Kyomom

Kyomom is a Kyo-machiya beside the Sanjo shopping arcade in Nakagyo-ku, a commercial street that has run through central Kyoto for around 110 years. The house keeps the things a machiya is kept for: the warmth of old timber, shoji paper screens and a small green courtyard, set against the practical comforts of a modern fit-out. Despite sitting close to three of the city's busiest shopping streets, it stays quiet inside, the kind of address that is central without being loud. In the evening you can eat well nearby or pick up what you need at a 24-hour convenience store, then come back to a house that feels apart from the city around it. With four bedrooms for up to eight guests, it suits families and groups who want to be in the middle of Kyoto and still able to settle.