Autumn 2025. We – Sam and Danny, Michel and Wille, and Timothy – are travelling to Japan for a quite classic tour of the Land of the Rising Sun. We are flying separately as we used miles. On the planning: Tokyo, Kanazawa, Shirakawa, Osaka, and Expo 2025, Hiroshima, Himeji, Miyajima, Kyoto, Nara, Nagoya, Hakone, and back to Tokyo. Three weeks plus some extra days.

For our stay in Kyoto we once again opted for a hotel in the vicinity of the station. The Mercure Kyoto was only a few blocks away from the station and looked nice and modern judging by the photos on the website. Usually our experiences with “Meh”rcure where rather mediocre so we were curious how the brand would feel like in Japan.

The main entrance of the hotel was located in a small street, the other side of the building facing the main street was used for the restaurant and the restaurant entrance. The lobby was in a nice modern style and the lower level offered a general lounge for all guests to use with some different types of seating. This could be used if you wanted to work or be in a place different than your room. Both Timothy and Sam asked “do we have lounge access in this hotel?” when they saw the sign pointing towards the lounge, alas it was not an executive lounge with food and drinks but a general lounging space.

Check-in was swift and we were sent up to our room on the 10^th floor. We were allocated a room overlooking the main street below, but due to excellent sound insulation we heard nothing. We liked that the TV was mounted in a rounded nook with ambient lighting surrounding it, it made it feel very fancy. The bed itself was also large and very comfortable.

In the nightstands next to the beds they had emulated a sort of open drawer where we could find all plugsockets, both power and USB-A, and of course the lighting controls. Like in most Japanese hotels the light switches included dimmer functions, which I think more hotel rooms should provide to perfect the ambience you need at each time of the day.

The coffee and tea facilities consisted of a kettle and tea bags and powdered coffee as well as 2 complimentary glass bottles of water.

The bathroom was small but well equipped. There was a nice rainforest shower with a perfect closing door so no water leaked out into the bathroom. The sink and vanity area was rather small but offered everything you needed. We liked that Japanese hotels provide any amenity you could think of, like toothbrushes available in your room. Our Japanese toilet in the room was broken however, the toilet seat didn’t heat up nor did the spraying water. We experienced further electric problems as at certain time the lights in the bathroom wouldn’t turn on or dim unexpectedly.

The breakfast buffet in the morning offered a nice spread of hot and cold items but there wasn’t much variation throughout the days. The queues to get your coffee where also quite long. All food was of good quality however.

One night we also had the set menu, which was very delicious and offered a nice fusion of Italian and Japanese cuisine. Another night we also tried out the dessert plate which was nice and big.

The hotel didn’t offer a gym or fitness area to work off all these calories however.

All in all we were pretty satisfied with our stay in the Mercure Kyoto station, this Mercure was definably better than our experience with other more run of the mill Mercure’s. We can say it is a solid choice for your stay in Kyoto.

2025 Journey Across Japan

1. Japan’s Superconducting Maglev train breaks world speed record at 603 km/h.
2. Japan’s maglev bullet train delayed to 2035 or later as costs rise to ¥11 trillion.
3. QUESTION | Should you be stressed about travelling to Japan, and fear of missing out?.
4. Brussels Airport to Milan Malpensa with Brussels Airlines, operated by Air Baltic, ft. the 2025 check-in and boarding software hack.
5. REVIEW | Sala Montale Exclusive Lounge and Sala Gae Aulentin Premium Lounge at Milan Malpensa Airport, extra Schengen.
6. REVIEW | All Nippon Airways (ANA), Business Class, Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to Tokyo.
7. REVIEW | Toei Animation Museum in Nerima, Tokyo.
8. JAPAN | Tokyo Station, its Character Street and Pokémon Store.
9. REVIEW | Onyado Nono Asakusa Hotel in Tokyo.
10. TOKYO | Asakusa ft. Sensō-ji Temple.
11. JAPAN | The Odoriko train from Tokyo to Ito on Izu Peninsula.
12. PHOTOS & REVIEW | The Izu Teddy Bear Museum in Izu-Kōgen.
13. JAPAN | A visit to Ito on Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture.
14. REVIEW | Japan’s Saphir Odoriko in Premium Green Car from Ito on Izu Peninsula to Tokyo Station.
15. GAY TOKYO | 24 Kaikan in Asakusa (+ Ueno and Shinjuku).
16. TOKYO | Sawara in Chiba Prefecture, ‘Little Edo’ beyond Narita.
17. TOKYO | Omotesandō in Shibuya – AEON Shinonome –  Uniqlo – Muji.
18. PHOTOS | The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum in Koganei Park.
19. JAPAN | Solo in Tokyo.
20. REVIEW | Brussels Airport The View lounge.
21. REVIEW | Qatar Airways Business Class Brussels to Doha.
22. REVIEW | Qatar Airways Al Mourjan The Garden Business lounge.
23. REVIEW | Qatar Airways Q-Suite Business Class Doha to Tokyo.
24. REVIEW | Pullman Tokyo Tamachi.
25. REVIEW | The Railway Museum, Ōmiya, Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture.
26. TOKYO | Imperial Palace East Gardens – Akihabara – Tamiya flagship store – Skytree.
27. JAPAN | Kanazawa Castle – Kenrokuen Garden – Higashi Chaya District.
28. REVIEW | Daiwa Roynet Hotel Kanazawa Eki Nishiguchi.
29. JAPAN | Road trip to Hida no Sato, Takayama and Shirakawa-go from Kanazawa.
30. OSAKA | Namba Parks – Dōtonbori – Glico Man – Shinsaibashi.
31. REVIEW | Swissôtel Nankai Osaka.
32. Experiencing Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai Japan.
33. KANSAI | Osaka Castle ft. Toyotomi Stone Wall Museum.
34. OSAKA | EGDE store – Umeda Sky Building – Grand Front – Namba Parks – Daiso – Luscious.
35. REVIEW | Mazda Museum in Hiroshima.
36. REVIEW | Candeo Hotels Hiroshima Hatchobori.
37. JAPAN | The Hiroshima Peace Memorial, the Peace Memorial Park and the Peace Memorial Museum.
38. JAPAN | Himeji Castle.
39. JAPAN | Itsukushima Shrine on Itsukushima aka Miyajima.
40. REVIEW | Miyajima Seaside Hotel.
41. REVIEW | Spending a night in a couples’ or love hotel: ホテルCOO玖 男塾ホテルグループ in Okayama.
42. KYOTO | Nishi Hongan-ji Temple.
43. KYOTO | Nijō Castle.
44. KYOTO | Kamo River – Takase River – Pontochō.