Grand Prince Hotel Kyoto

wonderful hotel

The Park Hotel Tokyo exceeded our expectations. The views are great, the rooms are surprisingly large and efficiently laid out, shower was great, staff were wonderful.

Before we arrived, we were not aware that the Japanese maples would be in full color in late November. They were beautiful!

In Kyoto for a conference

The Grand Prince Hotel was quite nice: The room I was in was immaculately clean and the staff was friendly. The rooms were what one would call ’Western’ style, meaning they’re typical US or European type rooms with the normal amenities. A few things should be noted: 1) The room had a tiny TV, but all the channels were Japanese. I did get an english version of the newspaper every morning though. I’m not a TV watcher, but I did try to find the news once. 2) Internet was about $15 USD/day. The rooms took US plugs, as long as they didn’t have a grounding prong (ie, they were only 2-pronged, not 3-pronged). They also had an electric hot water pot for making tea in the morning. 3) Clearly they give away breakfast coupons (probably if you pay full price for the hotel rooms) as they constantly asked me if I had one. Breakfast was about $28 USD, dinner approached $40-$80 USD per meal. The hotel food was frankly pathetic. You can get far better food around Kyoto and for a much cheaper price! A hint though: stay away from American food there! Japanese cuisine is quite good though almost everywhere I ate. Also note, as below, that the staff really doesn’t speak english. You can get by with miming though. 4) The beds were very, very firm--almost like sleeping on the floor. This is usually only a problem if you’re a side-sleeper like me.

Some advice on Kyoto: 1) There’s a common misconception that people in Japan speak English. It’s easy to assume because quite a few signs have english translations. However, unless you know some basic Japanese phrases, you’ll have much difficulty communicating with people. I found that only one concierge (whom I only saw once in my week stay) in the hotel actually spoke and understood english. That’s not a bad thing, but you do need to be prepared to handle this. You can usually get a map that has english street names. I understand that hotels closer to downtown typically have a higher ration of basic english vocabulary. 2) The hotel is close to one conference center, but far from anything else, except a small (but pretty) lake and a temple or two. The subway is about a 10 minute walk from the hotel entrance. To get to downtown Kyoto, it’s about a 20-25 minute subway ride. Again, if you only speak english, you’ll want to look for the subway ticket machines that have an ’English’ button on them. From there, you can get a 2-day subway pass for about $25 USD (circa 2009). I couldn’t determine if the machines took credit cards--I don’t believe they did. Some of the subway entrances have ticket people that you could use a credit card with. The subways can get you to major locations, but you’ll do quite a bit of walking. 3) Cabs are expensive from the hotel to downtown. When I first arrived, I paid about $28 USD to get to the hotel. 4) Your ATM card will only work either at a Post Office (which is a 20 minute walk from the hotel) or at a 7-11 (there’s not one close to the hotel). The 7-11s appear to charge an additional fee. The nice thing is that these have an English button. There are other ATMs, but they’re in Japanese and won’t take foreign ATM cards. 5) Street names get squashed together into a single word ending in -dori (which means street) when you’re at an intersection. This is a bit confusing at first, until you realize what’s going on (=. Intersections will just have one name, the two road names combined. 6) Most of the temples are a bit of a walk, so take good walking shoes (unless you want to cab it everywhere). However, they’re very much worth the visit. I also visited the Sake Museum, which is interesting, but the tour of course is in Japanese (=. The sake was good though! 7) At least learn to say ’Arigato’ so you can thank everyone for how courteous they are! 8) Your cell phone won’t work unless you have 3g. You won’t be able to get reasonably priced data services on it either (so no email, google maps, etc). However, if you don’t mind paying like $25 USD/MB, then you’ll be okay, hahaha. 9) If you’re going there for a conference, understand that sometimes they’re just held in buildings there which *do not* have english names. Ironically, the paperwork I had was all in English, so I had a bear of a time finding my conference building. I finally asked the concierge of a nearby hotel who guessed at which one it was based on its pronunciation and I found it. In conclusion, I loved my trip to Kyoto. The hotel was pretty standard, and I would have preferred to be closer in town around the downtown area (find something within walking distance of the Kyoto Station). Do you’re homework before visiting and you should be fine!

Not impressed

Whatever you asked for in terms of "extra" services (LAN connection, adaptor...) you had to pay extra, on top of an already pretty dear room charge. Sure you can get better deals.

excellent hotel, food a little expensive

excellent hotel, food a little expensive

Lovely hotel

The hotel was very nice. Be prepared to spend some money in their restaurants. There is not much around the hotel. However, it is very convenient to the International Conference Center and there is subway access very close by which will get you into downtown Kyoto quickly. Overall, a very nice experience.

A choice for cherry-blossom lovers

A good hotel with quality of service, clean, polite and good surrounding views. It has some cherry trees, more you can see when visit the near by Pearl Pond(a beautiful lake, the translation is directly from Chinese to English). Peaceful, beautiful cherry flowers and fresh air. Though the hotel is located a little far from the Kyoto Station(about 20 minutes by subway), but it worth the time spent; you will expect a warm "home" after whole-day tour in Kyoto City. In addition to above-mentioned beautiful surroundings, the hotel itself is a nice construction, service is quick and good, they also provide servie in Kyoto Station for check-in and pick-up your luggages so that you can use your stay in the city more efficiently, while luggages are not your concern(a nice and caring arrangement). You should try this one, overall satisfactory must be higher than those hotels which located in downtown Kyoto, but rooms are so small, poor service...

Traveler's tip on getting the most out of your stay

the neighbor hood deserves a lot.

Very nice, but remote

A very nice, but slightly old hotel, primarily situated to service the Kyoto International Conference Center. Service was top-rate and the New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day activities were all that we expected. The hotel bell staff even helped us with a complicated issue with our luggage (delayed by Northwest Airlines) and got it to our hotel in Tokyo while we went on to Nagasaki. Our only real complaint is the location, remote from most of the other attractions in Kyoto. Overall, we prefer the Miyako (Higashiyama), both for its location and its slightly better design. But the service at the Grand Prince is every bit as good as the Miyako. The luggage drop off service at Kyoto station is wonderful.

Reasonably priced luxery

The room and the view from the room were incredible. It was wonderful to come back to a relaxing and beautiful space after a day full of sight seeing.

Grand Prince Hotel Kyotoa

The hotel was lovely, set in a park with a subway stop right near by. It was nice to come back to at the end of the day. Just be sure to make restaurant reservations early as there may be no place to eat if you don’t.

good service, OK location, high prices

The Prince is located on the edge of Kyoto, across the street from the convention center and next to a large park. It is a lovely, bucolic setting, but comparatively far away from Kyoto’s cultural sites. It is fully aligned to convention center visitors, i.e. business people on expense accounts who are relatively insensitive to prices. Example: there are no ice machines on the room floors, and room services charged $6 for a small bucket of ice. Restaurant prices were similarly excessive. Bottom line: only stay here if you are attending an event at the convention center. For tourists, there are better options in Kyoto.

Best Hotel in Kyoto

We stayed on the Royal Floor of the Grand Prince and loved it. Fantastic, large, comfortable room overlooking trees and a koi pond. We then moved to another hotel that was recommended by Fodors as the best in Kyoto for a business meeting. arly second class compared to the Grand Prince. We were longing for our room at the Grand Prince the whole time we were at the Westin. The Prince is on the outskirts of the city and is the last stop on the very convenient subway line.

Traveler's tip

Kyoto has 2 subway lines and a bus network. Buy a two day pass and hop on the buses to get around to the sights. However, to get to the hotel, take a bus to the closest subway station and take the subway to the Grand Prince. MUCH quicker and more comfortable than taking a bus the whole way. Taxis are very expensive.