"Established in 1818, this heritage Kyoto ryokan has been run like a sacred temple by six generations of the Nishimura family. Consider it a sanctuary where you can fully immerse yourself in the traditional Japanese inn experience—think low-slung lacquer tables, sliding fusuma doors, multi-course kaiseki meals, and pristine white shoji screens. Watch Japanese white-eye birds flit through the private camelia garden; bundle up in your yukata to dine in-room on abalone with miso egg yolk sauce and sea urchin chawanmushi (a savory egg custard) served on Kiyomizu ceramics; and drink a nightcap of sake before sinking into the freshly laid tatami mat in one of property’s 28 rooms." - Keith Flanagan, Sanjay Surana, Jennifer Flowers, Adam H. Graham