Hostel Niniroom

This is a hidden gem. The rooms are very comfortable, and being able to have a solo room for this price is a superb value luxury. The cafe on the ground floor is very popular with local Japanese people, great atmosphere and tasty food & drinks.

Loved my stay here. Dorm rooms are cold (amazing! ) and bunks are private. VERY clean hostel and quite aesthetic as well. Staff is highly personable and most speak very good english. Staff recommendation sheets for local businesses were very cute and so helpful (you can tell everything at this hostel was made with so much thought and care! ). Only drawback was mechanical locks on the dorm doors were quite loud and wake you up. Cafe downstairs opens early (many japanese cafes dont, so this was a big plus! ) so you can get a coffee before heading out! I hope in the future they might be open to running it as a bar on some nights, as its fun to meet locals in japan at a hostel bar! Loved my stay here and wishing the Niniroom team the best!

Clean rooms, friendly staff, great location. As others have noted the walls are so so thin, and of our two night stay the first morning we were awakened by loud people on one side at 0500 and the next night we were kept awake by people on the other side from 2400-0200. The hostel does provide earplugs and post pleas to be quiet but this might not be the best choice for light sleepers.
The bathrooms are women-only on 3F and all genders on 2F. I appreciate the inclusion and prefer mixed genders but there was a lot of pee on the toilet walls and seats.

Overall, I had a good stay at this hotel.
Would I stay here again? Maybe, it depends on the timing of my next trip to Japan.
Would I recommend it to fellow travelers? Yes.
For context, I stayed in a private room with a shared bathroom.
What I liked:
🍎The interior design is tasteful and cozy.
🍎The bathroom was the best out of the three hostels I stayed at during my Japan trip — clean, well-equipped, and very comfortable. I truly loved it.
🍎There’s a café downstairs, which is great for those who want to chat or hang out late without disturbing others.
🍎The room itself was decent.
🍎Reception staff were friendly and helpful.
What could be improved:
🍋The room isn’t soundproof at all — I could hear footsteps, doors opening, and general hallway noise. As a light sleeper, this was tough, though I was lucky that other guests were quiet and respectful during my stay.
🍋The bed and pillow were very firm. I actually felt dizzy for the first two nights. Eventually, I used the sofa pillow and my neck pillow instead, which helped.
🍋Towels and other amenities are not included by default — they’re optional (but fairly affordable).
🍋There’s no natural light or indicator of the time of day in the room, so it was hard to tell if the sun was up.
Final rating: 3.7/5

It's complicated to review this one objectively. If I have to be completely honest the rooms are really not worth the price. I have been to many, many hotels/ryokan/guest houses etc at this point in japan so I have expectations depending on the price I pay. I can hear everything everyone say. Oh, an American dude in the room opposed to mine and he's always on the phone? Yeah prepare the ear thing cause you're gonna use them. The bed isn't really that great either, not bad too. Despite all this I went twice there and twice for more than 7 days. To me it has the best location in Kyoto. Not too far from kawaramachi, not too far from demachiyanagi, yeah it is perfect. Metro lines, busses: Perfect too. Staff is very kind, always a pleasure to talk to one or two people there, have a glimpse of their life and stories.

We had a lovely 4-day stay at Hostel Niniroom! Our private room was modern and clean, the nicest I’ve had in a hostel. The bathrooms were kept very clean. It was so nice to have a café downstairs in the day. Also, the staff were so lovely and had plenty of suggestions for local spots! A really positive experience that made exploring Kyoto so easy!

I stayed here for several days this spring. I don’t normally write reviews (this is my first one ever) but I felt I must because I really don’t see people talking thoroughly about this place and its pros/cons.
Start with the positive: the staff. There are two younger guys who speak English very well, which was helpful for me and I’m sure will be for others. All of the staff, including those who don’t speak English as well, were incredibly helpful, friendly, and kind.
Secondly, I liked the food they had in the cafe. I never tried the curry, but I had several other menu options. They are open starting at 08:00 which is kind of a rare find for coffee shops in Japan. The cafe is also open to the public, so it can be full at lunchtime!
Now I must get to the negatives. I recognize these things are likely out of the day to day staff’s control so I don’t begrudge them but I have to share.
I’ll echo what others have said about the walls being thin; I just got lucky and most people here at the same time have been quiet and respectful. There are free earplugs available, just those little foam ones you stick in your ears. They worked really well when I didn’t take them out in my sleep, which is obviously a personal problem.
Now, although the other guests were fairly quiet as far as talking goes, the locks on the doors are a mechanical keypad. Meaning, rather than being quiet and digital locks, they crunch and clack while people type in the door code.

Made sure to return here as I had such a positive experience last year: this year it was the same. It's a warm place: the simple kitchen and the living room are like home. Staff are wonderful, going out of their way to be helpful with guidance, booking of events or efficiently calling an ambulance — all are fluent in English. There is breakfast and lunch offered for a small fee. The evenings it's only us guests chilling. It really is a great place to be when traveling solo. Bedrooms can be individual or in dorms. I stayed in single bedrooms. The beds are always comfortable and the room spacious — Clean bathrooms are shared (the hot shower is great! ). I always felt safe. Location is excellent, close to bus stops that can bring you anywhere. Many interesting restaurants are just a short walk away, without the lines and hoard of tourists to compete with for a meal. Supermarkets also are close by. Hope to return again soon! Thanks for all.

Great location with plenty to see and do nearby! I stayed in a private room—the one with the blue comforter shown in the photos—and it was the perfect size for just me. The shared kitchen downstairs has been super convenient for cooking, and I’ve been using it often. I really appreciate getting the social vibe of a hostel through the common spaces while still having my own quiet space to relax. The staff are incredibly friendly and accommodating, and everyone I’ve met speaks excellent English (not that it’s expected, but it’s definitely appreciated! ).

Amazing zen-like welcoming hostel with an industrial feel as it used to be an old printing building! Very cool. Fabulous staff, great coffee and home-made food, bathroom facilities spacious with amazing water pressure! Laundry etc. Rooms are quiet, but if there's snorers and loud people in other sleeping rooms, you will hear them. Close to lots of things to do, the Kamo River is minutes away, Gion area about 20 minutes walk. Train station just down the road… 5 nights is not long enough to see Kyoto! At the end of your day, to walk into NiniRoom is just zen! Crack open a beer or a can of Strong from Family Mart and there is nothing else in the world you will need…

Can’t say enough good things about the hostel. Walking distance to countless UNESCO sites, incredible eateries, and the local subway and bus stops. Incredibly kind staff and great cafe for morning coffee or breakfast. Rooms are well kept and sleeping sections in the hostel rooms are very private.
There is a women’s only washroom & shower on the 3rd floor so guys staying up there need to walk down a flight of stairs; no big deal for me but if you have trouble with stairs I’d let them know and see if you can be placed on the 2nd!

Can’t say enough good things about this place tbh. Great location, walking distance to a lot of attractions and the subway. Comfortable rooms with good size beds, space to store your things under the bed, and lockers for your valuables. Bathrooms are super clean and the showers are very nice. The downstairs area is open 24/7 to work, hangout or have dinner which is really nice to not have a “curfew” for public areas. I very much enjoyed this hostel and would absolutely stay again.

Had a great stay at Hostel Niniroom! It’s located in a beautiful neighborhood, close to the river for nice biking to downtown Kyoto. Service was great, and there was a Bento Box sale going on when we were there, super tasty! Would highly recommend for travelers.

If you are planning to visit the East side of Kyoto such as Kiyomizu-dera, Gion, Hieizan, Philosopher's Path, Imperial Garden, Kibune or Potonco Alley, this place is the best place to stay as it is a walking distance from Keihan Line which is connected to all of these places.
The staff were friendly and helpful. The dorm is comfortable to stay in.
The only gripe I had with this place is there were no escalators and my room is at 2F. Me and some other guest had to carry our heavy luggage to that floor by stairs.
Another thing to note is that there were no individual fans in each capsule slot so you might want to ask them how they handle this during summer.

What a great place. The staff was super friendly and we really felt at home right away. The hostel offers a bike rental for 1000Yen/day which was really nice and uncomplicated.
Our room did not have a window, so only four stars for that. Everything else was super 🤩. Will come back for sure.

A cozy hostel with very friendly and welcoming staff. I enjoyed my stay a lot. The cafe at the ground floor has a warm atmosphere, and inviting for a chat with the other guests or just planning your day. The breakfast and cake are delicious.

Best hostel I have stayed at. Very clean rooms and common areas, and I appreciated the female only bathroom. They warn that walls are thin, but my group had no issues sleeping, especially with the complimentary earplugs. We didn’t do bike rentals, but such a good feature for Kyoto. A little away from the traditional “touristy” areas, but easy train ride for sightseeing and we loved staying in the neighborhood and exploring what it had to offer. Go to the 100 yr old restaurant, Hayaoki-tei, they recommend for udon breakfast!