A fantastic traditional experience. Greeted warmly by the staff who remembered us and gave us our key each day and brought us tea. The culture class is highly recommended and we learnt to make an origami swan and do calligraphy, which was lovely and the students who led it then posted a thank you letter under our door. Although a... More

The staff was really friendly and helpful. The location is excellent, only a few minutes' walk from Kyoto Station. The Japanese breakfast served was esthetic and certainly very healthy. -- We did understand in advance that ours is a typical Japanese room, with no chairs or table, which, after three days, still started to be a slight problem (to a... More

The Shimizu is a wonderful Ryokan. The room was very comfortable Japanese style. The staff were absolutely great, and extremely helpful at every turn. Very nice breakfast in a very nice room. Deserves top rating, highly recommended!

We found it quite easily walking from Kyoto station, with help of maps and a GPS ... Might be an idea to get a taxi the first time 710¥ . What a lovely place this is. The boys and girls who run it are incredibly polite, hospitable and friendly, and speak English quite well. You can use one of he... More

My husband and I with our three daughters spent two nights here. The location is excellent, close to the Kyoto station where one can catch the bus to the city center. My girls enjoyed the calligraphy classes every evening and we had our pictures taken wearing the kimono outfits. The rooms are very clean , sleeping on the tatami mats... More

My wife and I stayed 3 nights from a total Asian odyssey of some 35 days, thus arriving a little tired at Shimizu when greeted by staff with what we understood to be "stress tea". It was citrus tea. The staff speaks good English, but our tired ears heard stress tea. The tea is delicious and so welcome. Thus begins... More

This hotel made us feel at home. The staff was wonderful, the location is perfect, close to the train station, and bus stop. The breakfast was fantastic, all japanese style and the room...perfect. A truly experience sleeping on tatami floors!! It was so fun and confortable. So if you want to experience a ryokan when you travel to Japan (... More

We spent six nights here during the 2013 cherry blossom season wanting to experience a Japanese style hotel in this wonderful city. We booked it far ahead based on the good reviews on a.o. Trip Advisor and the hotel and it's staff fully lived up to their good reputation. The room was really nice Japanese style and larger than expected... More

After seeing the top-rating for ryokan's in kyoto, and stories of people not getting reservations because its so popular, I was thrilled to have gotten in during our March 2013 trip. First and foremost, getting to Shimizu. If you are map challenged like we were, and came to the realization that Kyoto is less english-speaking friendly and sign friendly than... More