Hotel Review: RAK Kiyomizu, a charming and very private hostel in a beautiful central Kyoto Neighbourhood

This year’s first Japan trip started at this friendly and central hostel, and after one hell of a trip, I landed here, frazzled, but settled in quickly, and just let me say, this hostel was the very best for a comfortable stay and offering excellent value for money in location excellent for Kyoto sightseeing.

About RAK Kiyomizu

RAK Kiyomizu is a small hostel with private rooms and shared facilities in an renovated detached house in the Rokuhara area of Higashiyama Ward, excellently located for sightseeing.

As per usual, I used Booking.com to reserve my rooms a few months in advance. A few days before checking in, I received information about the hostel and the area and notification of reception hours and, if I were to check in outside staffed hours, that I would receive access details at least 24 hours ahead – which worked well.

Location of RAK Kiyomizu

The hostel is located in a quiet side street near Rokuharamitsuji temple in the Higashiyama Ward of Kyoto. The neighbourhood is not experiencing much tourist traffic if you ignore the constantly crowded buses plying Higashioji-dori, the main route between Kyoto Station and Gion.

It is a wonderfully quiet yet very central area – you can easily walk to most Higashiyama temples and to Gion, and with Kennin-ji and Rokuharamitsu-ji, you have two very attractive and not overly overrun temples less than five minutes on foot away. I also walked to my school, which was in Kawaramachi-dori, every morning, which took me on a scenic path across the Kamo River, and barely took ten minutes.

My Room

When I arrived late at night, I had received my access information and my room number, with keys, WiFi instruction and hotel info as well as my payment receipt neatly laid out in my room. It was a comfortable and very easy arrival.

The house the hostel is in is a two-floor detached residence of undetermined age, which was rebuilt into a hostel and hass rooms on two floors. Therefore, the facilities were purpose built, new, clean and very comfortable. My room, on the second floor, had very comfortable single bed with quality cotton bed linen, a desk, chair, a few hooks and hangers, small shelf and a vanity unit with wash basin. It was bright with a window that opened, and a well-functioning air conditioner/ heating.

It was very simply but well furnished, and so were the wide spacious corridors on a colour scheme of white and blonde wood.

There was a large shower oom on my floor and a bath on the ground floor, and both floors had at least one spacious toilet – no long walks or climbing stairs to use the bathroom at night.

There was no common area or kitchen, only a fridge and a microwave oven on top of the fridge and a kettle in the stairway. So, a couple plastic bowls and a mug from the 100 Yen Shop later, I was all set, ad the supermarket next door offered some decent meal option at its deli, but this is not the place to cook, or have big potluck dinners. There was no common space anyway, but eating in my room was no problem because of the large desk, and the sink was large enough to wash my dishes in there comfortably. There wasn’t a laundry room either – something that I feel this hostel would really benefit from and probably could make room for , especially since the nearest coin laundries ( Kawaraachiten Coin Laundry and Altechia Gion ) are a ten-minute walk away.

Special treats

Altogether, this hostel is simple and provides a good night sleep. The owner appears to have a business in essential oils and room scent, so my room had a diffuser and one of two essential oil blends that can also be purchased.

WiFi was excellent and easy to log on, with instructions provided at Check-In.

There were some amenities for sale at cost (bottled water, tooth brushes, razor etc.) but no tea or coffee – but a convenience store open 24/7 (Family Mart) was 5min on foot, and there was a supermarket with more limited opening hours literally next door.

I really appreciated the excellent communication by email – even though I was out most of the staffed hours, I never had a problem getting in touch with staff. When I checked out, I accidentally took the keys, so I emailed them and returned them at lunch time. Also, when I was unable to stay my first night due to weather-related delays here in Europe, they kindly agreed to refund my first nights stay after I showed proof of my delay and re-routing – appreciated even more since this is a small business, but I also had costs, due to having to pay for a Shinkansen ticket myself, and I probably never get that refundeed as everyone is just using Force majeure for somewhat expected winter conditions that paralyzed our airport for two days.

I see pretty much no disadvantages of this lovely hostel – at least if you are a solo traveller. Five nights out of six, noise was absolutely no issue. The nearby supermarket starts early in the morning, so there may be a little noise from 7am. On my last night, some eejit decided to take a bath at 23.00, so the noise issue is due to fellow guests and the fact that the bones of the building are old.

Also, although some room have double beds, the hostel is quite clear that they do not permit two guests per room – so this hostel is best suited to solo travellers of people who prefer to stay in a room of their own. Since there is no common lounge, interactions with other travellers were minimal. For me, wanting to rest and study, it was perfect!

What to do in the area

This area of Higashiyama is quiet and mostly residential, and aside from some tourist traffic on Yasaka-dori and Matsubara-dori, it’s mostly local residents, with lovely small cafes, restaurants and shops for a mix of locals and tourists. The tourist hotspots of Ninenzaka, Sannenzaka and Kiyomizudera are about 10-15 minutes on foot away – and if you stay here, you easily walk there before breakfast to see these places without big crowds… arrive at 9am and it may be a lot less fun.

Walking north from the hostel, you will reach the magnificent Kennin-ji, a large venerable Zen Buddhist Temple, and some smaller temples that see mostly local visitors. Once you cross Higashiojidori, the main road in the area, you will firmly get into tourist territory, with large crowds, but set off on foot from RAK Kiyomizu early in the morning, and you can visit Kiyomizudera without any crowds.

The local temple to the hotel is Rokuharamitsuji, a small but wonderful temple 2 minutes on foot away. It rarely sees conventional tourists but it is one of the temples of the Saigoku 33-Kannon pilgrimage, so it gets its fair share of pilgrims.

All in all the area is lovely, quiet, yet very central. One morning, I spotted maiko at the local bakery, then, one day at lunchtime, I crossed paths with another maiko in full kimono, and there are lots of local specialized shops like tofu shops, coffee roasteries and plenty of small cafes to explore. Asahi-yu, about 5minutes on foot, was one of the nicest public baths I visited on this trip.

Last not least, every morning I was able to walk comfortably to my language school, Genki JACS, on Kawaramachi on the other side of the river, in about 10 minutes. Of course, it took me longer, because I stopped so often, because it’s such a beautiful walk, at least until you get to Kawaramachi-dori, which is a larger and busier and much less picturesque street.

Alternative Accommodation nearby

I expected not to like the area that much due to its proximity to the touristy hot sports of Gion, Kiyomizudera and Sannanzaka and Ninenzaka, but I ended up feeling very comfortable and happy there.

There isn’t anywhere in the area offering highly rated private rooms in the area, so RAK Kiyomizu really stands out offering excellent value for money.

If you are willing to pay a little more, around 8000-12000 JPY per person, Yamamoto Ryokan would be a great option – a modern ryokan with decent size Japanese style rooms and all the trappings of traditional ryokan. It is on Gojo Street, a major road, with a bus stop right outside your door and a train station less than 200m away. The small Wanosato Kyoto Musee Hotel is in a quieter yet beautiful location, offers Western-style rooms for roughly the same money, and it’s only 200m to a train station (Kiyomizu-Gojo).

Last not least, for those on a big budget, I’d choose the Celestine Kyoto Gion. An established brand of a Japanese chain (Mitsui), it is a mid-sized new hotel offering large pared-down chic rooms with an elegant Japanese style yet Western comforts… and lots of elegance. This is small luxury hotel done really well, and if my budget were to stretch to it, I would definitely stay there. Expect to pay around 150-300 Euro per night depending on season.

Hotel Details

Address: RAK KIYOMIZU, 110-1 Rokurocho, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0813, Japan

Telephone: +81757086584

Website: https://rak-kyoto-hostel.com. I booked my room on Booking.com.

How to get there: Bus 206 from Kyoto Station to Gojo-zaka, then 4min on foot a gentle downhill slope. Note this route gets extremely crowded all day. Bus 202, 207 and 80 also stop ther ebut may take much longer routes. If you have luggage any bigger than a small cabin case, use a taxi or take the Keihan Line to Kiyomizu-Gojo, about 650 gentle uphill slope on foot.

The Small Print

I visited Kyoto in February 2026, and I stayed at RAK Kiyomizu for six days. I would have happily stayed longer, but a friend was visiting from Tokyo for the weekend, so we wanted a “classic Kyoto style” accommodation and a room for two people – this is the only reason I checked out.

As always, I was paying my own way, so nothing you see here was sponsored, and I did not receive compensation, discounts, or special treatment in exchange for writing it. All my own honest and unbiased opinion.

This post does contain affiliate links to Booking.com and Agoda.com. If you book a hotel using my affiliate links, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Please refer to my blog’s Terms and Conditions for further information.

This post reflects my personal opinion and experience and is not a statement of fact about any places or accommodation mentioned in this post. I am not a specialist in incense so please forgive me for any inaccuracies that may have crept in here. I always appreciate honest feedback and corrections.

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