Kiraku Kyoto Honmachi

What a beautiful place! Kiraku Kyoto Honmachi is a house which has been refurbished with subtle taste and delightful creativity. There’s definitely magic to it! I loved walking on the pebbles in the downstairs bedroom - so soothing for sore feet. There’s also a smooth walkway to the bed if pebbles aren’t your thing. Upstairs there’s a tokonoma with scroll, as well as a full set of equipment for carrying out a tea ceremony, including of course, matcha. The host even had delicious matcha “financiers” waiting for us upon arrival. The outdoor bath is brilliant. It’s quite easy to fill and I’d highly recommend having an outdoor soak every night. Seeing as some in our group weren’t up for tourism in the city, it was doubly worthwhile to have stayed in such a house where they could breathe in Kyoto atmosphere without ever moving from the tatami!

While the property was very unique and large, it was quite dirty. There was dust on everything, used Bobby pins on several countertops, and hair on top of all the rocks by the bed.