went to the front desk to complain, but zero English was spoken. Tourist hotel, zero English. And I mean ZERO. I used my phone app translator and it didn't really help much. I gave up. As I was leaving the manager who had subsequently come on duty and must've heard of the one guy who pushed his food away without eating any of it because he simply wanted some fresh fruit, came up to me to apologize. I asked him why he was apologizing, suspecting he didn't really care but wanted credit for saying sorry. He had no idea why he was apologizing. Over a bowl of fruit you've lost a customer and lowered your online ratings. A banana would've meant an entirely different review. Think about that. A banana.

A friend and I backpacked through Japan this past spring and used this hotel as a relaxing get away from the super busy cities in Japan. It is about a 10 minute walk from the Bamboo Forest and is easy to walk to from Arashiyama Station. There are good places to eat nearby and the staff was very friendly and helpful. It is a little pricey but I would recommend staying here if you can find a good deal!

Its a gem right at Arashiyama, at night you get to see the beautiful lights from the bridge and at day is so close by the main places you need to visit/eat at Arashiyama. Rooms are not so spacious and facilities are not of a high rate hotel, think of it as a modern higher class inn/ryokans, must try the breakfast, tofu and light Kaiseki cuisine. Free parking a bonus. Bring your own electric multi adaptor. Try their OPEN bathroom (you have your own too in case you need that privacy :D )

A bit remote from Kyoto center, yet located in the Arashiyama neighborhood, which is a must see area, for its temples, parks etc. The hotel has decent rooms, hot baths, serves good Japanese breakfast and last but not least for fit tourists: provides free bikes. All in all it is a bit dusty but still recommended.

Its a gem right at Arashiyama, at night you get to see the beautiful lights from the bridge and at day is so close by the main places you need to visit/eat at Arashiyama. Room are not so spacious, and facilities are not of a high rate hotel, think of it as a modern higher class inn/ryokans, must try the breakfast, tofu and light Kaiseki cuisine. Free parking a bonus

We stayed here at the end of June and only booked here as on booking.com all places seemed to be quite full. Paid 21'000 Yen/night (200 usd/night) and got a little room with not even a queen size bed, wi-fi only in the lobby and breakfast served at scheduled time like in the military... Nice garden and public bath though. Location is fantastic. Staff nice but very difficult communication if one doesn't speak Japanese.