Mitsui Garden Hotel Kyoto Sanjo Premier
三井ガーデンホテル京都三条プレミア
Does Mitsui Garden Hotel Kyoto Sanjo Premier allow tattoos? Yes!
Tattoos are welcome in the bath, with nothing to cover. Mitsui Garden lifted its tattoo rule at every bath on March 1, 2026, and this hotel is on the list.
A bath of about 90 square meters (970 square feet) in the basement: a cave-like room the hotel sets with a garden theme. Guests only.
The bath
The bath is in the basement, and the hotel likens it to a cave: walls and floor in large sand-colored stone tiles, light running low along the base of the walls, and a pale green floor under the water. A freestanding wall rises out of the middle of the tub to split it into more private corners, and at one end the pool narrows into a channel you step down into on stone stairs. There’s no hot spring or sauna.
The changing room has wooden lockers and single vanity booths with lit mirrors. Shampoo, conditioner, body soap, cotton swabs, hair dryers, basic skin care, a skin-care set, cotton pads and a scale are provided. Room nightwear and slippers are fine to wear down.
Free to guests, in two sessions: 3 p.m. to 1 a.m., then 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.
A private bath can be booked by staying guests, up to four people, in four two-hour slots starting at 9:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.; swimsuits are allowed. The price isn’t published — ask at the front desk.
The hotel
Mitsui’s first Premier hotel in Kyoto, on Sanjo-dori, and a 2025 Good Design Award winner. The ground floor opens to the street. The Italian restaurant curd is built on fresh cheese from the in-house GOOD CHEESE LABORATORY, which makes mozzarella, ricotta and burrata from Tamba milk. Y bar is a 13-seat bar pouring sake from Takeno Shuzo in Kyotango, rare labels the hotel says aren’t sold elsewhere in Japan. Check-out is at noon.
Good to know
- Take-out from curd to your room, for guests only, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
- No parking at the hotel, which asks guests to come by train.
Getting there
Karasuma-Oike STN · Karasuma and Tozai subway lines
About 3 minutes from exit 5.
Kyoto Station is on the Tokaido Shinkansen. Take the Karasuma subway line to Karasuma-Oike. Hankyu Karasuma Station is 8 minutes away, from exit 21.
Where it is
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR Kansai Wide Area Pass ¥12,000 · 5 days Worth it if you’re riding out to Kinosaki or Shirahama and back.
- Kyoto and Nara in a day The Arashiyama scenic railway, Fushimi Inari’s thousand gates and the deer of Nara Park, from Osaka or Kyoto.
- Funaoka Onsen bathhouse visit with a guide A guide takes you into Funaoka Onsen, Kyoto’s 1920s bathhouse, and the cafe in a former bathhouse nearby. Klook lists it as tattoo-friendly, and admission is included.
- Japan Rail Pass from ¥53,000 · 7, 14 or 21 days For a trip that takes in several regions by Shinkansen and JR lines.
Part of a group-wide policy change
This is one of 24 bath-equipped properties run by Mitsui Fudosan Hotel Management, which abolished its tattoo rule across all of them on March 1, 2026. The whole picture on Mitsui Garden, and every Mitsui Garden listing on this site →
What happens when you arrive
Check in and go to the bath. There's no seal to buy and nothing to mention at the front desk.
How we know
Partly confirmed — the bath is on the property page; the tattoo policy comes from the group-wide notice.
Best for: couples who want a garden-themed basement bath and a private bath to book
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