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Set to open in Spring 2026, Capella Kyoto in the historic Miyagawa-cho district has opened reservations for two unique stay packages: Gion Whisper and Capella Sojourn.
These offerings are designed to showcase Kyoto’s 1,200-year cultural legacy through contemporary design and rare artisanal encounters.
Available from 23rd March 2026, package inclusions are as follows:
Gion Whisper
An elegant introduction to Capella Kyoto’s design and culinary vision, minimum two nights’ stay:
- Daily breakfast for two
- Hotel credit: JPY 10,000 Deluxe, Premier) or JPY 20,000 (Junior Suite, Onsen Suite, Gion Suite, Capella Suite)
- Limited edition hotel gift featuring handcrafted mementos from Kyoto’s artisan community
Capella Sojourn
Cultural immersion through Capella Curates experiences, minimum two nights’ stay:
- Choice of one Capella Curates experience: Whispers of Miyagawa-cho (Private ochaya with maiko dance and shamisen performance), Gloss Boss (Urushi lacquerware journey with master craftsperson and kintsugi workshop) or Step by Step: The Soul of Geta (Workshop at a 150-year-old wooden sandal atelier)
- Omakase dinner for two at Capella Kyoto’s Japanese restaurant
- Daily breakfast for two at the hotel’s French brasserie
- 60-minute Auriga Spa treatment for two
- Limited edition hotel gift featuring handcrafted mementos from Kyoto’s artisan community
According to cluster general manager John Blanco, Capella Kyoto celebrates place through design and experience.
Blanco said: “We honour Kyoto’s living traditions through Capella Curates, our bespoke cultural programming, alongside world-class dining and wellness. By transforming a beloved school site, we preserve its history while offering guests deep connections to the artistry and enduring spirit of Japan’s ancient capital.”
Capturing the city’s soul through exceptional design
Designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates and Brewin Design Office, the 89-room hotel sits steps from Kenninji, Kyoto’s oldest Zen temple, and the celebrated Miyagawa-cho Kaburenjo Theatre, where geiko and maiko perform seasonal dances.
Like the city itself, it unfolds through layered thresholds, intimate reveals, and quiet moments of discovery, including six exclusive suites, each with its own private onsen.
Singapore-based Brewin Design Office approached Capella Kyoto as an exercise in spatial storytelling, where architecture becomes a sequence of carefully choreographed experiences.
The design celebrates the traditional machiya, Kyoto’s historic wooden townhouses characterised by narrow street-facing facades, deep interiors, and inner courtyards that create intimate, layered spaces between public and private realms.
Brewin Design Office founder and principal Robert Cheng explains: “We sought to capture the essence of Kyoto’s traditional machiya: the progression through thresholds, the play of light and shadow, the deliberate reveal. Each space invites pause and contemplation, honouring the Japanese principle of ma, the meaningful interval between moments.”
A dramatic entrance
The journey begins through a Gion-style alleyway lined with shoji screens, leading to a modern chamber featuring shimenawa rope motifs that mark the boundary between secular and sacred realms.
Beyond this threshold, a vestibule reveals tokonoma alcoves framing traditional byōbu screens alongside contemporary local artworks – a dialogue between past and present.
Here, guests are invited to pause before choosing their path: one leads to the signature restaurant, evoking a traditional ochaya teahouse; the other to the Japanese restaurant, where reclaimed wood from the former Shinmichi Elementary School glows beneath repurposed lamps, honouring the site’s heritage.
The sound of falling water accompanies guests along a corridor to the central courtyard, crowned by a dramatic karahafu roof, an undulating gable typically used in temple gates, castles, and other buildings of ceremonial importance, and later adopted by Kabuki theatres and Kaburenjo dance halls.
This architectural centrepiece rises above an open-air performance space where tradition meets modernity.
Further along, the French brasserie opens onto a tranquil tsuboniwa moss garden, the courtyard sanctuary that preserves the cherished sakura tree from the original site.
Diving into Kyoto culture with Capella Curates
Capella Kyoto offers three Capella Curates experiences with rare access to Kyoto’s living traditions, curated exclusively for hotel guests.
Each journey connects travellers with master artisans and cultural practitioners, revealing centuries-old crafts and treasured customs.
Whispers of Miyagawa-cho
Guest are invited to experience the refined world of Kyoto’s geiko and maiko in an intimate private ochaya, the exclusive teahouses of Gion.
A maiko performs traditional dance with grace honed through years of training, accompanied by the haunting melodies of the three-stringed shamisen.
This rare encounter with Gion’s closely guarded traditions reveals an art form preserved across generations.
Step by Step: The Soul of Geta
A visit to a 150-year-old atelier where craftspeople create geta, traditional elevated wooden sandals.
This is an intimate session where guests can observe craftsmanship and try on different styles of beautifully crafted geta.
Through conversation, the proprietor – craftsman, storyteller, and philosopher – shares centuries-old wisdom about these iconic sandals and their role in balance, posture, and well-being, while learning about each guest.
This exchange allows him to craft truly personalised geta for those who wish to commission a pair.
Gloss Boss
An invitation into the timeless world of urushi – Japanese lacquerware treasured for over 9,000 years.
At the atelier of a multi-generational master, guests will learn the meticulous art of harvesting and refining sap from the lacquer tree, before visiting a nearby temple where urushi has adorned sacred objects for centuries.
The experience concludes with a hands-on workshop to create their own urushi bowl and chopsticks or repair pottery using the kintsugi method – the art of mending with lacquer and gold. A keepsake infused with spirit, craftsmanship, and the quiet beauty of impermanence.
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