Until Japan’s capital was moved to Tokyo in 1869, the country’s emperors ruled from Kyoto’s Imperial Palace for 11 centuries. During that millennium, the city flowered with dozens of shrines, temples and castles built in a rhapsodic variety of East Asian vernaculars: some meditative and simple, some with towering Chinese-style pagodas, others wrapped in gold.

No wonder so many travelers flock to Kyoto. It may be a modern metropolis (population
1.4 million), but it guards the last remnants of old Japan — from temples (like Kiyomizu-dera, Kinkaku-ji and its silver sister, Ginkaku-ji) to narrow alleyways of the uniquely preserved hanamachi, or “geisha districts.”

“Kyoto has been insanely popular since Japan reopened from the pandemic, and it’s just not slowing down,” says Stephanie Conchuratt, the Virtuoso-affiliated luxury travel agent behind Vibe Travel Co. “But, overall, it’s such a great destination and most people who go consider it one of their all-time favorite trips.”

The standard advice for avoiding crowds? Travel in the off-season and visit shrines early. But there’s another, less egalitarian solution: Book ultraluxury accommodations, where you will be cocooned away from the masses in private gardens, onsens and restaurants. The city’s top hotels also have the pull to access the best guides and reservations even at the height of sakura (cherry blossom) season.

Fortunately, several new and newish openings at the pinnacle of Kyoto’s hotel scene have expanded the options for well-heeled travelers.

“There hasn’t been anything fresh to consider for quite a while now,” says Anna Tretter of Tretter Travel, whose TikTok posts about the shifting Kyoto market have drawn viral interest. “So, the arrival of a proven luxury brand is really exciting.”

She’s talking about the world’s latest Capella, which opened in March in the heart of Miyagawa-chō, one of Kyoto’s iconic geisha districts, nestled between Kennin-ji (the oldest Zen temple in Kyoto) and the Kamo River. The 89-key retreat, which starts just shy of $2,500 a night for two guests, riffs on the city’s traditional machiya wooden townhouse architecture, with modern-meets-Meiji-era touches.

Capella is the latest five-star flag re-couching contemporary wellness practices within a traditional Japanese context. It’s also only the second hotel in the city to have a true hot spring-fed onsen on-site. Those mineral-rich waters are sourced from a well drilled 2,985 feet below the surface. Far from a bare-bones ryokan with small, communal onsens, the hotel’s Auriga Spa has three deluxe private onsen rooms and “lunar-inspired” rituals.

“For people who want more privacy, for people who have tattoos or an LGBTQ couple, being able to have their own private onsen space is meaningful,” says Tretter.

Its predecessor is Hotel the Mitsui Kyoto, which opened in 2020, steps away from Nijō Castle, the historic site where Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last shogun, surrendered in 1867. It was the first hotel in Kyoto to risk deep drilling to tap rare waters and build sprawling private onsen suites in its Thermal Spring Spa.

With three Michelin keys, it’s arguably the best hotel in the city, blending a traditional four-season Japanese garden courtyard and a 300-year-old palace entrance gate with 161 sleek and sophisticated André Fu-designed rooms. The unfamiliar Japanese branding and the reassuring Marriott ownership make Mitsui — at about $875 per night in a deluxe room — one of the most competitive bookings in the city, says Henley Vazquez, a travel adviser with Fora.

“The Japanese branding is a real benefit, because people want to stay somewhere unique, local and special,” she says. (Of course, the Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons, Park Hyatt and Aman also have a presence in Kyoto, and all have their devotees, notes Conchuratt.)

In 2024, the Banyan Tree Higashiyama Kyoto and the Six Senses Kyoto followed suit, bringing more modern wellness to this oldest of old-school cities. Located in Kyoto’s quieter Higashiyama Ward, the 81-room Six Senses looks back to the city’s Heian period (794-1185) origins — the era that birthed Japan’s intricate and punctilious courtly rituals.

You’ll spot 504 handcrafted raku-yaki tiles on a folding screen that reference Kyoto’s famed 12th-century Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga scrolls (“Scrolls of Frolicking Animals”) in the public spaces. In its spa, you’ll marinate in a soup of “smart science” and Zen traditions. Rooms start at about $1,100 per night.

Nearby, the 52-key Banyan Tree offers a boutique take on contemporary-traditional Japanese design from starchitect Kengo Kuma, including a unique Noh dance stage. The hotel’s mission, to be a “sanctuary for the senses,” is seen most clearly in the spa. It, too, has a private onsen, paired with more typical relaxation treatments (in case you’ve kneeled at one too many temples and need a soothing Balinese massage pronto). It starts at close to $550 per night.

“The high-end hotel inventory is finally there,” says Tretter. “I’ve booked cherry-blossom travel two weeks out and there’s been no problem. Now, it’s possible to book last-minute during peak season.”