Kyoto

I stayed at the Hotel Granvia a few weeks ago. It is right above the train station.

I heard nothing. The hotel is fairly soundproof so the only sound I heard was someone talking loudly in the hall as they passed my room. No noise from the street or the trains. It's a very modern hotel and very comfortable.

There are two underground shopping malls at the station as well as a major department store connected. Between them you will have a choice of a few dozen restaurants. And the number of shops is overwhelming.

Kyoto has every possible kind of lodging, from backpacker to Hedge Fund Imperialist. We were very happy in 2018 with Hotel Kanra Kyoto 190 Kitamachi, Karasumi-dori. It is (just ... ) within walking distance of the train station, near some modest attractions, and close to a subway stop and bus stops. (We did not attempt to learn the bus system.) Note that subways do not serve many of the most important temples, so you may need to hire a taxi if your time is limited.

It was extremely quiet, good A/C, and small for a first-class hotel. But the (odd-shaped) rooms were quite large. We chose a "western" room , but were still asked to take of our shoes to enter the room. Breakfasts (set plates) always had a choice of mainly Western or full Japanese. Some benighted Americans groused that they could not get their regular form of swine and eggs "to-order."

We passed a very good Okonomiyaki restaurant on the walk from the train station to the hotel. (It's in Lonely Planet, I forget the name) right on the main avenue. The hotel neighborhood is mainly residential, except for a significant (but not absolute must-see) temple and school a block away. Would certainly stay there again.

Edit: If you have not been there before, I would point out that a vast modern city has grown up around the dozens of historic sites. This is not a visit to rural Japan. It is more like, say, Boston than like Salem. More like Seattle than like Olympia. (Please put in your home city so it's visible in your newsboard profile!)

We have stayed twice at the Westin Miyako. Noise was never an issue. We were quite happy both times. A few minutes walk across/under the street takes you into a large area of temples and shrines. There is a subway stop a minute away and we found restaurants nearby...including a tiny little place that offered a very decent little breakfast of eggs and coffee for about $5. Kyoto is fascinating and the Japanese are incredibly polite and kind. Be sure to give yourself enough time in Kyoto.

We stayed in a Citadines, which are apartment-hotels.
https://www.citadines.com/en/japan/kyoto/citadines-karasuma-gojo-kyoto.html
It is located two subway stops north of the train station or about a 15 min walk. We either took the subway or taxi to the various tourist sites, some were within walking distance. There is a 7 Eleven and post office across the street. A small market and several restaurants are near the hotel. We like having a kitchen, so that we can have a leisurely breakfast in the morning or a simple dinner instead of always going out to a restaurant. There is a breakfast buffet available in the hotel at a reasonable price (I can't remember the exact cost.) There is a coin-operated guest laundry room. Not noisy, ask for a room not facing the main street. Our room had no view, but is faced a small enclosed alley, so it was quiet. Of course, the staff is very friendly and helpful.

Kyoto is wonderful.

This is the portion of my review that I posted on cruise critic that included our land tour of Japan prior to a cruise.

It concerns our trip from Tokyo to Nara and Kyoto:
NARA AND KYOTO

Both cities were former capitals of Japan (capital were the Emperor lived). Our afternoon tour of Nara followed an excellent lunch at our hotel. The bus took about one hour to arrive at Nara. Our first site was the Todaiji Temple, a huge wooden temple with a huge Buddha and several smaller statues. The temple is described, as follows:

Todaiji "Great Eastern Temple" is one of Japan's most famous and historically significant temples and a landmark of Nara. The temple was constructed in 752 as the head temple of all provincial Buddhist temples of Japan and grew so powerful that the capital was moved from Nara to Nagaoka in 784 in order to lower the temple's influence on government affairs.

Todaiji's main hall, the Daibutsuden (Big Buddha Hall) is the world's largest wooden building, despite the fact that the present reconstruction of 1692 is only two thirds of the original temple hall's size. The massive building houses one of Japan's largest bronze statues of Buddha (Daibutsu). The 15 meters tall, seated Buddha represents Vairocana and is flanked by two Bodhisattvas.

The building was impressive, not just in size, but the included statutes and contents. Upon arriving, we passed through the nearby deer park, were hundreds of tame deer were there to greet us. Some in our group purchased food for the deer and feed them. I was satisfied to pet one or two. One problem, with all the deer walking around, we had to watch our step so we didn’t step in the deer manure.

Visiting the temple, we encountered awesome statues, many other tourists, as well as worshipers. It was Interesting that the temple included a small gift ship.

Next, we visited the Kasuga Taisha Shrine, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The shrine was originally established in 768; however the buildings have been reconstructed several times. There were a thousand bronze lanterns as well as 2,000 stone lanterns outside the main shrine precinct and along the path leading to the shrine. Also, there was a sacred thousand year old wisteria tree. Our final stop was at Nara Nagomikan, a large building for shopping, filled with tourists.

On Friday, we had our full day tour of Kyoto, the long ancient capital of Japan. Our morning tour included Nijo Castle, the Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji Temple) and Kyoto Imperial Palace. The first two sites we encountered massive crowds, including many Japanese school children, most appearing to be grammar school age. Nijo Castle was described as follows:

Nijo Castle was built in 1603 as the Kyoto residence of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo Period (1603-1867). His grandson Iemitsu completed the castle's palace buildings 23 years later and further expanded the castle by adding a five story castle keep.

After the Tokugawa Shogunate fell in 1867, Nijo Castle was used as an imperial palace for a while before being donated to the city and opened up to the public as a historic site. Its palace buildings are arguably the best surviving examples of castle palace architecture of Japan's feudal era, and the castle was designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1994.

Nijo Castle can be divided into three areas: the Honmaru (main circle of defense), the Ninomaru (secondary circle of defense) and some gardens that encircle the Honmaru and Ninomaru. The entire castle grounds and the Honmaru are surrounded by stone walls and moats.The Golden Pavilion was our next temple to visit. Its beauty was amazing, especially when viewed on the other side of the lake, where its reflected image is apparent. Unfortunately, hundreds of other people felt the same way and our viewing was limited to a few minutes, couple of snaps of the camera and negotiating the crowds out of the crush. Still, the small temple was most plate

The Golden Pavilion was our next temple to visit. Its beauty was amazing, especially when viewed on the other side of the lake, where its reflected image is apparent. Unfortunately, hundreds of other people felt the same way and our viewing was limited to a few minutes, couple of snaps of the camera and negotiating the crowds out of the crush. Still, the small temple was most plated in gold and shined magnificently in the sun. This temple is a must see if you come to Kyoto. It is another UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Imperial Palace was not so crowded, since it can only be visited by appointment, which our tour company had arranged. We viewed the large structure from the outside as well as inside (shoes off again).

We were taken back to the hotel for lunch, which was good, then for three more shrines or temples. Kyoto has a plethora of shrines and temples, many in their original state, since the city was not damaged during WWII. Our afternoon tour included the Hejan Shrine, Sanju Sangendo Hall and Kiyomizu Temple. The Hejan Shrine was only about 100 years old and while impressive, compared to what we had seen and would see later, this shrine was not in my opinion a must see for visitors of Kyoto. The Sanju Sangendo Hall was impressive. The massive wooden hall was a Buddhist Temple including 1001 Buddhas. There was one massive Buddha stature and 1000 others. Also, there were statutes of Buddhist gods. Apparently, the faith has many gods originating from Hinduism, since Buddha was an Indian. No photos were allowed in the temple. It was amazing, but dust from the burning incense was thick. Ginny commented that the whole place needed a good dusting.

The Kiyomizu Temple was our final site for the day. The temple is on the eastern side of the city next to the mountains (mountains are everywhere in Japan). The main hall has a large veranda, supported by tall pillars, that juts out over the hillside and offers impressive views of the city. We were not allowed to go inside the temple, but the view was good and the temple complex was impressive. It was a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Our last day in Kyoto, we were on our own. There were several interesting sites we could have visited, but we chose to do the Philosopher’s Path. The Path is near several shrines or temples. It was described, as follows:

The Philosopher's Path is a pleasant stone path through the northern part of Kyoto's Higashiyama district. The path follows a canal which is lined by hundreds of cherry trees. Usually in early April these trees explode with color, making this one of the city's most popular hanami (cherry blossom viewing) spots.

Approximately two kilometers long, the path begins around Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion) and ends in the neighborhood of Nanzenji. The path gets its name due to Nishida Kitaro, one of Japan's most famous philosophers, who was said to practice meditation while walking this route on his daily commute to Kyoto University.

We took the easy way getting there by taking a taxi to the north end of the path to the Silver Pavilion. The taxi cost about $20 and we could have taken public transportation for less, but didn’t want to bother with changing trains, etc. The Path itself was along a canal in a quiet residential district. Our first temple to visit was the Silver Pavilion, which had never had the silver applied to its exterior like the Golden Pavilion. The most impressive part of this site was the amazing garden. The site was next to where hills started to rise on the eastern side of the city. The grounds were largely covered by moss. This doesn’t sound impressive, but the groundskeepers were appeared to be constantly raking the moss of any leaves or debris, which created an amazing appearance. Of course, there were lakes, beautiful flowers and trees as well.

We walked the path and visited a couple of small shrines the arrived at the Eikando, formally known as Zenrinji Temple. The temple did not allow photos inside.

The Philosopher's Path is a pleasant stone path through the northern part of Kyoto's Higashiyama district. The path follows a canal which is lined by hundreds of cherry trees. Usually in early April these trees explode with color, making this one of the city's most popular hanami (cherry blossom viewing) spots.

Approximately two kilometers long, the path begins around Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion) and ends in the neighborhood of Nanzenji. The path gets its name due to Nishida Kitaro, one of Japan's most famous philosophers, who was said to practice meditation while walking this route on his daily commute to Kyoto University.

We took the easy way getting there by taking a taxi to the north end of the path to the Silver Pavilion. The taxi cost about $20 and we could have taken public transportation for less, but didn’t want to bother with changing trains, etc. The Path itself was along a canal in a quiet residential district. Our first temple to visit was the Silver Pavilion, which had never had the silver applied to its exterior like the Golden Pavilion. The most impressive part of this site was the amazing garden. The site was next to where hills started to rise on the eastern side of the city. The grounds were largely covered by moss. This doesn’t sound impressive, but the groundskeepers were appeared to be constantly raking the moss of any leaves or debris, which created an amazing appearance. Of course, there were lakes, beautiful flowers and trees as well.

We walked the path and visited a couple of small shrines the arrived at the Eikando, formally known as Zenrinji Temple. The temple did not allow photos inside. There were attractive rock gardens in courtyards, inside the temple. There was a pagoda and a platform (many steps to get there) were we took photos of the city. By the time we reached the end of the path at Nanzenji Temple, we took photos of the exterior and then elected to head back to our hotel. Sightseeing can be tiring and we had done a lot of sightseeing. The taxi back to our hotel was about $14. We relaxed in the hotel for a couple of hours before our train back to Tokyo.

Sorry about three posts but had size limitations.

We stayed at the New Miyako Hotel, just across the street from the rail station. This was a nice hotel at a great location. Inexpensive, probably a 3 star.

Hotel Nikko Princess Kyoto is where I stayed, very good classic European-style hotel, with the Japanese attention to detail, just a 10 min walk from Gion and Nishiki Market.

I’ve thought about downtown and Gion but worry they might be too loud with drunk people screaming at night but not sure if this is a realistic

You'll have a lot to learn about Japan ;-), this risk is virtually nil...

Westin is an excellent choice. Reasonably priced and excellent location.

We are going to Kyoto next November so I appreciated your forum question as I have also been looking. So thanks. Good luck!

If you are doing a day trip from Kyoto, go to historic Nara with so many beautiful temples and historic sites to visit.
Honestly, I don’t recall any noise in hotels in Japan.
We stayed at Hotel Granvia for a few nights and had to change from our first room due to train noise. Then we moved to a more traditional hotel near the Imperial Palace which we much preferred, Hotel Brighton.
We loved Japan, the manners, cleanliness, hospitality, food and the beautiful temples.

Nara has some interesting temples, as well as a park where tame deer walk around and will come up to you expecting you to feed them.

The Fushimi Inari Shrine is also a wonderful, short trip from Kyoto by metro.