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Reviews of Ishicho

4 out of 5
Ishicho
Kawaramachi Dori Takeya Higashi Iru, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto

Reviews

8.2

Very good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 135 out of 413 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 185 out of 413 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 73 out of 413 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 15 out of 413 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 5 out of 413 reviews" "

8.4/10

Cleanliness

8.2/10

Staff & service

8.8/10

Amenities

7.8/10

Property conditions & facilities

8.8/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Luce

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

eric

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 4 nights in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

Shelby

Travelled with family, Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
If you are looking for a true experience of Japanese culture you pick this hotel right now. But do remember to make some research about Japanese lifestyle in a washitsu room before coming ;) Staff all speak good English. Very helpful and polite. Price stable throughout the year and the room size is just ideal compared with the 12-15sqm rooms offer by other hotels in the similar area at a similar price. Close to subway and bus stations, traffic is good, some tourist sites like the Royal Garden and Nijo Cho are even within walking distance. Close to Sanjo and Gion too. Nonetheless very quite since it's not right next to the mainstreet. There is a FamilyMart 2min's walk away. Room facility: appliances are new and are not cheap ones, furniture is older but in perfect condition.
Stayed 6 nights in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Joycelyn

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Nice area.. room is comfortable and big for three people… the traditional breakfast and Buffett breakfast was great..Keiseki dinner was new experienced for us and we enjoyed it. Housekeeping come morning and evening to set up our room Hotel has only total of 2 washers/dryers.. hard to get turn washing/drying your clothes. Hallways smells smoke.. not sure if they allow smoking in the room Overall, great stay!
Stayed 6 nights in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

Peter

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Public bath!
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

4/10 Poor

Fionne

Travelled with family
Disliked: Amenities
Thank hotel’s staff since they were very friendly and nice. However the facility is not too clean. Unpleasant smell was found in elevator and hotel toilet room, and toilet is not fully functional.
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Vanna

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Hotel staff was very accommodating in storing our luggage before our checkout time.
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

Aimee

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
We had an excellent stay at Ishicho. Our suite had one large room for sleeping and hanging out, a narrow balcony, a toilet room, and a room with a tub and shower. It was very quiet. I had read a few reviews before our stay and had been a little nervous about a few things. I wanted to address some of those things for other people who are considering staying. First, someone had left the review that the staff was not friendly and did not speak English. The staff was extremely kind and helpful, very attentive, and everyone spoke enough English to get things done. The staff was great! Another review said that there was a weird smell in the bathtub. When we first arrived, there was a strange smell in the room with the bath, but we think it is a cleaning product as we smelled it at both the apartment we rented and the hotel we stayed at in Tokyo. It dissipated the first day and the bathtub and shower were very very clean. Some reviews say that it is a bit run down - the facility feels older, but it doesn’t feel like a bad thing; everything is very clean and very well-tended. The futons are a bit thin, which might be uncomfortable if you are not used to sleeping in the floor. The pillows are the usual for Japan - small and flat. I would say that sleeping in Japan in general is less comfortable than sleeping in a hotel elsewhere… so no matter where you stay, you can expect to want a better pillow and a softer bed. ;) The ryokan breakfast is very nice!
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

Jean-Philippe

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The Japanese style room was amazing, a must do.
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2023

10/10 Excellent

Francisco

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Awesome ryokan! Onsen was very clean and relaxing. Highly recommend the traditional breakfast. Would definitely stay again!
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2023

8/10 Good

Zoha

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Very clean, great service.
Stayed 1 night in May 2023

10/10 Excellent

Christa

Stayed 2 nights in May 2023

6/10 Okay

Austin

Disliked: Amenities
This place did the job, but overall the property and amenities felt quite old and limited. It’s more of a hotel than a standard ryokan, and all in all just felt a little substandard compared to similarly priced Kyoto hotels
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2023

10/10 Excellent

Jenna, Reno

Travelled with partner, Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Fantastic staff and unique experience
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2023

10/10 Excellent

Trenton

Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2023

8/10 Good

Kevin

Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2023

10/10 Excellent

Jasmine

Stayed 1 night in Apr 2023

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Kyoto
It was a great experience of a traditional Japanese hotel.
Stayed 1 night in Jul 2019

6/10 Okay

Hany

Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Convenient but basic
Convenient location -ryokan is a bit rundown. Breakfasts are good, but the rooms are average, staff is ok but not stellar. Rooms and bathrooms are very basic.
Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
It’s in a nice area close to good food, the staff is great and the room is exactly what we were looking for.
Stayed 1 night in May 2019

8/10 Good

Christine

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great Staff
The staff were really nice and the location was ideal.
Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2019

10/10 Excellent

Shai

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 4 nights in Apr 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Friendly staff, spacious room.
We didn't know the hotel has 2 different towers (just 1 min walk away) and we turned up at the wrong one. Staff were friendly to show us to the right tower, even helped with our suitcase. Place is dated but we like that. The breakfast is awesome! The location is a 15 min walk from Sanjo-dori and it's easier to hop on buses with bus stops located within 3 min walk from the hotel....6 min walk with a 4-year-old.
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2019
Response from Nicolas on 13 Mar,2019
Dear Guest, Thank you for you comment from all our team. We hope to serve you again during another season, so you can enjoy different charms of our city. Ookini! Ishicho Team

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with family, Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Very nice experience staying there. Everyone was so friendly. The location is great too. Thought the facility is a little bit old. But we are OK with that.
Stayed 4 nights in Dec 2018

10/10 Excellent

Oscar

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
The room and breakfast is excellent. The breakfast buffet is worth the money. The location is a little bit out of the City center and the Main Train Station and the Subway, you can get the bus with one day pass around the city.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Japanese Experience
We enjoyed Ishicho. It was a true Japanese experience. We especially enjoyed the traditional breakfast! Very special!
Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2018
Response from Nicolas on 25 Dec,2018
Dear guest, Thank you very much for your comment. We will be glad to serve you again and why not during another season. Merry Christmas. Kind regards, Ishicho Customer Service

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Friendly staff, beautiful ryokan. Thank you for having us!
Stayed 1 night in Jul 2018

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Rooms were very spacious and enjoyed the Japanese style atmosphere. Breakfast was delicious!
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2018

6/10 Okay

Polina

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities, room comfort

8/10 Good

peike, China

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Disliked: Cleanliness
店里的服务人员态度挺好的，装修也是日式的，适合喜欢日本古典文化的旅客。 Staffs are caring and nice, and the decoration is very Japanese style, which is totoally for the visitors who love Japanese classical culture. 但是清洁的确是这个酒店的短板，我的朋友在洗手池塞子下找到了很多头发，地板上的头发没有清理干净。 But the cleanliness is the shortcome. My roommate found many hairs beneath the plug of the washbasin. Hairs on the floor were not cleaned.
Stayed 4 nights in Jul 2017

10/10 Excellent

Merve

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great amenities in a charming traditional package
A great balance of the traditional country feel, but with the needed amenities to feel comfortable and supported.
Stayed 3 nights in Jul 2017

6/10 Okay

Catherine

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Big space
A good 9 minutes walk from the subway to the hotel( have to get on subway from Kyoto Main Station first). Place look raggard on the outside, but the rooms was spacious enough . Bus stops are a few minutes walk from hotel,and most of the sightseeing places are indicated on the buses . Amazingly, Gion is just ten mins away, and you can easily get back to the hotel using Google maps.

8/10 Good

Connie Chui Yie

Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Smitten by the welcome sign at entrance. Hotel seems old but room was clean, spacious and comfortable. Breakfast was sumptuous too. However , very disappointed by the Onsen (public bath in the hotel ) it was closed at 9 am when we were awake n didn't get a chance to use as we checked in late ( around 10 pm) and my request for late check out was not even considered. After all, it was in my consideration when I chose this Ryokan. When asked why the Onsen was closed, we were told that it was for cleaning and in preparation for use for a group of students !!
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2017

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Very good and quiet location.
This ryokan was a good place to base for our five nights in Kyoto. It is a block from the entry to the river which is the best route to walk to Gion. It is also close to Imperial Palace and not far from good shopping. The hotel is old, so rooms not fresh looking. Staff at front desk very nice and helpful. The room cleaning staff though seemed a bit rude when we set out the futons ourselves to take an afternoon nap as we were jetlagged. After we did this, the next day they hid the futons. And then when we found the futons and took a nap again, they moved the table to the center of the room to block us from pulling out the futon again. Of course we still moved the table to be able to rest after a full morning of touring. We had come from Canada and were not onky adjusting go 13 hourstime difference but also to the 25C heat!

8/10 Good

Trevor, London

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Traditional
A traditional Ryokan, with friendly staff, in the northern part of Kyoto, you can (long) walk to many of the northern sights. The onsen facility is quite basic. Taxi from station cost ¥1600. The are many restaurants and 7-11 store within close walking distance.

4/10 Poor

John, London UK

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities, room comfort
It is oversold
Overall the place is just dingy and very tired. It sells itself as authentic but the bathroom was in need of a major overhaul. Just too expensive. Don't stay!

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

6/10 Okay

Jackie, New York, NY

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
the hotel is actually in the middle of nowhere
There are no restaurants just dingy joints in the area. It says Central Kyoto, so we expected more liveliness. The liveliness came from avoiding bicycles riding on the sidewalk without lights. Almost got hit by one. Horrible evening when we had high expectations of "kyoto happening". The hotel first denied that we had booking with them. THe owner or some jerk stopped us on the street and claimed we had no room booked. Apparently they were mostly booked by a Chinese group and we were "round eyes" from America. Then he allowed us into the lobby where the clerk found our reservations. Would recommend the place only to my enemies, not friends.

10/10 Excellent

George, Canada

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
The best hotel for our Japan Trip
The stay gave us a great experience of Japanese living style. We enjoy very much the cleanness and a high standard of service by the hotel.

8/10 Good

Sh, OR

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Old but comfortable hotel
Relatively close to places you want to go. Use 1 day bus pass.

6/10 Okay

Mary fr SF, SF

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Reasonable ryokan experience
Great ryokan experience! Room and facility is clean except bathroom and lobby furniture needs updating. We were assigned one of the rooms on the 4th floor. Supposed to be a non smoking room/floor but the toilet smells like cigarettes coming from the vent! Smoke smell was awful caused us to be so nauseated after using the toilet. Reported it to the front desk during check out but I don't know if they'll do anything about it.
Futon on tatami mats

10/10 Excellent

hasan

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

8/10 Good

J&K, Australia

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Traditional style with good service
Enjoyable

6/10 Okay

Lida, London

Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
A nice hotel but language skills don't exist
The stay was nice overall. Japanese-style rooms, japanese-style breakfast (with black tea and coffee for Western tourist), hot baths... quite a pleasant experience. The only exception was the receptionists. Quite cold and seem unfriendly - but I guess it all stems from their inability to speak English. All in all 6 out of 10!

10/10 Excellent

M, Washington DC

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Kyoto
The hotel was located in a convenient part of Kyoto. It was easy to access transportation to the various temples and sites from the hotel. Also the public bath was great!!

8/10 Good

Justin, Australia

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Nice place to stay, close to transport
Bit pricey compared to other hotels we stayed in on our trip compared to what you got for your money, was noisey until midnight with a party on the floor above, staff were very friendly and obliging

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
A hidden gem.
Located on a quiet side street, it is only a short walk away to subway stations. Once you get to the subway, it is not too hard to get around. Do walk along the river, especially now during cherry blossom season. The breakfast brunch was very good - much selection and tasty food. Our room was clean and spacious (it could easily fit 5 people) with a sink and toilet, television and small refrigerator. It was very comfortable, with the main room having tatami mats. Sleeping on futons on the floor was a different, but good experience.

8/10 Good

Rosemary, New York

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Terrific "down home" style ryokan. Not fancy or up-to-date, but clean, tidy, well-kept traditional tatami mat rooms and futons. Staff is helpful and thoughtful. Best of all...the baths!

10/10 Excellent

William, Austin, Texas

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great spot to stay!
Great central location base to tour from. Bus service is right around the corner.