Park Hyatt Kyoto Review (2025): Does it Live Up to the Hype?
Anyone familiar with the Hyatt Hotels and the World of Hyatt ecosystem has likely heard of some of the most high profile, aspirational properties like Alila Ventana Big Sur, Grand Hyatt Kauai, and Alila Kothaifaru Maldves.
However, there is one hotel that is often considered to be the crown jewel of the entire Hyatt portfolio:
Park Hyatt Kyoto
Park Hyatt Kyoto has developed such a well-known reputation from two main factors:
The cash price per night: Rooms at Park Hyatt Kyoto consistently start at more than $1,500 per night, often reaching upwards of $3,000+ per night during peak season.
The extremely limited point availability: This property consistently has <1% availability for point redemptions. Given the high cash price, most individuals dreaming of a night at Park Hyatt Kyoto will be aiming to book their stay via point-based reward nights, leading to extreme demand and very little availability.
Therefore, the hype and demand naturally lead to one main question:
Is Park Hyatt Kyoto worth it?
Luckily, we were able to score a stay at Park Hyatt Kyoto during our most recent trip to Kyoto, and in this article, will break down and review all the details of our stay to help you decide if putting in the required effort and cost of staying at this property is worth it for you!
With the background out of the way, let’s jump into the review.
Park Hyatt Kyoto Review
Facilities, Amenities, & Service
As with many things when talking about visits to Japan, let’s start by talking about the food.
Park Hyatt Kyoto has 3 distinct places to eat, including the Michelin-starred Kyoyamato Kaiseki restaurant, the top-floor Yasaka restaurant (and accompanying rooftop bar) with stunning views, and the more casual Kyoto Bistro for standard meals and breakfast.
Starting with the most casual of the three, we ate breakfast at Kyoto Bistro twice during our stay, once opting for the authentic Japanese breakfast and once going with a more standard Western breakfast.
The Japanese breakfast at Kyoto Bistro
Both meals were excellent, and the Japanese breakfast was a very unique experience with some more adventurous choices compared to a Western palette. Both breakfast options were excellent but felt expensive for what we got (particularly the Western breakfast), so we’d recommend that Hyatt non-Globalists only go to Kyoto Bistro for breakfast if you’re willing to try the Japanese breakfast (or you put a lot of value on the convenience). However, the food and service were premium for both of our times dining there.
The Yasaksa restaurant and the accompanying bar are clear highlights of the property. While the food is expensive (you can expect meals to go for roughly $300-$400 per person and drinks to be ~$20 each), the views are phenomenal; there may not be a better place to catch the sunset in all of Kyoto. The food was very good, but we left feeling like it was nowhere near the best value fine dining we had gotten in the area.
However, the bar next to the restaurant might be the best spot on the entire property. Not only do you get the same unbelievable views of the sun setting on the Kyoto skyline and the Yasaka Pagoda, but you can also try some truly unique and authentic cocktails made right in front of you. The bar is set up to form a more social environment, with all the chairs surrounding a central bar with the view of the city in the background.
Moving on to the facilities, the gym/fitness center/saunas were probably among the weaker points of the facilities at Park Hyatt Kyoto. While all the equipment was top of the line/ brand new and the sliding doors gave an authentic feel to the rooms, the equipment was limited, and the saunas/onsens were on the small side. However—and this may have been luck for the timing of our stay—during all of our uses of these facilities, we did not see another guest once. This made us feel like we had a private gym and onsens, making the property feel even luxurious (though your luck may vary here). If you can time it well, the smaller size of these facilities becomes a non-issue.
The service at the restaurants and throughout the hotel was excellent. While we didn’t request too much during our stay, everything we needed help with was immediately taken care of. This includes helping us navigate the luggage transfer system—we dropped our bags at the front desk, told them our next destination, and they dealt with all the paperwork and added the price of the transfer directly to our bill!
Overall, Park Hyatt Kyoto has an excellent hard product that effectively mixes an authentic feel with modern luxuries. While the food was not the best value we had while in Japan, it still hit all the boxes we were looking for, and the service was top-tier throughout. Plus, the limited number of rooms means that the facilities never felt crowded, helping to maintain that luxury property feel.
Score: 4.7/5.0
The Room
The rooms and hard product at Park Hyatt Kyoto are some of the nicest out of any city-based Hyatt hotel we’ve ever stayed at.
From the moment we were guided to our room for the first time, it was clear that everything had been kept in immaculate condition and that many international design choices had been made to maximize the space. There was ample storage space throughout the room—enough so that we could fully unpack—with the ability to close the sliding doors around the bathroom to create more privacy for the bath and shower area. Unlike some of the other Japan Hyatt hotels with this feature (e.g., Hyatt Centric Ginza), here, it effectively helped create more distinct spaces and provided ample privacy for anyone staying in the room.
The focal point of the room was the massive bed which occupied a substantial portion of the total space; honestly, the bed was one of the largest beds we’ve ever slept in, though it appeared to be two mattresses in one bed frame.
From the bed, we had stunning views of the traditional Kyoto architecture and could even see the famous Yasaka Pagoda. While we had heard that the quality of the view can change dramatically depending on which particular room you are in, and that some rooms suffer from a lack of privacy, we were very satisfied with what we had and didn’t feel those concerns whatsoever. If you’re a World of Hyatt member and have Explorist status or better, there is a decent chance you can get upgraded to a Pagoda view if there is availability.
The bathroom was covered in stunning marble with a huge bathtub and overhead shower, with dual sinks fully stocked with high-quality toiletries. These toiletries were also restocked each time our room was serviced (which took a while each time but was done to an incredibly high standard), meaning that we never had a shortage. While we mistakenly did not do this for the first half of our stay, you should call the front desk to let them know when you’ll be leaving the room; we recommend doing this so that you never have to wait for your room to be ready, as we had to wait multiple times when we came back mid-service.
The in-room bar was fully stocked with all the classics you’d expect (including both an espresso machine and a tea kettle), though most of the fancier items (such as premium Sake) were not complimentary.
Overall, the room at Park Hyatt Kyoto was spacious, luxurious, and well-designed, and was the perfect space to come back to after our expeditions around Kyoto.
Score: 4.9/5.0
Location
Park Hyatt Kyoto’s location is both incredibly convenient and a major pain.
On the one hand, the hotel is located in the center of Higashiyama, with some of the most impressive temples/shrines in Kyoto, including the stunning but ever-crowded Kyuomizu-dera. By staying right near the Gion district, you can visit dozens of temples/shrines, walk the full Philosopher’s path (which ends right by the hotel), and get photos of empty streets that are normally packed with people (e.g., Ninen Zaka Path). With the overcrowding of many of Kyoto’s key attractions, being able to wake up early and immediately be in the middle of your destination without needing transportation is almost worth the price of the hotel on its own.
However, the downside of this location is that it is incredibly inconvenient to get to/from Kyoto Station using public transportation. Your options are either to take the Kyoto Metro, which requires changing lines and a substantial walk at the end (see below), or taking one of the Kyoto buses, which are often extremely crowded. Using either of these transportation methods is a nightmare if you have large luggage, and can make getting to Park Hyatt Kyoto into a stressful expedition—not how you want to start your luxury stay.
Realistically, the best way to get to Park Hyatt Kyoto is via taxi. While far more expensive, the convenience of a taxi is worth it in this case; plus, if you’re spending thousands of dollars on the hotel room, the extra $20 for the taxi hopefully is not going to be the dealbreaker. Because of this, we would take the proximity to the sights even with the inconvenience—we’ve included images of some of the many notable sights within walking distance of the property below:
If you can get past the difficulty of getting to the hotel from the station, this location is unbeatable for exploring East Kyoto.
Score: 4.9/5.0
Price & Value
By far, the most intimidating aspect of the stay at Park Hyatt Kyoto was the nightly room price. As we mentioned at the beginning of the article, stays at this property frequently push more than $2,000 per night. If you want to use your World of Hyatt points to book your stay, it will cost you ~45,000 points per night—among the steepest prices of any Hyatt property. Plus, even if you want to use your World of Hyatt points at this Category 8 property, reward availability is incredibly competitive.
However, cash prices can vary dramatically for the same room, depending on how far out you are booking and how busy the hotel is:
For our stay, we booked a King Bed Pagoda View room for 45,000 World of Hyatt points, with cash equivalents for the room going between $2,000 and $2,500. If you have the points, this is a no-brainer in terms of value (5+ cents per point), and is an easy choice for where you should stay during your next trip.
However, valuing the cash price is significantly more difficult; in general, we would say this hotel is worth paying the cash price if you’re going to be in the room enough to enjoy the amenities and the cash price is below $1,500 per night. The price at which the hotel is worth it to you is going to vary dramatically for different people, but if you have the money and want to stay at a top-tier hotel, this is an excellent option.
Recommended Article: Review of the World of Hyatt Credit Card
The bottom line? We’ve stayed at many Park Hyatt properties, and Park Hyatt Kyoto was one of the few that actually felt worth being in Hyatt’s top category. However, there are definitely situations where it might make more sense to book elsewhere, especially if you’re booking with cash late during a peak period.
Score: 4.6/5.0
Summary: Is Park Hyatt Kyoto Worth it?
Park Hyatt Kyoto is a truly impressive hotel and is one of only a few Park Hyatt properties across the world worth being classified as a Category 8 property. While it’s slightly hard to get to, and the cash price is going to make many travellers shake their head, Park Hyatt Kyoto delivers an excellent hotel option for those looking for a luxurious night in one of the most famous areas in Japan.
Overall Score: 4.8/5.0
Beyond the score, Park Hyatt Kyoto being worth the price to you will largely be determined via the following two situations:
If you will be out of the room/hotel most of the day (e.g., first-time visitor, seeing the sights, etc.):
While Park Hyatt Kyoto is in an amazing location, Kyoto is relatively easy to navigate if you don’t have large suitcases. Therefore, if you’re going to be out of the room anyway and won’t necessarily have time to enjoy the luxury and amenities, we might instead recommend booking at Hyatt Place Kyoto to save the extra cash for food and experiences. If you’re not going to be able to spend time enjoying what you’re paying for, you’d likely leave the experience feeling like you didn’t make the most of it. However, we still think it’s worth booking this hotel with points in this case (assuming you can find availability), as you’ll still be getting excellent value.
If you will be in the room/hotel most of the day (e.g., repeat traveller) or you’re celebrating (e.g., honeymoon):
If you have the time to relax in the hotel or you have the cash to spend, Park Hyatt Kyoto is the best Hyatt hotel you can book in Kyoto. Not only will this hotel allow you to travel in luxury and experience some of the best of what Kyoto has to offer, but it will also put you in the perfect spot to be able to see many of Kyoto’s best attractions before the crowds arrive.
We hope this review was helpful! If you’re interested in accumulating Chase points, make sure to look up our guides on how to combine Chase and Amex points, our complete Chase credit card tier list, and how to combine Chase and Bilt points. And if you’re travelling elsewhere in Tokyo, we have guides on the best Hyatt hotels in Tokyo and a review of Hyatt Centric Ginza. If you’re from the UK, you can also use grocery store points to book your flights to Japan!
