Hotel Granvia Kyoto

A wonderful hotel in an amazing city. An incredibly convenient location. The hotel is attached to the striking, modern train station (where we arrived from Tokyo and left on the express train which took us directly to the Osaka airport terminal). The Isetan department store, shops and numerous restaurants in the complex were great. Our large, double room on the 14th floor had an amazing view of the city, was always clean, well-provisioned and had very comfortable beds and down pillows. The free, high-speed internet access worked well. I got a very good promotional rate directly on the hotel website. My daughter wanted to see how tofu was made and the place recommended by our guidebook was far away, so the guest relations assistant called the tofu supplier for the hotel and arranged for us to go there. I am very picky and I have no complaints. I would definitely stay here again and recommend it to anyone going to Kyoto.

The Granvia is a superb hotel, highly recommend it for anyone visiting Kyoto.

Excellent location for transport links, shopping is superb and for restaurants, both in the hotel and outside the hotel are very good. In addition, the fitness facilities are quite good for Japanese hotels.

If I were to have any gripe its.. location, with regard to nightlife. In general the major nightlife is downtime - towards Gion while the hotel is located the other end of town, at the train station. However, despite this when I return to Kyoto, I will without doubt be selecting The Granvia.

Finally, for anyone visiting Japan, for around 2 weeks, I would recommend using Kyoto as your base, rather than Tokyo - i.e. spend more time in Kyoto than Tokyo. The place is truly something special.

The Granvia was the third hotel I stayed at in Kyoto; thankfully, I'd saved the best for the last days in Kyoto. The lobby has adopted its cadence from the railway station below; a lot of rush and hullabaloo, but you get where you're going. Service is above average and very accommodating. The front desk staff members are personally pained when they can't accommodate your request (a Japanese trait I'd observed most often at the Granvia, not other hotels).

I paid more than I should for the room, and expected a lot. One disappointment was that the Granvia is worn around the edges: it needs new paint and carpet throughout. However, the rooms are gargantuan by Japanese standards. They are well equipped, but with Japanese showers and fixtures.

Do not book online through Utell; call the hotel directly, especially if you have a Japan rail pass. Try the restaurants in the Isetan dept store rather than the Hotel, they are cheaper and just as convenient.

I would definitely stay there again.

The Gran Via is located in the Kyoto Train station,

which has big plusses. The room is fairly priced

for Japan, and was bigger than we expected. Good

bed. Bathroom adequate but not large. Tub was a squeeze. Good service overall. Some staff spoke decent

English, others not. Subways & busses right out the front door. Dozens of good restaurants in the train

station and adjacent Isetan Dep't Store (all cheaper

than the hotel restaurants). Kyoto is a magnificent

tourist city. Our 2 days was not nearly enough.

Apart from the 300 temples, the Nijo Castle was

worth visiting. Good walking city. Talkig to others, we concluded the gran Via Hotel is a best bet for Kyoto. No complaints.

We really enjoyed the Granvia, and we're happy to have found the previous reviews on Trip Advisor. We had a great room on an upper floor overlooking the city tower. The room was very modern in style and extremely clean. We had a large bathroom.

Our reservation was at there lowest rate with the room type assigned upon arrival. We had requested a king bed, but they didn't have one available for us. They instead upgraded us to a better room type (but we still had two double instead of one large bed).

Breakfast was included in our room rate, and the buffet breakfast was very, very nice. A great spread of japanese as well as continental offerings.

Our only complaint was with the service. Overall, across the staff it was quite cold. The concierge, especially, was a disappointment. Not very friendly or helpful. We worked around it and still had a great time.

We'd stay here again without question. The central, easy location - especially - and the property itself made our stay worthwhile.

Stayed here for 3 days after spending 2 nights at the Kyoto Royal. Boy, am I glad we moved over. Largest and most beautiful rooms of all the hotels we staying in Japan during our 10 day trip. Great view of Kyoto and the main Tower. Bathroom huge with a glass enclosed mini room separating the shower and bathtub. And heated toilet seats! Had dinner at one of the main restaurants. Pricey but memorable. Main bar had a happy hour every night from 5 to 7 with drinks 50% off. My only compliant if there is one is the service, though wonderful, just wasn't as personal as other hotels we stayed at. But again, a truly great hotel that I look forward to returning to.

We stayed 4 nights to tour the area and didn't regret a moment. Our first few nights were in Ryokans and all that that entails -marvellous. But our first "normal"hotel was the Granvia and what a good choice it turned out to be. Thanks to previous Tripadvisor comments. Location cannot be bettered for arrival by train and as a central start point whether to see Kyoto or travel further afield. The local bus station is only outside and so no need for taxis. The rooms (basic type) were fine and not cramped, storage and bathroom perfectectly adequate. We got the reduced Japan Rail Pass room rate, so good value. The main reception area of hotel is rather like the station - busy. Nevertheless, at no time did the staff falter or be less than courteous and helpful. We ate at only the Southern Court Sky Lounge (even the pianist was good!) and took advantage of the set menu at a very reasonable price. I was surprised at the quality and number of courses, excellent value. Overall I can see why it is number 1 on the Kyoto list - book early if you want a room.

We stayed in this hotel after one week spent in an amazing hotel in Tokyo and the experience was not as exciting as I thought it would be. The rooms are quite old and you can see the furniture needs renovating. Staff is often quite abrupt and not too polite (see Guest relations officer). Also the hotel offers banqueting and wedding services to outside guests resulting in the hall and hallways being very busy at times. Finally, all the amenities offered by the hotel (leisure facilities and public Internet services) are charged to the guests (and they are quite expensive!)

I have stayed at this hotel twice--during my first visit to Japan in 2004 and again (because I fell in love with Japan and especially with Kyoto) during my second visit in May 2005. The room size is large for Japan, the beds are very comfortable, and the bathrooms are spotless and a very good size for Japan. (I did not have upgrades--just the basic room.) I love the decor: simple washi-paper headboards and clean white linens.

Here are some things I didn't see in earlier reviews.

There is a concierge station where the staff do speak English. There is always someone to help during business hours.

If you are purchasing a Japan Rail pass, there is a special rate for passholders at this hotel. This last May I was able to secure a room for $145 per night (though taxes boosted that to $167). The hotel will require (as you register) proof that you have the JR pass, and I did not find this rate on the Internet. I emailed them directly. The room available at this rate was a smoking room, but it did not smell of smoke, though a smoky smell was tangible along that corridor. No view (roof of the station) for that rate, but I was not in the room much except to sleep. The room was very quiet.)

If like me you speak virtually no Japanese (and have a rail pass) it might be helpful to know that there is a special area for passholders in the trainstation, where a bilingual JR West employee will make all your seat reservations. This was wonderful. People at the general station ticket booths can usually deal with written requests (they will not understand spoken English--any more than I understand spoken Japanese!)--but this special office made it possible for me to arrange seat reservations for all of my day trips and my trips to Tokyo and Kanazawa in one visit. They also gave me the track numbers where the trains would arrive.

The food in the hotel is very expensive, though I had a meal that was in every way worth the money--it was in their tempura restaurant during my first trip. I am a vegetarian and they prepared some very special veggie treats. It was at least $45 for lunch, but worth it. For everyday food, go down into the Porta underground complex to the series of food stalls. (They are clustered in one area.) Anything you like can be found there, including an excellent Italian pasta chain (Cappriccio) and an import grocery--if you are missing snack foods, wine, cheese, or other US staples that are difficult to find in Japan, it is wonderful to know about.

The excellent souvenir stall in the same complex (near many of the restuarants) offers a small assortment from some of Kyoto's best fan dealers. Further away, but still in Porta, is a store featuring the best of Kyoto's ceramics.

If you are young at heart, the clothing in The Cube (still underground, but closer to Kyoto Station) will appeal. Isetan (sp?), a dept. store located next to the hotel, is an excellent place to shop for clothing, and has two fine food halls---in the basement and also on an upper floor (where everything smelled fantastic and there were lots of great free samples). Restaurant food is so costly in Japan, but the fast food is fresh and tasty and incredibly inexpensive. Even the egg salad sandwiches in the convenience stores are fresh and tasty.

If you don't speak much Japanese, The Hotel Gravia is a wonderful place to stay--you cannot get lost. When you are weary at the end of a day of exploring, you can just remember that virtually all buses terminate at the Kyoto station. The station area is not pretty. This hotel is a good 30-45 minutes away from the wonderful, graceful temples and shrines in the hills. But the bus plaza is right outside the hotel. if you arrive early in the AM (to avoid the hordes of students who also take the bus--the fare is 240 yen, if I remember rightly--you will arrive in good time to see the temples before they are crowded. There is an English language bus map that will save you so much time. It can be found in the bus information kiosk just outside the hotel. Some of the buses even have bilingual voice announcements (every stop given in Japanese and English). But not every bus does have this, so an English map to use as you go along these routes is very helpful.

In summary, the Granvia Kyoto is ideal for people like me who love Japan but are not ready for a ryokan or "full immersion" experience. I do not have the best language skills and tend to get lost in foreign cities. The location of this hotel means that you can _always_ catch a bus or cab back to the station. When you take daytrips, you will be home when you arrive at the station. The room TVs are bilingual, the staff are genial, and the hotel is spotless. In its restraint of design, it is quintessentially Japanese despite its Western beds, bathrooms, and expansive idea of hotel space.

I hope very much to return next year. The Hotel Gravia is by far the most comfortable of the hotels I have visited in Japan.

This hotel was fantastic. It is situated within the very modern train station, and is beautifully decorated, spacious, and has efficient and friendly staff. The rooms were spacious, and had the usual facilities. The swimming pool has a lovely view over the station concourse (one-way glass), and costs about £5 ($8) to use. The bar has a great view over Kyoto, while the restaurant we visited was very good.

The Granvia was the second-best hotel we stayed at in our three-week holiday (the Park Hyatt in Tokyo was beyond comparison although it is ridiculously expensive), and we would certainly stay here again.