Six Senses Kyoto

Higashiyama, the eastern hills of Kyoto, is where the city keeps its temples, and the lane that leads to the Toyokuni Shrine and the Hokoji temple bell is a quiet one. Six Senses Kyoto opened on that lane in April 2024, the brand's first hotel in Japan, on a site a few hundred metres from the thousand and one statues of Sanjusangendo and across the road from the Kyoto National Museum. The hotel has 81 rooms and suites and was designed by the Singapore firm BLINK Design Group with the Heian period, Kyoto's founding age, as its reference.

Architecture and design

The building is low, in keeping with the height limits of the district, and wraps around a central garden planted with maples and moss so that the corridors and most of the rooms look inward onto it rather than out onto the street. The design draws on the Heian court: colour gradations taken from the layered robes of the period, lacquer and gold leaf used sparingly, and a lobby of timber and plaster that opens directly onto the garden. The craft work was commissioned from Kyoto workshops, including textiles and ceramics made for the rooms.

Rooms and suites

The 81 rooms start at about 50 square metres, generous for Kyoto, and rise to suites with their own gardens and a penthouse at the top of the building. Each has a deep soaking tub, a separate shower, a sleep programme in the Six Senses manner and furniture made in Japan. Garden rooms open onto the courtyard; higher rooms look over the roofs of Higashiyama towards the hills.

Dining

Sekki, the main restaurant, takes its name from the 24 solar terms of the traditional Japanese calendar and changes its menu with them, cooking seasonal Kyoto produce with an open kitchen and a long counter. Nine Tails, the bar, is named after the fox spirit of Japanese folklore and serves cocktails built on Japanese spirits and teas. Breakfast is served in Sekki, with Japanese and Western options, and the hotel has a small café off the lobby.

Wellness

The spa occupies the lower level and is the most complete in a Kyoto hotel. It has treatment rooms, a watsu pool for warm-water therapy, a biohacking recovery lounge, a hammam and sauna, and an Alchemy Bar where guests mix their own scrubs and oils from local herbs under a therapist's instruction. An indoor pool and a fitness centre sit alongside. The programme follows the Six Senses pattern of wellness screenings, sleep tracking and multi-day retreats, with Japanese elements such as onsen-style bathing and forest walks in the eastern hills.

Weddings and events

The hotel has a small number of meeting rooms and private dining rooms suited to dinners, board meetings and intimate receptions. Weddings are held on a small scale, with ceremonies in the garden and dinners in Sekki's private room; the hotel has no ballroom. The courtyard garden is the setting for most private events.

Location

The hotel stands in Higashiyama ward, on the lane between the Toyokuni Shrine and the Kyoto National Museum. Sanjusangendo is a few minutes on foot to the south, Kiyomizu-dera about 20 minutes to the north-east on foot, and the Gion district a short taxi ride. Kyoto Station, where the Shinkansen from Tokyo and Osaka arrives, is about ten minutes away by taxi. Shichijo station on the Keihan line is the nearest railway stop. The airports are Osaka Itami, about an hour by car, and Kansai International, about an hour and a half by train or car. For a luxury hotel in Kyoto the location is unusual: on the temple side of the river rather than in the centre, which is the reason the lane is quiet.