Park Hyatt Kyoto

The Hotel

Park Hyatt Kyoto opened on 30 October 2019 at 360 Kodaiji Masuyacho — a deliberately understated address in Higashiyama, on a parcel that sits between Kodai-ji temple and the Ninenzaka cobblestone street, within the historic preservation district that includes the Yasaka Pagoda, Kiyomizu-dera, and the Maruyama Park gardens. The site was previously occupied by a small ryokan and a parking lot; the hotel was developed as a partnership between Hyatt and the Kodai-ji temple priesthood, with the temple retaining cultural-protection rights over the property's external architecture and approach. The architectural register, by Tokyo's Tony Chi (the Park Hyatt brand's longstanding interior designer) with Kyoto-based exterior architects, leans traditional-machiya: low-rise three-storey wood-and-tile pavilions, traditional sliding screens, and a meticulously reconstructed approach garden. The hotel cannot be seen from the public street — guests arrive through a small unmarked entrance off Ninenzaka and emerge into the property's central garden.

There are 70 guest rooms across the property's three pavilions — 61 standard rooms plus 9 suites. The standard Park Deluxe Twin runs to 50 square metres with a private garden-facing terrace and views over the Higashiyama temple roofline. The Park Deluxe King and Park Suite Higashiyama rooms run from 60 to 90 square metres; the Park Premier Suite Yasaka, on the third floor of the upper pavilion, runs to 130 square metres with a private terrace facing directly onto the Yasaka Pagoda — the most photographed view in Japanese hospitality and the brand's signature single image. Every room features hand-loomed Tatami textiles, Hinoki cypress in the bathrooms, hand-thrown ceramic tea-set programme, and the brand's signature Park Hyatt amenity programme.

Yasaka, the property's signature dining room and bar, occupies the upper pavilion's third floor with a wraparound terrace facing Yasaka Pagoda. The Yasaka Bar runs the property's evening cocktail-and-Japanese-whiskey programme; the dining room serves a working contemporary Japanese-French fusion programme. Kyoto Bistro — the property's lobby-level all-day room — runs the breakfast programme and an informal lunch-and-dinner menu. Saryo, the property's tea house at the centre of the garden, runs daily traditional tea-ceremony programmes by an in-house chajin (tea master). The Living Room, the property's small library-style cocktail venue at the entrance pavilion, serves the daily afternoon tea. Sunday brunch on the Yasaka terrace — a sake-and-Japanese-canapé programme with the pagoda directly framed beyond the railing — is the property's most-quoted social booking.

The Park Hyatt Spa runs four treatment rooms in the lower pavilion, with the brand's signature treatment programme adapted for traditional Japanese herb-and-onsen-mineral applications. The fitness centre is open 24 hours. The property does not have a swimming pool — the historic-preservation district's heritage controls limited the property's footprint and Hyatt chose to invest in dining and garden rather than aquatic facilities. The Higashiyama position is the property's principal advantage: Kodai-ji temple is at the property's eastern boundary; Kiyomizu-dera is six minutes' walk; Yasaka Pagoda is three minutes' walk; Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka — the most photographed historic streets in Kyoto — begin at the door. Kyoto Station is 15 minutes by car. For Kyoto luxury at the temple-and-garden-anchored, walk-to-Kiyomizu end where the brief is "Park Hyatt's most considered Asian property", this is the most decisive booking.

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