Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto

Kyoto has an abundance of perfectly lovely hotels that promise some version of the same thing: a contemporary building, a few pieces of tasteful Japanese furniture and (usually) a bonsai tree strategically positioned near reception. Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto is a great deal more interesting than that. Opened in 2016 on the fringes of Higashiyama, on the eastern side of the city, it is a large international luxury property that is in fact built around Shakusui-en, a 12th-century pond garden that predates the hotel by (checks calendar) about 800 years. 

Imagine if Claridge's in London was constructed around the millennia-old Totteridge Yew. The garden (which is really more like a park) is the thing that gives the place its identity. The hotel is built sympathetically across the existing landscape, working within Kyoto's strict height restrictions to produce a low-rise building with four floors above ground and three below. Architecturally, we’re talking cedar, we’re talking glass, we’re talking timber and we’re talking stone. A very calm, some might say blissed out, resort-y layout which encourages guests to hang out in the hotel and get familiar with the garden.

Why stay at Four Seasons Kyoto?

Because the Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto combines the conventional advantages of an international luxury hotel (extremely soft beds, very efficient staff, exciting toiletries) with a commodity that is actually difficult to come by in Japan: space. The 800-year-old pond garden is not a little courtyard you nod at politely while walking to breakfast. It is the organising principle of the property, with the main building, restaurants and pathways arranged around it. The whole place is open and unhurried.

The entrance and lobby feature expansive windows, high ceilings and warm tones thanks to judicious use of wood and grey-pink marble underfoot. Overlooking the garden is the main dining room, which gives Arashiyama bamboo forest a run for its money in terms of dizzying verticality. The spa meanwhile, has seven treatment rooms, including two couples' suites, a Japanese bath, sauna and relaxation lounge, plus a 20-metre indoor pool and a very nice, very large 24-hour gym.

The hotel’s cultural programming is also substantial, if you’re into that kind of thing. Guests can arrange tea ceremonies in the Shakusui-tei pavilion, Zen meditation, Japanese cooking classes, incense ceremonies, pottery sessions and guided garden tours. There’s even rickshaw rides and forest-bathing hikes on offer. This is all handy because the Four Seasons is not quite slap bang in the middle of Gion's restaurant-and-bar action, so it’s good the hotel has more than enough to keep you distracted, entertained and well fed.

What are the rooms like at Four Seasons Kyoto?

There are 180 accommodations, divided into 110 guest rooms, 13 suites and 57 hotel residences. That sounds like a fairly enormous operation, but the garden, the low-rise architecture and the abundance of timber and stone do a good job of preventing the place from feeling too resort-y.

We personally found the rooms to be the hotel’s best feature. Ours was modern, spacious but noticeably more Japanese in its detailing than the floor plans suggested. Entry-level Deluxe rooms (which we had) are apparently among the largest standard hotel rooms in Kyoto, and feature a king bed (or two doubles), a sitting area, work desk and a sofa bed. The space feels high end but also remarkably cosy thanks to dark-wood floors, lantern-style lighting and subdued fixtures. Four Seasons uses its own 'bed system', with guests able to choose from three different types of mattress topper. The beds are dressed with down duvets and 300-thread-count cotton sheets in a sateen weave with a satin finish. Visitors can also avail themselves of a pillow menu covering neck pillows, airfiber, urethane, buckwheat and hypoallergenic options. 

Bathrooms are suitably serious affairs, with marble surfaces, double vanities, a separate rain shower and bathtub, and Japanese bidet toilets. Each one also comes with substantial towelling robes, slippers, a salon-grade hairdryer and all the posh toiletries you could wish for. 

More luxe-y room types introduce larger living areas, while the Heritage Garden rooms are the ones to target if the view matters: these overlook Shakusui-en, with some fourth-floor rooms adding swanky private balconies.

What’s there to eat and drink at Four Seasons Kyoto?

Emba Kyoto Grill is the hotel's large contemporary steakhouse, serving grilled meat, seafood and local veg, utilising dry-ageing and charcoal grilling techniques. It's located right by the pond, so every meal comes with a hearty side of 'beautiful views'. Breakfast and daytime dining are also handled at EMBA, with the hotel currently offering seasonal afternoon tea there.

The more serious option is Sushi Ginza Onodera, an Edo-style sushi restaurant with a 10-seat counter and two private dining rooms. It is the sort of very intense, very intimate Japanese restaurant where the relatively small capacity is a feature rather than a limitation.

Finally, there’s FUJU and SEY. The former is the hotel's garden tea-house lounge. Reached by crossing the glass bridge through Shakusui-en, it serves matcha, Japanese tea, local sweets, sake and champagne. In the evening it becomes a particularly pleasant place to drink beside the pond. SEY, meanwhile, is the newer, very swish-looking cocktail bar, drawing on the izakaya format for its food and using Japanese spirits and whisky in its drinks.

What’s the service like at Four Seasons Kyoto?

This is a Four Seasons, so the basic service proposition is downright comprehensive. There is multilingual concierge service, twice-daily housekeeping, 24-hour room service, same-day laundry and dry cleaning, one-hour pressing, overnight shoe-shining and an in-room tablet for hotel services.

Members of staff were warm, obliging and discreet (when appropriate) throughout the stay, although a few members of the breakfast team did seem a little overwhelmed at times. Housekeeping was thorough and consistent, however on one day it did occur later than expected. However the day in question was New Year's Eve, so allowances should probably be made.

Staff were particularly helpful and tireless when it came to helping us organise transport to and from the venue, including sorting our luggage to be sent separately. Gestures like that make what could feel like a very large hotel feel remarkably personal.

What’s the area like around Four Seasons Kyoto?

The hotel is in Higashiyama, in one of the most historically dense parts of Kyoto. This is not downtown Kyoto, and that is both the advantage and the catch. You are surrounded by temples, gardens and old streets rather than department stores, cocktail bars and convenience stores on every corner. But this is Kyoto and that’s a good thing.

The Kyoto National Museum is roughly three minutes away on foot, Sanjusangen-do about six minutes, and Kiyomizu-dera around 13 to 15 minutes depending on the route. The hotel itself puts Kiyomizu-dera at a 15-minute walk, while Kyoto Station is around 10 minutes by car and central Kawaramachi roughly the same.

That makes the location excellent for culture-related sightseeing. It is particularly useful for getting to the major temples early, before the crowds become unbearable, and then returning to the relative calm of the hotel. Gion is close enough by taxi and walkable for the more energetic, but the immediate neighbourhood is considerably quieter.

It also never gets old: stepping out of a giant international hotel and finding yourself almost immediately among temples, walls, hills trees and traditional streets. Kyoto has so much to offer, and opting for a stay at the Four Seasons is a great way to put yourself right at the heart of its appeal, both in terms of its bucolic physical surroundings, but also in terms of the folksy, intangible magic that defines the city’s appeal.