Nanzenji sando KIKUSUI Kyoto

Nanzenji sando KIKUSUI Kyoto

Walk through the gate at the end of the Nanzenji temple approach and the city noise stops, replaced by a courtyard garden shaped in the style of Ogawa Jihei, the same landscape architect behind Heian Shrine and the neighboring Murin-an, a pedigree few Kyoto guesthouses this size can claim. Nanzenji sando KIKUSUI Kyoto has welcomed guests since 1915, and the seventeen rooms spread across two low floors still read as a ryokan rather than a hotel, with tatami interiors and half-open-air garden baths built into several of the main building's rooms. The restaurant serves kaiseki dinners planned around the month's temple festivals rather than a fixed menu, and the tofu course follows the old Nanzenji tradition of simmering it slowly in kelp broth, a dish the monks here are credited with starting. Tables by the garden allow alfresco dining when the weather holds. Staff speak English and Japanese, a massage service and an on-call doctor are available, and children have their own play corner, details that suit a family trip more readily than a quiet solo escape. A meeting room covers small business needs, and bikes are available for riding the Philosopher's Path a short distance away. A cash deposit of 1,000 yen per guest per night is collected on arrival, and city tax must also be paid in cash, worth knowing before check-in, which runs from 3pm, with checkout at 11am. It will not suit anyone chasing minimalist design or nightlife, but for a traveller who wants a historic Kyoto garden at the door, this corner of the Nanzenji approach delivers something most guesthouses in the city cannot. A 1915 ryokan on the Nanzenji temple approach, built around a garden in the style of Ogawa Jihei, the designer behind Heian Shrine's grounds. Half-open-air baths, kaiseki dinners timed to the temple calendar and a children's play corner make it suit families more than solitude seekers.