Ryotei Rangetsu

What People are saying

A special place with an exceptional place in which to stay

Anistatia on 21/01/2017 12:20

Imagine staying in a ryokan on the river edge with snow-covered hillside view, a private open-sir onsen, fabulous in-room kaiseki dinner and about as much romance as a couple could stand in a single visit. So close to the temples, the bamboo forest, and heaven, this ryokan in Saga-Arashiyama will become a regular destination for us in the future.

Sensational, way beyond what a westerner can expect

benv615 on 28/12/2016 14:07

Such an incredible, meditative experience. Service is incredible, and great care is taken to little details - they event went up to cleaning the wheels of my suitcase. Minimalism here really means perfection. I have stayed in countless 5 stars and even 5 stars + / palaces that where nowhere near the sense of details and perfection of this place. The bathrooms have an oak bathtub. This creates the most exquisite smell in the bathroom, all naturally without chemical or anything. The marble, the stones, the wood, you have to see it to experience it. Every details is of the highest quality: wooden pieces are all incredible and massive. You can tell this place has been designed to outlast this century. This place is an invitation to relaxation, meditation; The onsen is fantastic, featuring one indoor and one outdoor bath. The food is great too - very authentic, simply giving you the best of a truthful Japanese experience. And the location is fantastic too. In one of the most authentic parts of Kyoto, you have virtually the neighbourhood for yourself past 6 when most tourists have gone. 15 rooms only, meaning you get the attention you deserve. The place was opened in 2005, and honestly it looks so new that if I didn’t know this I would have said it opened 6 months ago.

My tip: there is a square box in your room, in a corner: this is actually a complete tea-set with the most incredible Oolong and Japanese Sencha.

Great stay, a bit pricey

Jay X on 15/12/2016 19:40

We really enjoyed our stay here. The level of privacy was outstanding. We felt like we had the place all to ourselves. Service was great, food was delicious, and the location was unbeatable. The hotsprings were nice and both my wife and I made liberal use of them through our stay.

Ok, now onto the disappointments. The main thing was around price: for a similar experience of stay, we paid much less in other areas. We were expecting this hotel to be the highlight of our trip given the price we were paying each night, and in some ways it was. However, in other hotels we had free drinks waiting in our fridge after the hotsprings (basically equally $5-10, but made you feel really at home), but Rangetsu's drinks were the typical overpriced hotel rates. For a luxury hotel, it really hit home that these guys were here to make a buck. The other thing is that despite it's great location, the view is terrible. There's no view of anything from our room aside from a small garden, or anywhere in the hotel - likely for privacy. The hotel is located on the banks of the river with a great view of the fall foliage across the river, yet we had to walk outside to see any of it. Finally, it was around the service. I understand that having privacy is great, but the hotel felt very understaffed. We seldom saw any of the staff around or any activity anywhere around the hotel. There was also nothing to do in the hotel itself, so we found our time in the hotel... peaceful but a bit boring. I guess that's what the hotel is going for so we didn't hold it against them.

All in all, would we go back? Maybe, but not at the same price we paid.

5* hotel, location and service

dam395 on 14/09/2016 15:02

We stayed on our honeymoon for 5 nights on our travels across Japan. This hotel is outstanding if you're looking to experience Japanese culture in a contemporary way. The room was lovely with multiple rooms and the staff went above and beyond to make our experience a memorable one. My wife had an illness which needed treating at hospital and the staff rang and found us somewhere with an English speaking doctor, they really helped us. We seriously recommend eating at the hotel for the full experience. Very well prepared and you get an authentic dining experience overlooking their garden.

In summary one of the best hotels I've stayed at and hopefully we'll return one day to relive our honeymoon.

Excellent Service, Location, and Stay!

WongTime on 05/07/2016 19:54

My fiancee and I had a fantastic time in Kyoto and our most memorable experience in Kyoto was staying at this ryokan for two nights.

First, before I get into any further details, I will say that if you plan to have dinner at the ryokan, confirm with them (at least a week in advance) prior to your stay. We didn't realize that our booking did not include dinner and when we contacted them on the day of, asking if we could include dinner, we were told that they could not accommodate us. Fortunately, after we arrived, they made some changes and told us they would be able to serve us dinner for one night (which was fantastic). We appreciated that they were able to make this change on such short notice. You'll quickly learn that the other restaurants in the area fill up quickly or close early (e.g., 6PM). Even the vendors selling souvenirs will be closed at that time. You don't need to fret, thinking that you'll starve, there is a convenience store open (Lawsons) in the event every place nearby is closed/full or you can always take a taxi back into town. We were originally concerned (after reading other reviews) but when we walked around we were able to find a few places that closed later than 6PM. You just need to walk around, ask others, etc.

When we arrived, we were greeted by our hosts with snacks, tea, and face towels. You will learn that the quality of service at this ryokan is excellent. Staff are extremely polite and respectful, and although the English capabilities of the staff were not as great as other locations we've been to in Japan, they try their best and their English is fantastic (my Japanese is so-so).

Breakfast (included) is fantastic; I always chose the Japanese style breakfast and was always offered seconds for miso soup and rice (which I seized because everything was so delicious). I don't believe they offered any lunch meals but this should be your opportunity to explore the area and other destinations. There is a Murasawa steak place nearby which turned out to be my #1 steak spot in the world. Regarding dinner, ideally, the price we paid would have included dinner -- having to pay what we did total for our stay was quite expensive but we thoroughly enjoyed our stay and the quality of the food was quite high. In terms of value, you will be compromising that attribute but this should be a known factor when looking at these types of hotels.

The location is excellent. We planned our trip where we stayed 4 nights in a Western style hotel in Kyoto downtown and the remaining 2 nights in Ryotei Rangetsu. For the 2 days, we planned to explore the nearby offerings (e.g., bamboo forest, monkey park, etc.) and we were glad that we planned everything in this manner because it worked out perfectly. The location of this hotel is right across the river from the monkey park and is walkable distance to the bamboo forest.

The onsen experience, as others have described, is not the best in my book but was still very good. Although we did not book a room with a private onsen, we did use the onsen available to all guests and I was the only person ever using it. The facilities were clean and function well.

The bedding/mattress was quite comfortable and was setup/taken down by staff during our breakfast/dinner. The staff also refill the two water thermoses in your room (hot and cold) which was much appreciated.

Overall, we had a fantastic experience in Kyoto and this was our most memorable stay in Japan. The quality of service, rest, food, etc. we received were all excellent. In addition, the staff made us feel like VIP when we stayed here. We very much appreciate the staff and their hard work. Ryokans, especially in this level of quality, are typically more expensive but I would highly recommend this experience if you've never done it before. In the future, we look forward to coming back and staying in this ryokan again.