R Star Hostel Kyoto

Efficient check-in process, helpful staff, and apparently you can meet the love of your life here.

We booked a private room, which was super spacious for Japan standards and very comfortable. We had our own sink in the room to be able to wash up and right outside the room were very clean and nice public showers and bathrooms. The Japanese toilets were great! The hostel has a lovely sitting area where you can cook, relax, make tea or coffee and store items in the fridge. The breakfast was assorted bread and jams that you could toast. They also cleaned our hostel room every few days and gave fresh towels.

Luggage storage is available before check in! Helpful staff. Clean, spacious (private) room - we could unpack our 2 large suitcases with plenty of space left. Elevator access. Walking distance to Kyoto Station (or cheap ~1000 yen taxi) and walking distance to the two big shopping streets. Free breakfast was simple, but enough if you want to grab and go for something light to snack on (don't treat it as a full meal).

the location of the hostel is really good: about a quick 10 min walk from Gojo Station; a 30 min walk to Kyoto Station and subsequently Kyoto Tower (or 1 subway stop over from Gojo), a shopping street (i think Shijo Dori?) is 15 mins walk, 20 min walk to Nishiki Market, a 50 min walk to Hokanji-temple, "night life street" 25-30 min walk to area with a stream and a bunch of bars, clubs, karaoke. and lots of restaurants, cafes, and of course, convenience stores near the hostel's radius. a mini mart is like 40 second walk. and there's a family mart further down -- maybe 3 mins walk. a bonus story about great staff : i dropped my passport while walking around said area but the restaurant i went to was only 10 mins walk away so i noticed quickly and was able to retrace my steps fairly easy -- except my passport was not on the ground. because i noticed within an hour it wasn't there, i was fairly confident someone had picked it up so i thought i would get it the next day when i went to a koban (small police station). however the first koban i went to, the officer didn't even write my name down and essentially just told me to go somewhere else (yikes) and something told me to try another one, and so i did and this one wrote my info down and i didn't have a phone (i lost it the day before while skiing) and so they had to contact the hostel if they found it. 2 days later, the hostel employee finds me and tells me the station has my passport. i don't know if the other staff told the guy i didn't have my phone either, but he offered to walk there together which surprised me. it was a fairly rainy day too. he gave me an umbrella and we walked to the district police station (like 10 min walk) making small talk and recommendations, and basically became my personal translator at the station and so i got my passport back smoothly. so yea, basically the staff is super nice lmao i wish i asked for the guy's name!!

The hostel was extremely clean, the staff was very nice and they kept the place immaculate. They ask the guests not to do the dishes, but even though people were cooking sometimes, rarely there were dishes in the sink. Good wifi, and location, close to lots of attractions. The beds were comfortable, and each person had their own locker, the AC worked great. They sell earplugs at the front desk, which can be very useful when someone snores loudly in their sleep. Coffee, tea and cold water is available all day.