The second Shangri-La hotel in the country is due to open in Japan. When and where will it be built?

The second Shangri-La hotel to open in Japan, after Shangri-La Tokyo.

The hotel will be called Shangri-La Kyoto Nijojo (tentative name).

When is Shangri-La Kyoto Nijojo (tentative name) scheduled to open?

Construction of Shangri-La’s Kyoto Nijo Castle (tentative name) will begin in January 2022 and is expected to open in December 2024.

It is unclear whether the opening is in anticipation of the Osaka-Kansai Expo 2025, but it will be used by both domestic and international visitors to the Kansai region as well as Kyoto.

Where will Shangri-La’s Kyoto Nijojo be located?

Shangri-La Kyoto Nijo Castle (tentative name) is a 10-minute drive from JR Kyoto Station and will be located on the north side of Nijo Castle, near the Ninomaru Palace (a national treasure) and Karamon Gate (an important cultural property), both of which were registered as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1994. The plot is located to the north of Nijo Castle across the road.

It’s a good location not only for Nijo Castle, but also for the Kyoto Imperial Palace and other tourist attractions in Kyoto and the Karasuma/Kawaramachi area, the heart of Kyoto. If you go north along Horikawa Dori, the big north-south street in the east, you will find Kamigamo Shrine (Kamo Bessaraijinja), which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

What will Shangri-La Kyoto Nijojo (tentative name) be like?

The Shangri-La Kyoto Nijojo (tentative name) will be a low-rise hotel that blends in with the tranquil cityscape of Kyoto, with 80 to 100 guest rooms, and an average room size of 57 square metres.

However, as of May 2021, we only have images of the exterior of the hotel, so we don’t yet know what the lobby, rooms and restaurants will look like.

I’m sure that the interior will have a Kyoto feel to it, with a touch of Shangri-La luxury.

What is Shangri-La?

Shangri-La was founded in 1971 by Malaysian-Chinese entrepreneur Robert Kwok (Guo Heng Nian), who opened his first hotel in Singapore. Today, the group has hotels and resorts in all major cities in Asia, the Middle East and mainland China, as well as resorts in Fiji.

• Traders Hotel
  These hotels are located in Asia and the Middle East (Changzhou, China; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Abu Dhabi, Arab Republic) and cater primarily to the business traveller. They are less expensive than the Shangri-La brand and feature facilities designed for the business traveller, such as a business centre with multimedia conference rooms.
• Kerry Hotel
  The luxury brand was launched in 2011. Kerry Hotels are connected to their local communities, not only aligning with them but also engaging with them through the creation of spaces and experiences that fit into the daily lives of the communities around the hotels. (Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong)
• JEN
  The new brand was launched in 2014. ”JEN” is the name of a fictional character who is a “professional hotelier with a love of discovery”. Many of the hotels were opened as conversions of Traders hotels, making it a relatively low-cost brand.

If you look at the reviews of the Shangri-La Tokyo on Rakuten Travel, you will see that it has more than 4 stars.
We look forward to the opening of Shangri-La Kyoto Nijojo (tentative name) in December 2024.

How to access to Shangri-La’s Kyoto Nijo Castle (tentative name)?

The hotel is a few minutes’ walk from Nijo Castle, so if you can make it to Nijo Castle, you can probably find it by heading straight north on the street, but from anywhere in Kyoto, just tell them you’re at Shangri-La Hotel, north of Nijo Castle, and they’ll probably direct you to a taxi.

From JR Kyoto Station, it is about a 10-minute taxi ride, or take the Kyoto City Subway Tozai Line from JR Kyoto Station to Nijojo-mae Station (14 minutes), which is a 9-minute walk from the station.

If you are coming from Kansai International Airport, it would be best to take the Haruka limited express train to JR Kyoto Station and then take a taxi. From Itami Airport or Kobe Airport, it is a bit inconvenient to change trains, but once you reach JR Kyoto Station or Hankyu Omiya Station, you can easily get there by taxi.

If you are driving, you can get off at the Kyoto Higashi(East) Interchange or Kyoto Minami(South) Interchange on the Meishin Expressway and head towards Nijo Castle in about 30 minutes.

We can’t wait to see what Shangri-La Kyoto Nijo Castle (tentative name) has in store for us.