Sowaka

We recommend Sowaka to travellers seeking authentic Kyoto without renouncing modern comfort, honeymoon couples or fortysomethings in search of calm. It's an address for those who want to understand Japanese traditional architecture from the inside, sleep in a real machiya without the folklore. Families with young children might find the atmosphere too hushed, the place suits adults sensitive to detail and silence better.

The Sowaka is a machiya (traditional townhouse) built in the 18th century in Kyoto's architectural style: narrow façade, considerable depth, succession of rooms around an interior garden. The 2017 restoration preserved the cypress wood beams, sliding fusuma partitions, tatami floors in certain suites. Low ceilings (around 2.20 m), typical of the Edo period, soft light filtered through washi paper shoji. The whole spans no more than three storeys, intimate scale that contrasts with the modern hotels in the city centre.

The Sowaka restaurant offers contemporary kaiseki cuisine, nine-course tasting menu that changes with the seasons and arrivals from Nishiki market. The chef, trained in Gion's ryotei, works fish from the Sea of Japan, Kyoto vegetables (kyo-yasai), artisanal tofu. Japanese or Western breakfast served in room or private dining room, matcha tea prepared on request. No proper bar, but a selection of saké and Japanese whisky available at the restaurant.

The Sowaka stands in Higashiyama-ku, historic district on the east side of Kyoto, two minutes' walk from Yasaka-jinja shrine and five from Kiyomizu-dera. We're in temple Kyoto with its cobbled lanes, far from the bustle of the central station. Gion-Shijo metro station ten minutes on foot, Kyoto station twenty minutes by taxi. The district stays quiet after 8pm, tourists head back to the centre, we mostly spot geishas heading to ochaya. Kansai Airport (Osaka) 1h30 by express train.