Kyoto's narrow wooden merchant townhouses, once slated for demolition by the hundred, are now some of the city's most sought-after places to sleep.
A machiya is built long and thin — 'the bed of an eel,' locals call the shape — running back from a slim street frontage through a series of tatami rooms toward a small tsuboniwa courtyard garden at the rear. Restorations keep the sliding shoji screens, the dark timber beams and the low doorways, while quietly adding underfloor heating, modern plumbing and soundproofing between rooms.
Days here start with shoes off at the genkan entryway and often end sitting on the engawa veranda looking at the courtyard garden, which is lit at night for exactly this purpose. Most machiya are self-contained rentals rather than staffed hotels, so you get an entire townhouse to yourselves — genuinely quiet, and a five- or ten-minute walk from the lantern-lit lanes of Gion or Pontocho.
Book one within easy walking distance of Gion if evening strolls matter to you, and check in advance whether the beds are futons on tatami or a Western-style frame — machiya vary, and futons are part of the experience for some travelers and a dealbreaker for others.
