Yep, This New Hotel Is Exactly What Kyoto Needed

IF YOU COULD DREAM UP the perfect city for a Six Senses hotel, it’d look a lot like Kyoto. Certain characteristics of the imperial capital—its traditional crafts, its lush topography, its spiritual centres—dovetail seamlessly with the group’s philosophies of mindfulness, wellbeing and natural reconnection. The two are so ideologically aligned that the Six Senses Kyoto (doubles from ¥192,000) held pre-opening recruitment drives in a temple, with meditation sessions led by a monk. “Six Senses has specific values of wellness and sustainability,” general manager Nicolas Black told me over breakfast at the hotel’s all-day diner Sekki. “When we did career fairs, we asked ourselves: ‘How do we attract hosts who resonate with these values?’ Many of our wellness team hosts, notably, were hired through these fairs.”

Opened in April 2024 in Higashiyama Ward, east of the Kamo River and south of the Gion geisha district, Six Senses Kyoto lies within steps of multiple such temples. There’s also a Shinto shrine on the same block. But as a guest of the hotel, there’s no need to look outward for your mindfulness practice—or for any other type of wellness pursuit, for that matter.

Six Senses Kyoto takes wellness to another level. The Sensory Studio is your spot for meditation, yoga and flying yoga. Being in Japan, it naturally has a gorgeous onsen (with separate male and female baths, of course), as well as a serene indoor pool with an offshoot dedicated to watsu (aquatic bodywork). There are low-tech options, like blending your own all-natural beauty scrub at Alchemy Bar, and high-tech treatments—for example, compression therapy in the Biohack Recovery Lounge.

Additionally, every guest can undergo a state-of-the-art, computerised health screening and get dietary, exercise and lifestyle recommendations based on its findings. The results of mine were very much in line with extensive, expensive blood tests I’d recently undergone at my GP. An entire therapy itinerary can be developed for your stay, but the idea is that you don’t just experience wellness while on vacation, but take new insights and habits away with you, into your everyday life.

The baked-in sustainability touchpoints—such as at Earth Lab, the space dedicated to showing off their green efforts—never feel forced or inauthentic. The hotel grows herbs and vegetables on-site for use at Sekki (where chef Hiroki Shishikura emphasises seasonal produce and “veg-forward” dining) and for garnishes at the dark and intimate Nine Tails bar.

As for the property’s aesthetic, it too is a blend of modern sustainability and traditional sensibilities. Decor is inspired by the Heian period, which spanned the 8th to 12th centuries—Japan’s golden age of art and culture, wellspring of the concept of courtly elegance known as miyabi. It’s bright and airy, with acres of blonde wood accented by stone, copper, hand-dyed indigo cloth and delicate washi paper, featuring recurring motifs from the artwork Chōjū-giga (Scrolls of Frolicking Animals), considered the first ever manga. It’s heritage kawaii that lends a whimsical touch.

At the hotel’s heart: a tranquil Zen-landscaped courtyard, onto which many of the guest rooms look. Two ground-floor suites possess their own private gardens, and these accommodations are proving to be keenly sought after, as are the rooms that—should you time your visit juuuust right—front onto a cherry blossom tree in bloom.

For a Kyoto-infused experience that’s no less fleeting, but every bit as luxurious, the signature ah-un massage is one of the best I’ve experienced in two decades of spa-going. You begin by conscientiously setting a statement of purpose—serenity, de-stressing, harmony, whatever—and blending ink, then painting calligraphy, to induce a meditative mindset. The therapist integrates use of a tuning fork, with its vibrations meant to boost the immune system to stimulate healing—or so adherents believe. Regardless, I can attest that my stay was overflowing with good vibes.

How Six Senses Walks the Walk

When Six Senses was founded in 1995, its pillars of sustainability, wellness and oneness with nature were easy to live up to in unspoiled locales. Since they began developing urban resorts, they’ve needed to make a more concerted effort to fulfil brand standards, and this is how they do it.

Leadership

Six Senses doesn’t just have a global chief sustainability officer; each property has its own sustainability director on the ground (and, importantly, on the hotel’s executive committee), overseeing CSR initiatives and environmental activities.

Regenerative efforts

Every Six Senses essentially establishes its own NGO, dedicated to addressing local issues—like ensuring clean water for islander communities, protecting turtle nesting sites in the Maldives, restoring ancient historical sites in Rome, or supporting women’s associations in Oman. At Six Senses Kyoto, this entails forest conservation projects and the preservation of Kyoto’s traditional crafts, among other initiatives.

Green cred

Any newly built Six Senses property must meet, at a minimum, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver standards, by using sustainable materials, reducing waste and CO2 emissions, and minimising consumption of energy and water. Furthermore, the group has set the ambitious goal of eliminating all plastic from its hotels. They’re currently about 90-percent of the way there, a truly monumental achievement.

Food chain

Six Senses properties cultivate their own organic gardens, support local farmers, and insist on plastic-free packaging for the provision of fresh produce and ingredients for the hotels’ kitchens.

Tangible incentives

To ensure top-level buy-in for these initiatives, a third of each general manager’s bonus is based on the property’s performance in sustainability. GMs are tasked with setting and achieving targets for reducing water and electricity consumption, and waste. They must actively participate in and lead sustainability activities and make sure that their hotel’s sustainability fund meaningfully supports local community projects.

BOOK YOUR STAY AT SIX SENSES KYOTO VIA BOOKING.COM

Images courtesy of Six Senses Kyoto.

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