Ace Hotel Kyoto review reveals why Japan’s coolest boutique stay feels just like home
It may be all designer details and rooms with record players, but Ace Hotel Kyoto never feels try-hard.
There’s a guitar in the corner, a record player on the shelf and two sets of pyjamas awaiting. The fridge is stocked and the room temperature sits just right.It’s not often that opening the door to a hotel suite feels like home. Not the home where you actually have a list of chores and mess — rather, the best version of home where all you need do is relax.
This is the feeling we have stepping into ROAM’s Loft suite at Ace Hotel Kyoto. Funky without feeling try-hard, Ace Hotel Kyoto is a comforting mix of old-meets-new and east-meets-west that the hotel describes as “a crossroads of ancient artistry and contemporary cool”. The work of Atelier Ace, interior design firm Commune Design and architecture firm Kengo Kuma & Associates, the hotel incorporates the century-old Kyoto Central Telephone Office, designated as Kyoto City’s first registered cultural property.
Our suite is in the heritage wing (talk about high ceilings) and modern convenience complements Japanese traditions — slippers, yukata (robes) and herbal-dyed, double Japanese gauze pyjamas by Daitou Shingu.
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Ace Hotel Kyoto opened in 2022 as the first Ace in Asia. It’s in a quieter neighbourhood but on a train stop that goes directly to Kyoto Station in less than 10 minutes.
One of our side quests from Ace Hotel Kyoto takes us to the recently opened teamLab Biovortex. Book your tickets direct from the teamLab site — it’s the only one that will allow you to change your date or timeslot. There’s no food here, so eat first. Water vending machines are strategically located through this immersive sensory experience.
This is my third teamLab but my husband’s first. He decides to deploy a strict “keep left” policy, so we hug darkened walls as we move from room to room of digital art. Downloading the app is helpful but not essential if you want to be surprised. Biovortex is like an escape room you don’t want to escape from. There’s potential for sensory overload at every turn, from cascading flowers to a room of sploshy liquid that looks like lava. OK, maybe I do wish to escape the pink helium balloons hurtling at my face and the part where I feel like I’m falling through the floor.
A visit to teamLab delivers the type of pure unadulterated joy most of us haven’t experienced since childhood. It’s a reminder that in Japan, sometimes it’s best to forget the research and planning and to go with the flow.
Ace Hotel Kyoto 245-2 Kurumayacho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 604-8185, Japan
Price Standard rooms from $287 per night and Loft suites from $1300 per night, excluding tax and service charges. The Insider Better than staring at those hipster bikes that lean out front of joints like the Ace, you can secure a free bike rental through the hotel with Tokyo Bikes — a great way to explore Kyoto and a nice way to avoid public transport. Still, the hotel’s position does make public transport easily available given its access to Karasuma Oike Station. acehotel.com
