Kyoto Imperial Palace - Kyoto, Japan
October 22, 2008 by Jeff · 2 Comments
In my last post about the Kyoto Imperial Palace I discussed how to get access to the Palace. Since that time we've gone on the tour of the Kyoto Imperial Palace.
The tour of the Kyoto Imperial Palace takes about 60 minutes and tours through the outside of each building and gates. You start the tour with a video of what you'll see throughout the tour, which, I've always found a bit weird. Why show us what we'll see if we're just going to go see it? Our tour was provided in English and was a tour group of 130 people! This was (in my opinion) too large of a group. To take a picture or see a detail you had a long wait and were unlikely to see it before being rushed off to the next stop.
The highlight of the tour (in terms of buildings) is the entrance gate to the main courtyard. The gate is a brilliant orange colour and the buildling is a massive structure in behind. You can see in the picture below how impressive it looks. Although, it's really not the best picture as it was a quick snap before getting ushered along.
The other highlight of the tour is the Imperial Palace garden. It's a beautifully manicured garden with a small island and bridge. There was actually a pelican standing on a rock looking like it was modelling/posing for everyone. Anyway, here's one of the pictures that we got from the garden (sorry, that it's overexposed but that's camera life!) The garden was really pretty and quite nice because it seemed that people were more interested in the buildings behind the garden then the garden itself!
If you only have time for one tour I highly recommend going to see the Shaunkin Imperial Villa rather then the Imperial Palace. Overall, I thought the Imperial Villa was much prettier and was a much more intimate atmosphere. The Imperial Villa group was around 25 where as this was 130 people. That's a huge difference when you're trying to take pictures and appreciate the surroundings.
Although, if you want to see impressive structures and templets rather then beautiful scenery then the Kyoto Imperial Palace should be your choice. Either way you should definitely make time to see either of these great places in Kyoto.
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Hotel Genvia Kyoto Japan - A Review
We stayed at the Genvia Hotel in Kyoto Japan at the start of October 2008. We throughly enjoyed our stay at the Hotel. The staff was nice and attentive a later checkout at noon and a large soft king bed made this a great say. Overall, it was definitely the nicest place we stayed in all of Japan (also the most expensive but...)
A little back story of why we stayed at the Hotel Genvia. When we arrived in Kyoto it was 9 pm and pouring rain. We had all our stuff (2 large backpacks) so we decided rather then search for a hotel which we were relying on Kanji (Japanese script language) and get drenched in the rain we'd checkout the Hotel Genvia. Upon walking in we could tell it was a high class and probably high price hotel. Earlier in the trip we'd inquired about a price at a similarly nice hotel (in Kamakura) and the hotel cashier was quite snooty about the experience. We were expecting a bit of the same here but they treated us as if we were any other paying customer. A nice find when you look like a backpacker who'd just woke up on a train ride.
Location
The Hotel Genvia in Kyoto is located literally in the train station. You simply exit the gates and then follow the signs to the hotel. It really can't get easier and when arriving by train you really can't beat this location.
Also, when getting around town the bus terminal, train and subway stations are all right outside your hotel. The transit system in Kyoto is absolutely SPECTACULAR. Kyoto has the best bus system that I've ever used and is available in both Japanese and English!
Rooms
The rooms are excellent! The room we stayed in was the equivalent to a Western (North American) room. Spacious, soft beds, duvet comforter. However, they also have a Japanese touch which includes slippers and a kimono. I love this little touch.
As well, if you ask for a room higher up then you'll be lucky enough to have a great view of the Kyoto Tower and Kyoto in general! In fact, my travel book recommended to either go up to the 14th floor of the Hotel Genvia for a drink or up the Kyoto Tower. Well, since we were staying on the 11th floor this was totally unnecessary.
Prices
The prices where a little on the high side as we payed $240 (taxes included) for our room. This was after a special discount that the hotel cashier nicely provided. This is definitely a bit pricey (and probably over our price range) but we felt it was worth the money (a nice splurge is good once and a while).
Overall
Overall we really enjoyed our stay at the Hotel Genvia in Kyoto. We'll definitely stay there again if we have the money or time. We'd recommend it to anyone who is looking to either splurge a bit or looking for a western hotel room in Kyoto, Japan.
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Kyoto Imperial Palace in Japan - Book a Tour
We went to visit the Imperial Palace today, however, we didn't have a reservation or approval for entrance. So when visiting the Imperial Palace in Kyoto be sure to either make a reservation ahead of time or when you arrive.
To make a reservation in Kyoto you simply go to the Imperial Palace grounds and go to the Information Centre. From here you can get approval for a tour of the palace grounds. They will scan you passport and make sure you're 'qualified' to enter. They also manage three other ground tours in Kyoto which include the Sento Imperial Palace (tours in Japanese only), Katsura Imperial Villa and the Shugakuin Imperial Villa.
That being said if you only have one night in Kyoto and want to see the Imperial Palace grounds they're definitely worth a visit. It's a very open, green and beautiful open space in the middle of a busy city. Quite a nice change of pace actually. You can see the immense open space surrounding the walls of the Kyoto Palace in the picture below!
If you're into taking beautiful photographs then this is a great place to catch a couple great pictures of trees (springtime for Cherry blossoms and autumn for Japanese Maple's). Here is our prized photo of the day from the Kyoto Imperial Palace Grounds.
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