Inside Kyoto

A Kyoto Travel Guide

How to Book Tawaraya Ryokan

Tawaraya is Kyoto’s best ryokan but it can be difficult to book because they’re not on any booking websites and they don’t have their own website. Luckily, it’s now possible to book via email. Here are all the details.

Tawaraya Ryokan copyright Inside Kyoto
Tawaraya Ryokan – image © InsideKyoto.com

Tawaraya is one of the finest ryokan in all of Japan. They’ve got a dedicated following of elite Japanese and international guests so they don’t have to try very hard to fill their rooms. They don’t even have a website and there’s no way to book it via third-party booking sites. However, Tawaraya has recently been accepting bookings via email, which makes things much easier for foreign tourists.

Booking Tawaraya from Abroad in English

Before we give the email address and explain the process, we want to stress this point: Please only contact Tawaraya if you’re serious about staying there and understand what it costs to do so (see the section on rates below). If Tawaraya gets inundated with frivolous inquiries, they’ll shut down email reservations and you’ll need a personal connection in Japan to book a room for you. Okay, with that out of the way, here’s how to book:

First, email Tawaraya in English at: info@the-tawaraya.jp. Tell them your preferred date(s), the number of people in your party, how many rooms you want, and any dietary preferences or restrictions you have. They will respond to let you know if any rooms are available. If there are, they will give descriptions of the rooms and the rates for the rooms in question. If you’d like to book one of those rooms, they will email you a booking form. They’ll explain payment and cancellation fees by email. It’s as easy as that.

Tawaraya garden view from room
Tawaraya garden viewed from guest room © Joi

Room Rates at Tawaraya

There are 18 rooms in total. Costs vary according to season, room size and the quality of the garden view. Rooms have attached bathtubs and bathrooms. As a basic guide, per person rates range from ¥45,000 to ¥90,000, including two meals (note: rates are per person, NOT per room). If you are going to arrive late or want to eat dinner out, it is possible to request breakfast only for a 15% reduction in cost. However, the meals are a big part of the experience and it would be a shame to miss the experience of enjoying sublime traditional Japanese cuisines in the privacy of your room. For breakfast, you can choose Japanese or Western.

To get a sense of what it’s like to stay at Tawaraya, see A Night At Tawaraya, which will help you decide if it’s for you.



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