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Hotel Granvia Kyoto. Excellent Location and Breakfast

As my husband and I arrived at Kyoto Train Station by Shinkansen from Osaka, a representative of Hotel Granvia Kyoto was already awaiting for us on the platform, as part of the 'meet and greet' service the hotel provides. The man immediately took our luggage and told us to follow him. He swam through the sea of people at Kyoto Station, one of the largest and most hectic railway stations we've experienced in our life, while he lead the way to the lobby of Hotel Granvia Kyoto in under five minutes. We immediately recognized the advantages the 'meet & greet' service had, as we were sure it would have taken us a good 15 minutes to find our way by ourselves, in spite of all the signs pointing to the hotel.

Location

Hotel Granvia Kyoto has an excellent location, just above Kyoto Station, which makes it ideal if you travel by train or if you plan to go on day trips to Nara, Kobe or Osaka. In fact, our journey from Osaka to Kyoto by Shinkansen took just under 20 minutes and it was covered by the JR Pass. Also, just in front of the hotel, there is a large bus station from where you can take the bus to just about anywhere. The metro station is reachable by an escalator as well, without even the need to get outside the building. Restaurants, bars and shops are everywhere, inside and outside the station, and though the city center and most of Kyoto's attractions can only be reached by public transportation or taxi, we found out that walking around is pleasant and rewarding and if you don't mind doing so, there are plenty of temples and shrines within 30 minutes walking distance from the hotel as well.

Our Room

Granvia Kyoto is a huge hotel, with over 500 rooms. However, it is very well maintained. The lobby is very large and seemed to be busy no matter the hour, but once we took the elevator to our room, all the noise and hassle and bustle of the outside world disappeared. In spite of being placed just atop the train tracks, the hotel was very quiet. We stayed in one of the deluxe rooms at the 14th floor, facing the Kyoto Tower and the city. Our room was large, elegant and nicely decorated in warm colors, with a super comfy bed, tea and coffee facilities, a complimentary bottle of water, free WiFi, and a tasty welcome gift wrapped in a pretty scarf I kept as a souvenir was waiting for us upon arrival.

The common areas

The building in which the hotel is hosted has an interesting design, though it can look a bit intimidating at a first glance. The intriguing and daring architecture can be however witnessed all over the hotel.

Granvia Kyoto features an indoor swimming pool, gym and a few restaurants and lounges, so we never ran out of options.

But my favorite architectural piece was the ingenuous bridge connecting the Granvia Lounge with the rooms at the deluxe floors.

The concierge was very helpful throughout our stay, and we must admit we were extremely impressed when upon our arrival we were told they had reserved us front row seats at Jidai Matsuri Festival taking place during our stay. Such attention to detail and courtesy is hard to find anywhere else but in Japan.

Breakfast

You would expect when a hotel has over 500 rooms, breakfast to be a total chaos. We were surprised to be proven wrong. The buffet was plentiful at any hour and the organization was great. Plus, we really loved the presentation.

Breakfast featured both Eastern and Western dishes, and we had the chance to try out some pretty exotic plates along familiar ones. I am missing the buffet breakfast at Hotel Granvia Kyoto every time I think about it, as it was definitely one of the highlights of our stay.

And just because Halloween was approaching, the decorations were according to the occasion.

Hotel Granvia Kyoto stands out of the crowd for various reasons - best location possible if traveling Japan by train, delicious breakfast, delightful staff, great courtesy and spotless rooms. We would stay here gladly next time we visit Kyoto, and we can't recommend it enough.

We were guests at Hotel Granvia Kyoto. All opinions expressed here are our own.

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