Find Hotels in Uji, Japan

This is a really nice traditional Japanese ryokan hotel which is booked primarily by Japanese tourists (not business hotel). Excellent staff speak good English and can help you translate (including how to use the coffee maker, phone, or fancy Japanese toilets). Wear comfortable shoes that can be easily removed because only slippers are worn in traditional ryokan (slippers provided). The hotel has wonderful onsen facilities and massage chairs. Good free wifi in lobby and rooms. Traditional breakfast must be booked in advance. Also the teppanyaki steak house is fantastic (all are set courses check online for menu). We stayed in the large Botan room which is not a traditional tatami room, but has a platform bed and a gorgeous view of the pagoda and footbridge across the river. This is an excellent room if you are not used to staying in traditional tatami room where you must bend down and sit on the ground on tatami mats. There is a large dining table too. The room amenities are great so no need to bring anything. Ask hotel how to use onsen spa. TV channels are all in Japanese, but why watch TV when you have Uji and Kyoto to explore? The UNESCO Byodoin temple is 5 min walk up the street and nearby is a small street full of quaint little tea houses that Uji is famous for. There is a train to Kyoto from the Uji train station about 10-15 min walk from hotel (or take a taxi for 800 yen or free hotel shuttle bus). The train to Kyoto central station runs roughly every 15 min and costs about 240 yen each way and takes 15-25 min depending on which train you catch. You will love this place!!!

We stayed 2 nights in the House and the whole experience was awesome - loved the comfort and decor in the Japanese style room; loved the facility offered there, everything was new, plus the complimentary beer was such a surprise; loved the friendly and genuine staff who kindly offered advice for touring around Uji; loved the breakfast... The location of the House is also good, walking-distance to JR Station if you wanna visit Kyoto which takes about 20 minutes and there are well-known tea houses, bakeries and a relatively big supermarket close by as well; and two historical sites easily walkable - for us, the main purpose was to see Kyoto, and the stay in Uji was initially kinda unplanned, however, it turned out to be the best part of our trip in Japan. Totally recommend it and will definitely stay here again next time! :)

Despite having a very central location, I would only recommend this hostel as a last resort. The main problems are the wifi is very slow and often inaccessible for periods of time. No explanation of why that is the case. Really the worst wifi of anywhere I stayed in Japan. Also, the air con in the dorm room was working, but it did not work very well. Even though set at a temperature of 18C, it could not get anywhere near that. It mildly cooled the room but once you had 4 people in there sleeping, the body heat still made it hot at night. Also, the main shower (at the entrance level) would often not have hot water available due to someone would always turn off the control panel which is located in a different room. So you would always have to stop trying to shower, leave the bathroom, and go turn on the control panel. But then even when you got the hot water working, the faucet would not allow you to mix it properly with cold water so you could only have either very hot water or cold water, but not in the middle. Another problem, the hostel requires climbing 2 flights of stairs to get to the entrance, on a very narrow staircase. The guy running the place was very friendly and helpful but he was often absent and only reachable by phone. Other than that, the place was okay, but very hot in summer because there is no air con in any of the common areas, and not even at the check-in area. There is only the somewhat weak air con unit in the dorm room. Unless you are really broke, try to book somewhere else.