Demizu Machiya

A real traditional Japanese home experience. The host greeted us and personally walked us through the rooms in detail.

We came as five friends, and honestly, we were very satisfied. This house seems better suited to five or six people than two or three. Most of us are former military, so if we can sleep, we’re happy, and the sleeping setup itself wasn’t anything special. The upside of an older detached house is the relatively low price, and being away from tourist attractions gave it a traditional Kyoto feel. There are two convenience stores nearby. The layout is simple: the kitchen and bathroom connect by a hallway on the first floor, and a side door opens into the living room, which looks onto a small garden. Upstairs is just for sleeping, but the larger room has enough space for five adult men. There’s no full-time staff member, and the amenities are similar to a basic hotel, but there weren’t toothbrushes or toothpaste. Towels were changed once a day, around 11am or after lunch, and cleaning wasn’t provided automatically. We didn’t know that at first, but if you call the living room and ask for cleaning, they’ll do it. I think it costs extra. We probably ended up paying that extra charge because we made such a mess. Don’t throw up on the blanket. The laundry cost 80,000 won. How do we know? We didn’t want to know either. I’m sorry to the staff for that. The staff seem to speak only Japanese. We can hear and speak Japanese, so that wasn’t an issue for us, but we assumed they were translating into English with a translator, so that may not be true. The location can be awkward if transport is a priority. The bus stop is close, but the station is quite far, and there are no lines connecting to Kyoto Station. We like walking, so we only took a taxi with our suitcases and walked to the bus stop or station otherwise. This seems to be a renovated old house turned into lodging. If you want to look at similar properties, visit this site to compare prices and room conditions. Hope you enjoy your stay. One more thing: for the boiler and air conditioning, choose either the first or second floor. Since it’s an older house, the power went out frequently.

It was quiet and clean, and I had a really nice time there with my family.