古都とき Kototoki

L’ accoglienza, l’ospitalità e la disponibilità ad ogni richiesta in maniera gentile e veloce.

Niente. Se posso dare un piccolo consiglio, asciugamani per la doccia leggermente più grandi potrebbero essere graditi

One of a kind chance to stay in one of the teahouses in the historic district! Exceptional location.

Overall great.

Historical significance. Perfect location and atmosphere. Like staying in museum.

For older persons: steep stairs and sleeping on the floor, but it was totally worth it for an experience.

One needs to approach this stay with an adventuresome spirit. The main selling point here is Kototoki's authenticity given it's a 165 year old wooden machiya tea house in the heart of Kanazawa's Higashimay/Geisha district, which in of itself is a treat and allows you to experience what it might be like over a century ago. The traditional tatami mat rooms were spacious with the paper sliding doors/walls, a wonderful living area towards the front and comfortable traditional futon beds. Yukatas were provided and the shower area was decent. The price was great, especially since we were there at the height of Sakura, and the staff was responsive over the Booking.com chat. That said, one's expectations need to be managed about what this and what this isn't before staying here as there are some real trade-offs.

I booked this feeling I was eyes wide open to the tradeoffs, specifically about there being only one bathroom at the bottom of some very, very narrow stairs, but the reality is that they were more like a ladder that required you to go down backwards holding onto the bar. You really need your wits about you if doing this in the middle of the night. The other trade-off which I didn't fully grasp when I booked, is that the first floor is a working tea house from 10-7PM during the day, which meant all of us shared the same one bathroom, and coming and going meant we were always walking through someone's tea ceremony which frankly was uncomfortable for all. Also, the back stairs to the bathroom aren't available during the day because they put all their tea supplies there, so we're forced to walk through the front stairs and all of their customers. The other aspect was the walls are so thin, that you can hear everything (and they can hear us), which makes it pretty unrelaxing being a party of 3. The last thing that could have been better, is that while the man who checked us in was friendly and tried his best, there was a serious language barrier which only amplified the odd trade-offs involved in the stay. I felt like I led the check in and asked the questions. A good host that was more hands on would have made this better.