Ark Hotel is situated in Nakagyo Ward in Kyoto. It’s not far from Kyoto Station, but you have to change from Karasuma Station and then change for the Hankyu-Kyoto Line. Get off at Omiya Station. Just make sure not to get the fast train, as it will take you all the way to Osaka!

The room is nice and clean. It looked a bit old fashioned compared to the hotel in Hakone and Tokyo. The window has double handles… I couldn’t open the window because I didn’t see the other handle!

Thankfully the bathroom has a laundry line! I wish all hotels had this. It’s easy to wash and dry your clothes.

Staff are friendly. And they will make an effort to speak a bit of English… But I think if you throw in a bit of Japanese words to indicate that you understand, I think it will help. Just say “wakarimasu わかります”  I understand or “wakarimasen わかりません” I don’t understand.

I went for the eco-friendly service, where you get vouchers to get a free drink from their drinks machine on the ground floor. What they do is clean the bins and the bathroom, towels are not changed and beds are not made. This is ok for me!

The view from the window is not bad… but I was facing the main street, so I could local officials making their way around town for their local elections. Oh it was noisy!!

I liked this hotel, it was near a lot of stations, shops and restaurants. Wished I could have stayed a little longer!

The only problem I had was locating the breakfast bar… LOL!

Address: 1 Mibukayogoshocho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 604-8811, Japan

Website: https://www.ark-hotel.co.jp/kyoto/