Daiya Ryokan

The rooms are bigger than expected but so good. You have the important stuff in walking distance. Safe money and experience this once!

One of the worst stays I’ve ever been to. This place is by far one of the dirtiest parts of the earth I’ve ever visited.
Rooms are filled with mold & dust. I had difficulty breathing when I was waking up everyday, and had severe coughing early in the mornings due to all the dust and mold surrounding the walls.
Check-in:
When we got there, no one was available. We had to wait a while for someone to show up and they didn’t even find our reservation until after a few minutes.
The place has 2 buildings: One which is a Ryokan, and the other which is a somewhat newer building but reeks of the smell of a cigarette. One of yhe building managers told us that he found our reservation and he took us to a completely different room than what we’ve booked (which was a Ryokan with a Garden view). After I told him that our booking wasn’t accurate, he changed his word and said that they’re cleaning the room instead, which was really an odd thing that he did. I noticed there are other reviews mentioning this as well on their visit.
Shower & Toilet:
The entire toilets literally smell like urine. My partner and I would avoid using them as much as we could and ended up using convenience store toilets, as they were much cleaner given they were public toilets!
Shower floors have mold surrounding them, along with very dirty shower mats on the floor which is just a piece of plastic mold and nothing else.
Management:
Absolute bizzare management (if there is any).

Super great location, near Kyoto station. Cheap accommodation, but I wouldn't say it's a very typical ryokan. The room was too small for three people, when we had our futon rolled out we couldn't even open our luggage. The bathrooms were a bit dirty and for both women and men. Recommended if you don't have great expectations and want to save money and time.

Pro: close to the station, next to family mart, cheap.
Cons: strong smell of smoke all the time, shower is old and not very clean, room too small for 2 people and 2 bags.
It’s alright for 2 max 3 nights if you wanna save some, but is not so good.

My parents and I stayed at Daiya Ryokan for a week in mid November 2023. Overall, we thought the location was superb and incredibly convenient. The ryokan is a traditional style Japanese house and offers an interesting cultural experience during your stay at a very reasonable price. Amenities are basic and showers and bathrooms are communal but this should be expected at the price point.
There is a Family Mart located just opposite the ryokan which is perfect for breakfasts and meals on the go. Daiya Ryokan is only a street away from the grand Higashi Hongan-ji temple, making it an easy addition to any itinerary. There are many shops nearby and the station is only around a 10 minute walk away. This is great for making those early morning trips to popular attractions and late night last minute shopping runs.
The only real issue I had was with the stairs — the lower half of the stairs does not have banisters and there are some furnishings and decorations on the midpoint of the stairs that can be anxiety inducing when trying to move your luggage up and down. The futons were also quite hard and you can feel the ground lying down. Overall, I was quite happy with the quality of the accommodation and would recommend this place to travellers on a budget looking for central access to shops and public transport.

Very friendly staff! The rooms were clean and perfect. I would have loved a more traditional Ryokan stay but for a budget this was great! A toilet always accessible and I never had to wait for the shower or bath.
Great AC unit.
Comfy futon mats.
I loved the Tatami floor.