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The best hotels in Kyoto Prefecture
Fourteen ranked houses ringing the old capital's hills
Kyoto Prefecture has 14 hotels ranked in the finehotels.world index. HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTO leads on prestige score at 7.63 out of 10, followed by Park Hyatt Kyoto and Aman Kyoto. Of those, 14 hold MICHELIN Keys, 3 hold a Forbes Five Star rating, 3 have placed in The World's 50 Best Hotels, 1 are rated by La Liste.
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The highest ranked houses in Kyoto Prefecture. Each opens a live rate screen for that exact property through our booking partner.
- 7.63/10HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTOKyoto PrefectureReserve
Photographs: HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTO, supplied by the property (hotelthemitsui.com).
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Kyoto Prefecture's ranked hotels sit largely at the edges of the basin, where temple land, forest and river valleys give room for the low, spread-out plans that suit the city's aesthetic conventions. All 14 properties in this index hold MICHELIN Keys, one at three Keys, and three appear on The World's 50 Best Hotels list.
HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTO stands opposite Nijo Castle on a former Mitsui family site with its own hot-spring water, while Aman Kyoto occupies a moss-floored forest garden below Mount Hidari Daimonji in Takagamine. Park Hyatt Kyoto and Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto both sit in the eastern hills, and ROKU KYOTO takes the Takao valley. Hiiragiya continues as a working ryokan of the nineteenth-century tradition.
Every ranked hotel in Kyoto Prefecture
| Hotel | Prestige | Distinctions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTO3 Keys · Forbes · 50 Best · 160 rooms | 7.63 | 3 MICHELIN Keys; Forbes Five Star; World's 50 Best No. 46 in 2025 |
| 2 | Park Hyatt Kyoto1 Key · 50 Best · 70 rooms | 6.71 | 1 MICHELIN Key; World's 50 Best No. 30 in 2023, No. 27 in 2024, No. 59 in 2025 |
| 3 | Aman Kyoto2 Keys · 50 Best · 26 rooms | 6.32 | 2 MICHELIN Keys; World's 50 Best No. 74 in 2025 |
| 4 | The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto1 Key · Forbes · La Liste · 134 rooms | 5.79 | 1 MICHELIN Key; Forbes Five Star; La Liste 98.5 |
| 5 | ROKU KYOTO LXR HOTELS & RESORTS1 Key · Forbes · 114 rooms | 5.59 | 1 MICHELIN Key; Forbes Five Star |
| 6 | Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto1 Key · 180 rooms | 5.20 | 1 MICHELIN Key |
| 7 | Garrya Nijo Castle Kyoto1 Key · 25 rooms | 5.20 | 1 MICHELIN Key |
| 8 | Hiiragiya1 Key · 24 rooms | 5.20 | 1 MICHELIN Key |
| 9 | Hoshinoya Kyoto1 Key · 25 rooms | 5.20 | 1 MICHELIN Key |
| 10 | Hotel The Celestine Kyoto Gion1 Key · 157 rooms | 5.20 | 1 MICHELIN Key |
| 11 | Kanamean Nishitomiya1 Key · 8 rooms | 5.20 | 1 MICHELIN Key |
| 12 | Kifune Ugenta1 Key · 2 rooms | 5.20 | 1 MICHELIN Key |
| 13 | Six Senses Kyoto1 Key · 81 rooms | 5.20 | 1 MICHELIN Key |
| 14 | Suiran, A Luxury Collection Hotel, Kyoto1 Key · 39 rooms | 5.20 | 1 MICHELIN Key |
Prestige score is shown out of 10. Sources: MICHELIN Guide hotel selection, Forbes Travel Guide 2026 Star Awards, The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2023 to 2025, La Liste Top 1000 Hotels.
Where to stay in Kyoto Prefecture
Higashiyama, from Ninenzaka up to Nanzen-ji, is the densest luxury quarter and closest to the major temples; the Nijo and Karasuma area suits those who want the city grid and rail links; and outlying pockets in Takagamine, Takao and Arashiyama trade walkability for forest quiet and river frontage.
When to go
Blossom season in early April and the maple weeks of mid-November are the two hard peaks, when the best rooms sell out months out.
Common questions
What are the best hotels in Kyoto Prefecture?
By prestige score, the three highest ranked hotels in Kyoto Prefecture are HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTO, Park Hyatt Kyoto, Aman Kyoto. The score is a composite of MICHELIN Keys, Forbes Travel Guide Five Star ratings, placements in The World's 50 Best Hotels for 2023, 2024 and 2025, and La Liste's hotel ratings. finehotels.world tracks 14 award holding hotels in Kyoto Prefecture in total.
How many MICHELIN Key hotels are there in Kyoto Prefecture?
Kyoto Prefecture has 14 hotels holding MICHELIN Keys in this index, of which 1 hold the top rating of three Keys and 1 hold two Keys.
How are the hotels in Kyoto Prefecture ranked on this page?
Each hotel is scored on a fixed formula built only from award facts, then shown on a scale of 5.00 to 10.00. MICHELIN Keys carry the most weight, a Forbes Travel Guide Five Star rating adds a flat six points, placements in The World's 50 Best Hotels for 2023, 2024 and 2025 are weighted equally, and a La Liste rating moves the total slightly. Nothing a hotel supplies about itself enters the score, and the full formula is published on the methodology page so any figure in the table can be reproduced from the awards beside it.
When is the best time to visit Kyoto Prefecture?
Blossom season in early April and the maple weeks of mid-November are the two hard peaks, when the best rooms sell out months out.
Which area of Kyoto Prefecture should you stay in?
Higashiyama, from Ninenzaka up to Nanzen-ji, is the densest luxury quarter and closest to the major temples; the Nijo and Karasuma area suits those who want the city grid and rail links; and outlying pockets in Takagamine, Takao and Arashiyama trade walkability for forest quiet and river frontage.