Capella Kyoto Opens in Q4 2025

12/6/24: Updated with additional photos and Q4 2025 opening date.

Capella Kyoto will open in Q4 2025 as the first Capella hotel in Japan. We're especially looking forward to this opening, as we see Capella Hotels as the successor to Aman Hotels, which, while it still has some wonderful resorts, has lost its way over the past few years when it comes to delivering remarkable luxury service and experiences (see The Decline of Aman Resorts).

Capella Kyoto Location

Capella Kyoto will be located at 146 Komatsucho at Yamatooji-dori near Kenninji Temple in the Higashiyama District, walking distance to Kiyomizu-dera, Yasaka Shrine, and Gion, home to many geisha and their maiko apprentices. Kyoto Station is only a 7-minute drive, and is how many visitors will arrive to Kyoto, via shinkansen from Tokyo or other cities in Japan. The other luxury hotel in this area is the Park Hyatt Kyoto, about an 11-minute walk away.

Capella Kyoto Rooms and Amenities

The hotel is being designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma and Associates, whose work also includes renewing The Opposite House in Beijing; The Shisui Luxury Collection Hotel in Nara; The Tokyo EDITION Ginza; and The Capitol Hotel Tokyu, Tokyo, among other projects. There will be 92 rooms and suites in the four-story building, which surrounds a central Japanese garden courtyard.

Beneath the Japanese bamboo courtyard will be Capella's signature Auriga Spa, with spa treatment rooms that offer the comforts of a private onsen (hot spring) experience.

Capella Kyoto's signature modern brasserie will anchor its dining offerings, which will include an adjoining pâtisserie as well as a Japanese restaurant, nestled in the hotel's south-eastern corner with a sunken garden. A third restaurant is the omakase-style Carte Blanche that offers an immersive dining experience focused on innovative food and beverage pairings, omakase-style, in a casual and intimate setting.

The hotel will also collaborate with the newly refurbished Miyagawa Maiko Performance School — a training school for young ladies to be elegant geikos [“geishas” in the Kyoto dialect] — and ochaya [tea house] to introduce an exclusive and authentic cultural experience for guests.